Protesters Leave Sen. Santorum Address

AP ^ | May 18, 2003 | BILL BERGSTROM

[jwalburg]

PHILADELPHIA - About one in every eight graduates walked out of Sunday's commencement at Saint Joseph's University before the keynote address by Sen. Rick Santorum, who recently infuriated gay groups and others with derogatory remarks about homosexual behavior.

Santorum, the Senate's third-ranking Republican, didn't mention the walkout or the controversy directly.

"We are all called to love one another, even people we disagree with, even people who hate us for what we believe," he said.

Students were offered an opportunity to leave before Santorum was introduced to receive an honorary degree and make his speech, and about 100 graduates walked out amid competing boos and applause.

Some students had urged the Jesuit university to rescind Santorum's invitation after he likened gay behavior to bigamy, polygamy, incest and adultery in an April 7 interview with The Associated Press. He later said he intended the remarks as a legal analysis and didn't intend to comment on individual lifestyles.

"Senator Santorum and I are at completely opposite ends of the spectrum," said graduate Sara Foglesong, among those who walked out. "I am not incestuous. I am not a bigamist. I just happen to be bisexual. It offended me."

Across the street, Dennis Heffernan led a group of three counter-demonstrators. "I belong to a pro-life group, and Rick is a pro-life person," said Hoffman, of Philadelphia.

[JonH]

Nah... She is a pig that wants twice as many chances to get lucky on any given night!

[sirchtruth]

Pervert? Says who? There is quite a difference between incest and homosexuality. Why so concerned with consenting adults sex lives? Never could understand why we let this issue define us. Is it hurting you? NO! Time to move on to real issues.

This statment is absolutely ignorant. You do not understand because you refuse to accept that there are people who believe in God and his word.

Truth is the defining issue here, but you would rather people be selfish and lie. You would rather people be kept in the dark because you say what others do does not effect them. It effects all of us because it changes the normality, and reality of relationships, not to mention the ever changing defining of our language.

There is a concern because it is the epitome of selfishness and perversion. It'a too bad your closemindedness can not see what is real.

Incest and Homosexuality are cut from the same cloth of selfish perverted desire, and I do not accept either as part of normality.

[old school]

When the "deviants" stop insinuating "their" sexuality on US, then indeed, will we be able to move on! This is, surely, much ado about nothing! Lack of discernment, it would seem, is contagious!

[shred]

Talked to God recently about this, have you?


shred

[Aloysius]

Do you know the NAME of such a group?

Yes. The HOLY ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH, where there are no secrets, no cults, no hidden pasts.

[muawiyah]

Santorum didn't say what the lunatic leftwing sexual politicians say he did, and there's been ample opportunity for everyone to bother to find that out.

Folks who continue on in the vein of this crowd are demonstrating no more than that the use of heavy, brain-damaging narcotics is rampant on campus these days, and the schools are letting down our graduates by leaving them unable to read, think, analyze and come to conclusions which are anything other than political slogans.

Thankfully most employers require new hires out of college to go through serious re-training, so the worst of these folks should be filtered out of the system, or fixed, before they can do much damage.

[Petronski]

Forget it, forget the whole thing. LOL

[Kuksool]

The 100 students, who threw hissy fits and walked out, would make great RAT legislators in Texas. When confronted with something they don't like, they flee.

[Aloysius]

Opus Dei's founder, Jose Maria Escriva, is a saint.

Yes, but that doesn't make his little secret club conservative. You're letting your emotions get you off track - stick to the subject matter.

[sinkspur]

You're letting your emotions get you off track - stick to the subject matter.

And you're allowing rumors about the Tridentine Mass stoke visions in your head that the clock is about to be turned back to 1940.

You'd best dispel that myth.

[aimhigh]

Pervert? Says who? There is quite a difference between incest and homosexuality. Why so concerned with consenting adults sex lives? Never could understand why we let this issue define us. Is it hurting you? NO! Time to move on to real issues.

Considering that I (a taxpayer) have to pay for AIDS treatment, and Social Security disability for the results of gay perversion, it is a concern.

[Sacajaweau]

I went to a Catholic all girl's high school. I can remember the Jesuit priest lecturing us on masturbation as a BIG sin. Our school priest told us that a kiss over 10 seconds was a BIG sin. God knows what happened to the Jesuit priest but the school priest left the order and married a nun. So much for lectures!!

[speedy]

One-eighth protesting isn't so bad for a college crowd, and that is assuming that this report is even accurate. If this had been held a few miles away at Penn a lot more than that would have left. I don't think St. Joe's is churning out as many brainwashed little Stepford leftists as its academic quota requires.

[Aloysius]

And you're allowing rumors about the Tridentine Mass stoke visions in your head that the clock is about to be turned back to 1940.

The rumors are insignificant to me. In my little corner of the world, priests don't rape boys, bishops don't peddle smut, lesbian "nuns" don't run parishes, and losers looking to fill a void in their life, don't use the Eucharist as a means to making them "somebody".

[WOSG]

This young bisexual woman said she is not a 'bigamist' like there was some distance between the two behaviors.


This begs the question of why should she think herself morally superior to a bigamist.

"Never could understand why we let this issue define us. Is it hurting you? " It's hurting all of us for the Constitution to be mis-construed. Santorum was standing up for sanity by pointing out the folly of some unrrestricted right of sexual liberty being rednered into the constitution - where would it end? Laws against incest and bigamy could be struck down, if you follow the legal logic of the "consenting behavior is a constitutional right" crowd. That crowd is wrong, on the facts, on philosophy, and on the law. The Liberal media have deliberately mis-stated Santorum's intentions because bashing conservatives is the media blood sport. We should stand by Santorum or insanity will reign in the Federal courts.

[DaughterOfAnIwoJimaVet]

I've seen that posted before.

[Bigg Red]

When will these people go back into the closet?

[SouthCarolinaKit]

They must just let ANYONE who has tuition money into
St Joe's these days! They're protesting a Catholic College's inviting someone who proclaims Catholic theology!

[mass55th]

I am not incestuous. I am not a bigamist. I just happen to be bisexual. It offended me."

She must be a moderate...can't make up her mind in politics or in her sex partners.

[longtermmemmory]

they are on their way to gaydays at disney parks on June 3-9, 2003 first.

Homosexuality is a fetish. Parents need to know that it can be prevented. Children need to learn how to resist recruiters like Glsen and the gay/straight clubs in the public schools. (please save the homeschool comments, private school acomplishes the same task too.)