Humor: Rick Santorum Office Next Door To Gay Leather Bar

Mr. Santorum is, sadly, best known by the redefinition of his name (Google Santorum if you are not at work) by fans of Dan Savage's weekly column.  The history of the redefinition, from the history link of the not-work-friendly site begins

In April 2003, Republican senator Rick Santorum made some asinine comments in defense of laws banning gay sex. While this in itself may seem unremarkable, many people were amazed at how much detail he went into. Rick wasn't satisfied to call it 'degenerate' and move on. He really, really wanted to talk about sex, so he told the Associated Press: "If the Supreme Court says that you have a right to consensual sex within your home, then you have the right to bigamy, you have the right to polygamy, you have the right to incest, you have the right to adultery. You have the right to anything." Well, little did he know that two months later the Supreme Court would rule anti-sodomy laws unconstitutional... whoops!

Since then, Mr. Santorum has continued to double down on his tirade against homosexuals.  Here's one example from last month.

Rick Santorum believes that gay marriage could doom the U.S.

"We have to fight the battles in the states," he said Saturday night at Iowa's Thanksgiving Family Forum (hat tip: ThinkProgress). "We cannot defer. We can't say, 'The 10th Amendment, they can do what they want.' This is too important for that. There's a basic and central value. The family is the bedrock of our society. Unless we protect it with the institution of marriage, our country will fall."

So, it is quite ironic that the National Memo published a tidbit about Mr. Santorum's Scranton senatorial office.

But more important than fiery rhetoric is his experience on the ground, where he, or at least his staffers, have seen the consequences of the gay agenda up close. After he made those comments in 2003, reporters discovered that his Scranton office at 527 Linden Street was located a door away from The Silhouette Lounge, a gay leather bar that had won local awards. A bartender named Johnny reportedly delivered a message for the Senator, according to a news report published in The Hill: "Come on over sometime."

Santorum doesn't talk much about his official stay near the leather bar, especially now that the two venues in question have disappeared from the map.

The thought of Rick Santorum in leather is more than a little disturbing.  Even next to leather ... ick!

Repudiation: Sen. Santorum on DADT

Today's Huffington Post has an article on Sen. Santorum's appearance on the Fox News Sunday show this morning.  (I first saw the link at Joe.My.God).  Mr. Wallace baited Mr. Santorum with a quote from Col. Householder at the time of military desegregation; a quote which fits as easily for those who are continuing to fight the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell (DADT).

"The problem is that sexual activity with people who you are in close quarters with who happen to be of the same sex is different than being open about your sexuality," Santorum said on "Fox News Sunday."

So, a fair question might be 'How does the military treat unwanted sexual activity?'  The answer has two parts.  The first involves the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ), which is the letter of the law.  The second is how it is carried out in practice.

By my reading, there are three articles in the UCMJ that appear to be germane.  The first is an article on rape,

920. ARTICLE 120. RAPE AND CARNAL KNOWLEDGE

The second is an article on sodomy,

925. ARTICLE 125. SODOMY

and the third is the "general article", which may be the most important,   

934. ARTICLE 134. GENERAL ARTICLE

The general article is worth quoting in whole:

Though not specifically mentioned in this chapter, all disorders and neglects to the prejudice of good order and discipline in the armed forces, all conduct of a nature to bring discredit upon the armed forces, and crimes and offenses not capital, of which persons subject to this chapter may be guilty, shall be taken cognizance of by a general, special or summary court-martial, according to the nature and degree of the offense, and shall be punished at the discretion of that court.

Any unwanted or non-consensual sexual activity in the military that does not fall under articles 120 and 125 is clearly addressed, as such activity would harm good order and discipline. It is that simple.

In practice, the Stars and Stripes has a pre-repeal of DADT article that appears to fit for the purpose of discussion. In short, a Command Sgt. Maj. was frustrated with the bragging (size of genitalia) of his driver, stuck his hand down his driver's shorts and touched him through his underwear. There was no consent for this act and no direct-skin contact (as would be necessary for either of the first two UCMJ articles cited above). The Command Sgt. Maj. was sent before a courts martial, demoted and given a formal reprimand.

While the driver's bragging was inappropriate, the response crossed an important line. That line, the same line that Sen. Santorum so fears will be crossed by gays in the military, was crossed by one heterosexual with another heterosexual. It was wrong when done by a heterosexual and would be equally wrong if done by a homosexual. The military, with its UCMJ, already has the situation covered.

I don't expect that Mr. Santorum will stop appealing to bigotry. He has a long history of telling lies and distortions of the LGBTQ community. It was a series of his lies that provoked Dan Savage into creating Mr. Santorum's Google problem (link is NSFW). Still the lies need to be countered. The United States military and people in general are far better than Mr. Santorum believes.

17 October 2011, FollowUp 1