"If the Supreme Court says that you have the right to consensual (gay) 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," Santorum said in the AP interview, which was published Monday.
Gay groups were quick to denounce Santorum's comments, the latest in a series of divisive remarks by some lawmakers.
"Senator Santorum's remarks are deeply hurtful and play on deep-seated fears that fly in the face of scientific evidence, common sense and basic decency. Clearly, there is no compassion in his conservatism," said Winnie Stachelberg, political director for the Human Rights Campaign, the nation's largest gay advocacy group. She called for "quick and decisive action" by Republican leaders to repudiate Santorum's remarks.
The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee called on Santorum to resign as chairman of the Republican Senate Caucus, the number three position in the GOP leadership.
"Senator Santorum's remarks are divisive, hurtful and reckless and are completely out of bounds for someone who is supposed to be a leader in the United States Senate," said Brad Woodhouse, a spokesman for the DSCC.
In a statement released Tuesday, Santorum did not dispute the accuracy of the quote, but criticized the AP story as "misleading." His said his comment was specific to the pending Supreme Court case.
"I am a firm believer that all are equal under the Constitution," he said. "My comments should not be construed in any way as a statement on individual lifestyles."
But, according to unedited excerpts of the taped interview released late Tuesday by The Associated Press, Santorum spoke at length about homosexuality, and he made clear he did not approve of "acts outside of traditional heterosexual relationships."
