LAVENDER GREENS CALL FOR THE REMOVAL OF SEN. SANTORUM FROM HIS SENATE LEADERSHIP POST
[I drafted the initial revision of this, then it went through substantial revision afterwards. -Thomas]
THE GREEN PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES
MEDIA RELEASE
For Immediate Release
Tuesday, April 29, 2003
Contacts:
Scott McLarty, Media Coordinator, 202-518-5624,
scottmclarty@yahoo.com
W. Brandon Lacy Campos, Lavender Green Caucus
Chair, 612-252-1208, camposvive@hotmail.com
Thomas Leavitt, Caucus Secretary, 408-591-3342,
Thomasleavitt@hotmail.com
Starlene Rankin, Caucus Delegate to the Green
Party, 916-215-1302, starlene@greens.org
LAVENDER GREENS CALL FOR THE REMOVAL OF SEN.
SANTORUM FROM HIS SENATE LEADERSHIP POST
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Lavender Green Caucus of
the Green Party of the United States has called
for the removal of Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.)
from his leadership position in the Senate after
his recent remarks regarding the pending Supreme
Court decision on the Texas antisodomy law.
Sen. Santorum serves at chairman of the Senate
Republican Conference. Santorum in his remarks
equated homosexuality with incest, adultery, and
bestiality. The Lavender Green Caucus called on
the Republican Leadership to reject intolerance
and hate speech.
“We condemn not only the Senator’s bigoted and
hateful equation of homosexuality with crimes
like incest, but also the heterosexist and narrow
definition of family that precipitated them,”
said W. Brandon Lacy Campos, chair of the
Lavender Green Caucus. “It is time that Rick
Santorum go the way of Trent Lott.”
In an April 7 interview with the Associated
Press, Santorum stated that while he had no
problem with homosexuals he didn’t support
“homosexual acts.”
“The government has no business interfering with
the private choices of individual adult citizens
engaged in mutually consensual sexual acts or
favoring one family structure over another,” said
caucus secretary Thomas Leavitt. “Santorum’s
insistence on excluding millions of Americans
from the definition of family is reprehensible.”
“Santorum’s remarks weren’t only bigoted, they
were nearly incoherent,” said Scott Tucker, an
active gay member of the Green Party of
Philadelphia. “Santorum would like to play Big
Brother in our homes and sexual lives. At the
same time, he wants to keep big business beyond
public control. He wants government breaking
down the walls between church and state, and he
wants a government of the rich, by the rich, for
the rich. We encourage gay, lesbian, bi, and
transgendered Pennsylvanians and our friends and
supporters to send a Green senator to Washington,
D.C.”
The Lavender Green Caucus is the Green Party’s
national advocacy group on gay, lesbian,
bisexual, transgender, intersex, and queer
concerns. The views expressed in this press
release are those of the caucus and do not
necessarily represent an official position by the
Green Party of the United States, unless
otherwise stated.
MORE INFORMATION
The Green Party of the United States
http://www.gp.org
National office: 1314 18th Street, NW
Washington, DC 20036
202-296-7755, 866-41GREEN
National Lavender Green Caucus
http://www.lavendergreens.org
Santorum on homosexuality: Excerpts from the
senator’s Associated Press interview
April 7, 2003
http://www.msnbc.com/news/903933.asp
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