Pennsylvania
state treasurer Bob Casey, Sen. Rick Santorum's leading
Democratic challenger, told an audience at an event
sponsored by a gay rights organization that if
elected, he would fight discrimination "wherever I
find it." Casey, who supports laws banning
discrimination based on sexual orientation, said he provides
a contrast to the conservative Santorum, the number 3
Senate Republican who has frequently earned the ire of
gay rights groups for his opposition to same-sex
marriage.
"I think
it's time we had a senator who wasn't pushing a
narrow, intolerant ideology that says 'I'm right, you're
wrong...and you don't know better,'" Casey said. Casey
received a standing ovation when he was introduced and
drew applause throughout his 16-minute speech to an
audience of about 600 people at a black-tie gala put on by
the gay rights group Human Rights Campaign on Saturday
evening in Philadelphia.
Before Casey
spoke, a short film was shown on two large video screens
asking for help in beating Santorum and featuring his
picture beside quotes from an April 2003 interview
with the Associated Press in which he compared
homosexuality to bigamy, polygamy, incest, and adultery. The
crowd let out a groan when a clip showed the Reverend Jerry
Falwell describing Santorum as a "bright young star"
and saying that he would vote for Santorum for
president.
Mark Mitchell, a
cochair of the event, described it as a pep rally. "It
was to build excitement and momentum," he said. "It was
to get a good start." Casey, who has been leading Santorum
by double digits in recent polls, described Santorum
as President Bush's "number 1 ally and number
1 cheerleader" and accused him of practicing
politics that "divide and conquer." He said he would
practice "more tolerance and less discrimination."
The Santorum
campaign shrugged off the endorsement. "The Human Rights
Campaign is one of the most liberal organizations in the
country, and their endorsement of Bob Casey just goes
to show how far outside the mainstream Bob Casey has
become," said Virginia Davis, spokeswoman for the
Santorum campaign.
Casey also
opposes same-sex marriage but favors allowing same-sex
couples to join in civil unions that could provide
many of the same state-level benefits as marriage. He
also favors allowing nonmarried couples to receive
benefits such as power of attorney and health benefits. "The
values I live by call on me to fight discrimination wherever
I find it," Casey said.
Santorum has
advocated that marriage should be between a man and a woman
and that "special rights" should not be granted based on
sexual orientation. Like Santorum, however, Casey is
opposed to abortion and supported the nominations of
Judge John Roberts and Samuel Alito to the Supreme
Court, which upset some feminists.
Michael Palmer, a
volunteer for the Human Rights Campaign who helped
organize the event, said Casey has long been a supporter of
gay couples "having equal protection under the law,
like every other couple is entitled to" and thereby
earned the organization's endorsement. He said HRC has
about 10,000 members in the Philadelphia and the Delaware
Valley region. (AP)
