Santorum Reiterates Intention to Amend Constitution

Rick Santorum doubled down on his backing for a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage during an appearance on CNN Wednesday night, staking his claim at the farthest end of the religious conservative spectrum while simultaneously trying to sound libertarian.

“It’s not that we’re against anybody. People can live the life they want to live,” Santorum insisted. “They can do whatever they want to do in the privacy of their home with respect to that activity.”

But Santorum, who recently announced his campaign for president, used that keep-the-government-out-of-my-life ethos as reason to amend the U.S. Constitution, which he said would defend heterosexual marriage and all of society.

“Now you’re talking about changing the laws of the country. And it’s going to have a profound impact on society, on faith, on education. Once people realize that, they say, you know what, we respect people’s right to live the life they want to lead, but don’t try to fundamentally change how society functions by changing that definition.”

And society just won’t function, according to Santorum, if “we lower our sights” for children by “robbing” them of their “best hope, which is a mom and a dad.”

Fellow candidate Newt Gingrich has also expressed support for a constitutional amendment. Coincidentally, Tea Party insurgent Herman Cain appeared on CNN this week and said it should be an issue for states, though he repeatedly claimed to support “traditional marriage” without elaborating. Instead, he told Wolf Blitzer to move on when Blitzer questioned him about support for civil unions.

Front-runner Mitt Romney was also on CNN, where he was asked by Piers Morgan whether homosexuality is a sin — a question Romney refused to answer because of its “religious terminology.” He also reiterated his long-standing opposition to gay marriage even while claiming to support gay rights.