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treasurer woos gay voters in bid to unseat Santorum

Pennsylvania
treasurer woos gay voters in bid to unseat Santorum

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At a Human Rights Campaign dinner on Saturday, Pennsylvania state treasurer Bob Casey said if elected to replace Rick Santorum he would fight for gay rights

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)

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