Santorum: Should Gay Printers Have to Make Westboro Signs?

He invokes 'God Hates Fags' church in RFRA debate
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 6, 2015 12:39 AM CDT
Santorum: Should Gay Printers Have to Make Westboro Signs?
Members of the Westboro Baptist Church demonstrate against the Republican National Convention on Aug. 28, 2012, in Tampa, Fla.   (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)

Rick Santorum has weighed in on the debate over Indiana's Religious Freedom Restoration Act using what appears to have been the most provocative comparison he could think of. "Tolerance is a two-way street," he told CBS News yesterday, arguing that businesses should have the "ability to say we're not going to participate in certain activities that we disagree with from a religious point of view." "If you are a print shop, and you are a gay man, should you be forced to print 'God Hates Fags’ for the Westboro Baptist Church—because they hold those signs up?" he asked. "Should the government force you to do that?" Santorum described the Indiana law as a "good bill" and said he had hoped Indiana Gov. Mike Pence wouldn't amend it, the Guardian reports.

Critics pointed out that Santorum's parallel was off the mark, since the hypothetical gay print-shop owner wouldn't be turning down Westboro for religious reasons, Bloomberg reports. "Santorum is confusing this by asking whether a business should have to print hate speech," a spokesman for Marriage Equality USA tells Al Jazeera. "No law requires businesses to provide that service." A GoFundMe page for a florist in Washington state who refused to provide flowers for a same-sex wedding, meanwhile, has raised nearly $100,000, reports the Seattle Times. (During Santorum's 2012 White House run, the Republican accused the gay community of waging "jihad" against him.)

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