What marriage is about, from Senator Rick Santorum

This is to all the heterosexual (legally) married couples out there who thought that your marriage was about your love and commitment to each other.

Rick Santorum: Why? Because -- principally because of children. I mean, it's -- it is the reason for marriage. It's not to affirm the love of two people. I mean, that's not what marriage is about. I mean, if that were the case, then lots of different people and lots of different combinations could be, quote, "married." Marriage is not about affirming somebody's love for somebody else. It's about uniting together to be open to children, to further civilization in our society.

Today's Republicans are out to get you too. Santorum then says the following: "I'm not that familiar with civil union laws." Huh? When Brit Hume presses him on whether he would support any benefits for gay couples, he demurs. This is a U.S. senator who has put himself into the forefront of the gay debate who doesn't even know what civil unions are. You know what? I believe him. He hasn't thought for a second about the good of homosexual citizens. And why should he? And in this he's not alone. I still don't know, for example, whether National Review would officially approve of any benefits for gay couples at all. I don't know what Stanley Kurtz would support short of marriage. Or Maggie Gallagher. Or David Frum. Or president Bush. What does he favor for gay couples if not marriage? This is odd. Wouldn't these people be far more persuasive if they offered an alternative to marriage? It would certainly make them seem far less homophobic. They could take the position that they'd be happy to have civil unions but draw the line at marriage - and they'd get a lot of support. So why don't they? Could it be that their real agenda is not simply keeping marriage exclusively heterosexual but keeping gays as marginalized and stigmatized as possible?