Rick Santorum Defends Anti-Gay Views By Saying He Has Gay Friends:

Fox News host Megan Kelly yesterday told Rick Santorum yesterday that many of her gay friends think he hates them because of his tenaciously homophobic policies and rhetoric, like his oft-cited comparison of homosexuality with sex with animals.

And, as he did with CNN's Don Lemon, Santorum defended himself with a predictable remark, "I have gay friends," which is akin to a racist saying, "I have black friends," and said that while he "respects" the "decision" to be gay, he won't back down on his socially conservative politics.

"I have friends who are gay, I accept them as they are, but I disagree with them vehemently about what is in the best interest of society with respect to our marriage laws," Santorum insists.

He went on:

Again, I'm going to stand and be very vocal about [my anti-gay marriage views], but that doesn't mean that I dislike anybody or hate anybody because of their sexual orientation. I respect that decision, but you also have to respect me for feeling very differently for trying to take that orientation and then trying to project that agenda on to the American public that is consistent with that, that's where I'll draw the line...