Rick Santorum on Bruce Jenner: 'If He Says He's a Woman, He's a Woman'
Conservative culture warrior and possible 2016 Republican candidate for president, Rick Santorum surprisingly agreed with a controversial confession made by American sports-icon-turned-reality-star Bruce Jenner last month that he is "a woman."
"If he says he's a woman, then he's a woman," said Santorum, in response to a question from BuzzFeed News during a roundtable with reporters at the South Carolina Republican Party's convention.
"My responsibility as a human being is to love and accept everybody. Not to criticize people for who they are. I can criticize, and I do, for what people do, for their behavior. But as far as for who they are, you have to respect everybody, and these are obviously complex issues for businesses, for society. And I think we have to look at it in a way that is compassionate and respectful of everybody."
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After months of rumors and speculation about his gender identity, Jenner, a former Olympic gold-medal decathlete, revealed in a two-hour interview with ABC's Diane Sawyer less than two weeks ago that he was transitioning to a woman, at age 65.
"For all intents and purposes, I am a woman. ... I was not genetically born that way and as of now I have all the male parts. ... But I still identify as female. It's very hard for Bruce Jenner to say that. Why? Because I don't want to disappoint people," Jenner told Sawyer.
"I'm not a girl in guy's body, I hate that. I am a person, it's who I am," he said. "My brain is much more female than it is male. It's hard for people to understand but that's what my soul is."
When asked whether Jenner should be able to use public women's bathrooms Santorum indicated that the federal government should stay out of that conversation.
"So these are tough issues. I haven't got into the whole issue, and I don't think the federal government should get into the whole issue of bathrooms," he said. "I think those are things that the business community and local agencies and organizations should deal with."
In a follow-up comment on his BuzzFeed interview, Santorum further clarified in a post on his Facebook page that: "Many of you may have read a story published by the website BuzzFeed where I was asked for my thoughts regarding Bruce Jenner. My comment affirmed Jenner as a person, made by God in His likeness as we all are. It was meant to express empathy not a change in public policy."
