December 01, 2016
Former Pennsylvania Senator and two-time presidential candidate Rick Santorum was heckled during an keynote speech Wednesday night at Cornell University in upstate New York.
Santorum was on hand at the invitation of the Cornell Republicans, who brought the social conservative in for an extended Q&A session about the future of American politics.
Early on in the event, a group of gay rights demonstrators broke out into a chant of "shame!" against Santorum, a Catholic politician who has stood in vocal opposition to gay marriage, once comparing the battle to the fight against terrorism in the wake of the 9/11 attacks.
Santorum adamantly questioned the protesters' commitment to diversity in the face of those who disagree with them.
It's like the word God just triggers the hell out of them @RickSantorum @yaf pic.twitter.com/YszZVnK8XR
— Mike (@mccarinha) December 1, 2016
During the Q&A, Santorum fielded a direct question about gay marriage by reitering his religious conception of marriage as a bond between a man and a woman, according to The Cornell Review.
Santoroum's book, "Blue Collar Conservatives, Recommitting to an America That Works," was reportedly an influential read for President-elect Donald Trump, who met with Santorum two years before his improbable run for the White House.
In a recent op-ed for The Philadelphia Inquirer, Santorum praised Trump for securing a "YUGE Republican victory" and predicted that he will deliver for working families.
