Artist Credit: Bruce Garrett

I haven’t been a big fan of politics ever since my current events teacher turned me off from it in 12th grade. He would spend 70 minutes a day spewing out his conservative homophobic slander, tell us that democrats have a mental disorder, and force us to watch FOX News. Now I mostly see politics as a bunch of middle-aged men and women that are too stubborn to put their own personal views aside and work together for the better of the country.

Being that I was only 17-years-old when Obama was elected, this is my first year to vote for the presidential election. I decided to put my distaste for politics aside and do a little research on the candidates. Everything I found only intensified my feelings towards the matter, especially with one particular candidate.

Rick Santorum.

I’m a huge advocate of equal rights for everyone, so after reading about Santorum’s views on gay marriage and abortion, I can’t believe people actually support this man (I was just informed that he won Missouri. Idiots.) If he somehow manages to win the election in November, I’m going to buy a one-way ticket to Canada and not come back until his time in the White House is up.

Let’s begin with his views on gay marriage. Santorum made a campaign stop at the Community Christian Academy where a woman asked him why her gay son doesn’t have the same rights as heterosexuals. He proceeded to go on about how everyone should have the same rights, but only if they perform activities that are “healthy for society,” and he believes that homosexuality is not. I’ve known plenty of gay people in my life and none of them have ever been a risk to my health, thank you very much. If anything is unhealthy, it’s stupid celebrities like Kim Kardashian filing for divorce days after they get married while Neil Patrick Harris and David Burtka have been together for eight years, with twin babies, and aren’t able to legally marry each other.

Neil Patrick Harris and David Burtka

In another interview he made a comment about children being better off having a parent in jail than having parents of the same-sex, but I’m not even going to touch that one right now or it will turn into 500 words of how much I want to kick Santorum’s ignorant ass.

My next subject matter is abortion. I have never been pregnant, so I’ve never been in the position to consider an abortion, but if I ever do get in that situation, I want to know I have the choice to do so. No man in the White House will ever be able to tell me what I can and cannot do with my own body. In a recent interview with CNN’s Piers Morgan, Santorum explained how he is opposed to abortion, even in the case of rape and incest. He says that is still a gift from God, even if it came in such a broken way.

What about children who have been raped by their father or by anyone for that matter? Should they be forced to carry their baby to term when they are still babies themselves? No woman should be forced to carry around a reminder of that horrible experience for nine months. It upsets me that Santorum would want that for his daughter if she were ever raped.

It’s a woman’s body and a woman’s choice, and Santorum should have no say about any of it.