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Santorum Flees PFLAG Meeting
by Paul Johnson
365Gay.com Newscenter
Washington Bureau Chief
May 2, 2003
11:27 a.m. ET/+5GMT/-3PT
(Washington, D.C.) Pennsylvania Republican Rick Santorum fled a Thursday night meeting with four parents of gay children. The parents, members of PFLAG said he rushed out of the meeting so quickly he tripped over a chair.
Santorum who has come under fire for comparing homosexuality with incest, polygamy and adultery (story) was unapologetic.
"What we tried to do in this meeting was reach him on a human level, and we found no humanity there," said Melina Waldo, a former constituent of Santorum, who lives in Haddonfield, N.J. She said he was "condescending, belligerent, argumentative and arrogant."
Also present for the meeting were Mrs. Waldo's husband, Richard, a lifelong Republican who said he voted two times for Santorum, and two constituents of the senator, Fran and Allen Kirschner of Philadelphia.
It was Fran Kirschner who managed to get the meeting arranged. The four parents, members of Philadelphia's PFLAG chapter, are in Washington as part of a lobbying effort to get Congress to enact gay positive laws including the hate crimes bill. (story)
Kirschner said she spent much of last week telephoning Santorum's office to request the meeting. Finally was told Thursday that the senator would see them for 10 minutes.
During the meeting the parents insisted that the comments were hurtful to their children. Santorum dismissed the arguments saying his comments should only be taken in a "legal context".
When the exchange became heated an aide to the Senator told him it was time to leave.
"He couldn't get out of there fast enough," Allen Kirschner said.
Erica Clayton Wright, a spokesperson for Santorum, disputed the Kirschners' account, describing the meeting as "a very professional and polite exchange." She declined to give details, however, saying, "Constituent meetings are private."
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