Did Homophobia Sink Rick Santorum?

I suspect Rick Santorum ultimately self-destructed for a number of reason, but some say his vitriolic homophobia played a significant role. If nothing else, Santorum's extreme homophobia served to underscore his religious extremism and the fact that he holds only contempt for the concept of the separation of church and state and the religious freedom of non-Bible beating Protestants and Opus Dei loving Catholics. One can only hope that time will demonstrate that Santorum represents the last gasp of the Christian Right at the national level and that in another four years more of his aging fellow religious extremists will have exited from the voter rolls. This column looks at Santorum's anti-gay extremism and how it may have been part of his undoing. Here are highlights:

The proverbial fat lady finally sang on former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum’s presidential aspirations on Tuesday with the suspension of his campaign. . . . . What happened?

The social conservative’s strong opposition to marriage for gays and lesbians came under increased scrutiny on the campaign trail, as evidenced when a group of college students repeatedly challenged Santorum on the issue during a town hall at New England College in Henniker, N.H., ahead of the first-in-the-nation presidential primary in January. LGBT rights group blasted Santorum last September after he described the repeal of the ban on openly gay and lesbian servicemembers during a Republican presidential debate in Orlando, Fla., as "playing social experimentation with our military right now."

A Gallup poll last May shows that 53 percent of Americans support marriage for same-sex couples. More significantly, only one percent of those who took part in the Conservative Political Action Committee straw poll in Feb. 2011 said stopping nuptials for gays and lesbians was a top priority.

"After a long and drawn out primary season, Republicans are looking forward to changing the focus toward President Obama and Democrats in Congress," said R. Clarke Cooper, executive director of Log Cabin Republicans, after Santorum suspended his campaign. "The departure of Rick Santorum’s divisive social politics from the race puts moderate, independent and younger conservative voters in play."

Santorum said in his Gettysburg speech that he would help presumptive GOP presidential nominee Romney defeat Obama in November. His political capital among social conservatives could very well benefit the former Massachusetts governor ahead of this summer’s Republican National Convention in Tampa. The question remains, however, whether this support will even matter.

The primary takeaway from Santorum’s failed presidential campaign is that overtly homophobic rhetoric against marriage equality and other LGBT-specific issues does not equate to an effective campaign strategy. Romney should take note if he hopes to stand a chance against Obama in November.

I continue to wonder when the GOP will wake up to the fact that the party is engaged in a slow form of political suicide as it continues to pander to a dwindling percentage of the population and wraps itself in religious extremism found to be horrific to growing numbers of Americans.