Santorum would not attend gay wedding

Former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) said Thursday that he would not attend the same-sex wedding of a loved one or close family friend. 

“No, I would not,” Santorum, who is mulling a 2016 White House bid, said when asked during an interview with conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt. 

{mosads}Santorum, a staunch Catholic who was the runner-up for the GOP nomination in 2012, suggested that attending such a wedding would go against his religious beliefs. 

“I would love them and support them, but I would not participate in that ceremony,” he said. 

The question was posed to Santorum after Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), who is also opposed to same-sex marriage, said he would attend a gay wedding. 

“If it’s somebody in my life that I care for, of course I would,” Rubio, who is running for the White House, told Fusion. 

“Ultimately, if someone that you care for and is part of your family has decided to move in one direction or another or feels that way because of who they love, you respect that because you love them,” Rubio said.

In his interview Thursday, Santorum suggested that liberals “don’t focus their energy on anything but the attempt to gather more power.”

Hewitt asked whether the 2016 nominee would hold accountable groups like the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), which have killed gay people and other minorities.

“Defending human rights everywhere is something that a president should be involved in, and if I were to run for president and get elected, that’s what I would do,” Santorum said.