Presidential candidate Rick Santorum on
Friday took a swipe at Texas Governor Rick Perry's views on passage
of gay marriage in New York.
Perry, a potential candidate for the
2012 GOP presidential nomination, told a crowd in Aspen that he's
fine with New York's recent approval of the institution.
“Our friends in New York six weeks
ago passed a statute that said marriage can be between two people of
the same sex. And you know what? That's New York, and that's their
business, and that's fine with me,” Perry said.
The governor went on to call himself an
“unapologetic social conservative” and affirmed his opposition to
marriage equality, but added that he also believes in the 10th
amendment.
Aspen is hosting the Republican
Governors Association's convention, and Perry was speaking at a forum
held by the Aspen Institute. Also in attendance were Republican
Governors Scott Walker of Wisconsin, Nikki Haley of South Carolina,
Susana Martinez of New Mexico and Bob McDonnell of Virginia, the AP
reported.
Perry's hands off approach drew
criticism from Santorum.
“So Gov Perry, if a state wanted to
allow polygamy or if they chose to deny heterosexuals the right to
marry, would that be OK too?” Santorum messaged on Twitter with the
hashtag #tcot, which stands for “top conservatives on Twitter.”
Earlier in the week, Santorum
lashed out at gay activist Dan Savage's remarks on HBO's Real Time
With Bill Maher.