Rick Santorum has said gay men and lesbians have equal rights.

After receiving on Tuesday the personal endorsement of Bob Vander Plaats, president and CEO of The Family Leader, Santorum appeared on Fox News' On The Record With Greta Van Susteren.

Vander Plaats is best known for leading last year's successful campaign to oust three of the seven Iowa Supreme Court judges who overturned the state's ban on gay marriage in 2009.

Santorum, along with Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann and Texas Governor Rick Perry, signed the group's controversial 14-point anti-gay marriage pledge.

Each presidential candidate was asked to “vigorously” oppose marriage equality, be faithful to his or her own spouse, vow to protect women and children from pornography and reject Sharia law because it is a “form of totalitarian control.”

The pledge ironically asks candidates to have “respect for the marital bonds of others” in a state where gay marriage is legal and footnotes to the document suggest that being gay is a choice that may have a negative impact on public health.

On the program, host Greta Van Susteren asked Santorum how he planned to get the gay vote.

“How can you convince them that despite, you know, your views and [Vander Plaats'] views, that you could – I mean, is there any way that you could convince them to vote for you?”

“Well, look, I have nothing against gay people,” Santorum responded. “They have rights of every other citizen. But what they did in Iowa and what some are trying to do, not all gays, but some are trying to do is change the laws of this country with respect to what the definition of marriage is.”

“If there are differences, I'm certainly going to speak out on those differences when I think it's in the best interest of our country to have laws that reflect having men and women raise children and form solid marriage bonds,” he added. (Watch video of the exchange at ThinkProgress.org.)