Elections

‘Mic check!’: Gay kissers ejected from Santorum rally, crowd chants ‘U-S-A!’ [VIDEO]

David Martosko Executive Editor
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Two gay men who shared a drawn-out kiss in the audience of a Rick Santorum speech Friday night found themselves led out of the Christian Liberty Academy auditorium in Arlington Heights, Ill. along with two friends who had come with them to the event.

The pair drew attention to themselves with shouts of “Mic check!” — a familiar sound to Occupy Wall Street observers — but faced boos from the conservative audience and chants of “U-S-A!” that drowned them out.

“Mic Check! Mr. Santorum!” the two young men shouted, one after the other. “This will never be an equal country for families –”

By then the crowd of approximately 2,000 had turned their heads and began showing their disapproval. Whatever the men said next was lost in the noise, but what they did will be remembered.

They stood and kissed for about five seconds, one of them with a raised, clenched fist.

The Palatine Patch, a local newspaper, identified the men as Timothy Tross and Ben Clifford.

Asked by the Patch whether the lip-locking was a symbolic act or a genuine display of affection, Tross said, “I don’t think the message should be about what my sexuality is. It’s the message that he’s saying about sexuality that matters.”

About 50 protesters rallied outside the Santorum event before it began, organized by a Facebook group of anti-Santorum alumni of the Catholic high school where he graduated in 1976.

Before the interruption, Santorum was criticizing President Obama’s ties to cultural elites.

“He believes in an America that is ruled by those in authority,” he said, “taking money from some, giving it to those who know better, who are the planners, who are the smart people, the elites in society — the ones who went to the best schools, the ones who come from the right families. And they are the ones who are going to allocate the resources of this country.”

After the audience died down, the former Pennsylvania senator continued with his attack on Obama.

“We need a president,” he said, to wild cheers, “who will stand for the values that made this country the greatest country in the history of the world.”

(Video from YouTube and from The Arlington Cardinal)

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