Santorum: Homosexuality 'is a behavioral issue'

Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum said Sunday that gays in the military don't deserve to be integrated like blacks.

"That's very, very different," the candidate told Fox News' Chris Wallace. "We're talking about people who are simply different because of the color of their skin, not because of activities that would cause problems for people living in those close quarters. It's a very different thing -- behavior versus an a act."

"I know the whole gay community is trying to make this the new Civil Rights Act. It's not the same. You are black by the color of your skin. You are not, you know, homosexual necessarily by -- obviously -- by the color of your skin."

"It is a fact of your biology," Wallace noted.

"Look, the idea of somehow or another that this is the equivalent of being black and being gay is the same is simply not true. There are all sorts of studies out there that suggest just the contrary. There are people who were gay and lived the gay lifestyle and aren't anymore. I don't know if that's the similar situation -- I don't think that's the case with any anybody that's black. So, it's not the same. And I know people try to make it the same, but it is not."

"It is a behavioral issue as opposed to a color of the skin issue. And that makes it all the difference when it comes to serving in the military.

Santorum has said that if elected, he would work to reinstate the military's gay ban.

Watch this video from Fox News' Fox News Sunday, broadcast Oct. 9, 2011.

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