Santorum: Liberals 'make it uncomfortable' to shower at the YMCA

Former Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum recently told a group of students that they needed to fight for conservative values in "every aspect of your life" because liberals who support abortion rights even "make it uncomfortable" to shower at the YMCA if you disagree with their views.

In a video clip posted by Right Wing Watch on Tuesday, Rick Santorum told the group Students for Life that the truth would only win "if you have the passion, winsomeness and charity to bring to this debate, to bring it to your communities, to bring it to every aspect of your life."

"You see, what the left does, what the pro-choice movement does is they just don't focus on their little issue, they focus on everything they do and every aspect of their life," he explained. "They make it uncomfortable for students who come to Austin to shower at a young men's Christian association YMCA gym."

"Because they live it. They're passionate. They're willing to do and say uncomfortable things in mixed company. They're willing to make the sacrifice at their business because they care enough... They simply won't give up. We have the truth and we give up! We have righteousness and we give up because it’s unpopular!"

In July, Fox News radio host Todd Starnes reported that the Town Lake Branch of the Austin YMCA had "banned" the pro-life group Students for Life. Starnes said that the group had been promised that they could use YMCA showers while they were in town to support the Texas anti-abortion bill but were later told they were no longer welcome in the facilities because pro-life students "intimidated" the staff.

However, the YMCA released a statement saying that Students for Life had violated its policies by bringing political debate into the facility.

"We strive to create an atmosphere that is welcoming to all, where people of all backgrounds are comfortable," the statement said. "That’s what we were striving to do in accommodating the Students for Life group who were in need of a place to shower. Unfortunately, in this instance, it caused the political debate to come into the Y."

"If any person or group enters our facilities and creates an atmosphere that is disruptive, we have an obligation to our members and program participants to ask that person or group to leave or to refuse them access... There are appropriate places in which to conduct a political debate, and that place is down the street at the State Capitol, not at our YMCA."

Watch this video from Students for Life, uploaded Aug. 6, 2013.

(h/t: The Huffington Post)