Pope Benedict spoke out again today against marriage equality, calling it a threat to “the future of humanity itself.” He emphasized that children need proper “settings” that place pride in the “family, based on the marriage of a man and a woman”:

BENEDICT: This is not a simple social convention, but rather the fundamental cell of every society. Consequently, policies which undermine the family threaten human dignity and the future of humanity itself… The family unit is fundamental for the educational process and for the development both of individuals and states; hence there is a need for policies which promote the family and aid social cohesion and dialogue.

The Pope has for years “pressed for a purge of homosexuality not merely as an act or a lifestyle but as an orientation,” calling it “an intrinsic moral evil” and “an objective disorder.” Despite the Church’s hard line opposing gay rights, few U.S. Catholics actually feel that its leaders speak on their behalf on such issues. (HT: Towleroad)

Rick Santorum regularly touts the importance of families on the campaign trail, but during a town hall event in New Hampshire this afternoon, the former Pennsylvania senator argued that he would break up immigrant families who entered the country illegally. “It happens every day, we take fathers and mothers out of their families if they break the law and [undocumented immigrants] shouldn’t be treated any better than American citizens who break the law and being separated from their families,” he explained, before noting that his grandfather also left his family in Italy in order to enter the United States legally:

SANTORUM: My grandfather made sacrifices. He lived in this country five years without his family…So when I hear people say, ‘well, people have lived here a long time, and they’ve played by the rules and we don’t want to separate families.’ Well, my grandfather separated from his family. Why? Because America was worth it.

Several minutes later, however, in response to a question about his opposition to same-sex marriage, Santorum touted his support for so-called traditional families. “I think family is important and I think marriage is important for children to have strong families as the foundational element of our community,” he said. “Absolutely. I think it’s essential for the economy.” Watch the contradiction:

Santorum relied on a pithier explanation of his immigration policy in Iowa, telling voters in December, “Families should be broken up when the law is broken, which includes illegal immigration.”

Setting aside the heartlessness of Santorum’s broken families policy, it’s also a horrible waste of money. Thousands of immigrant children already languish in the U.S. foster care system after their parents were deported. Estimates also suggest that deporting every undocumented immigrant in the country would cost a massive $285 billion over five years.

Mitt Romney spokesperson Eric Fehrnstrom is disavowing the now-infamous Gay Pride flyers the governor allegedly distributed to the gay and lesbian community during his 2002 campaign for the governor’s office in Massachusetts, claiming that the brochures were not created by the campaign:

Eric Fehrnstrom, Romney’s chief spokesman, tells the HuffPost that flyers claiming Mitt Romney supports Gay Pride that read “All citizens deserve equal rights, regardless of their sexual preference” were not created by Romney during his 2002 run for Governor.

“I don’t know where those pink flyers came from. I was the communications director on the 2002 campaign. I don’t know who distributed them … I never saw them and I was the communications director,” Fehrnstrom said in the spin room after Sunday morning’s GOP presidential debate here. Fehrnstrom said he had no idea who had distributed the flyers. “I never saw them and I never approved them. I’m not quite sure where they came from.”

The flyers do conform with Romney’s more inclusive message to gay and lesbian voters during his 1994 unsuccessful run for the Senate and his governorship: in both campaigns, Romney maintained that while he does not support same-sex marriage, he believes that all state residents should be treated equally under existing law. “As a result of our discussions and other interactions with gay and lesbian voters across the state, I am more convinced than ever that as we seek to establish full equality for America’s gay and lesbian citizens,” Romney told the Log Cabin Republicans in 1994, who endorsed him in his bid for the state house.

Governor Romney fought the Massachusetts Supreme Court’s 2003 decision bringing same-sex marriage to the state, but also “urged more than a dozen Republican lawmakers to support the compromise version” of a proposed constitutional amendment banning marriage equality “which included strong civil unions language.” In 2005, he admitted that he would back civil unions under certain circumstances — “If the question is: Do you support gay marriage or civil unions? I’d say neither. If they said you have to have one or the other, that Massachusetts is going to have one or the other, then I’d rather have civil unions than gay marriage,” he said. “But I’d rather have neither.” [Associated Press, 2/23/2005]

As a presidential candidate, however, Romney has sought to appeal to the GOP’s more conservative base, promising to institute a complicated three-tier system for married gay couples and signing a pledge from the anti-gay National Organization for Marriage (NOM).

Encouraged by New York’s new marriage equality law, “Democrats in the New Jersey Legislature will reintroduce a gay marriage bill this week and have vowed to make same-sex unions a top priority two years after similar legislation was voted down,” the Associated Press is reporting:

Democrats tried but failed to shepherd a gay marriage bill through the Senate in the waning days of the Corzine administration in 2010 after Gov. Jon Corzine, a Democrat, said he would sign it. Fourteen senators voted for the bill. The measure needed 21 votes to pass.

Senate President Steve Sweeney, a Democrat who abstained, has regretted not voting ever since. He has called his inaction on the bill “the biggest mistake” of his legislative career. To indicate the importance he has since attached to the bill, Sweeney will be among its prime sponsors in the Senate along with incoming Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg and Sen. Ray Lesniak. It is being assigned the symbolic number S1, as the first bill of the new two-year session.

The measure will allow “religious institutions and personnel to opt out” of recognizing same-sex marriages and clergy members will not be compelled “to perform a gay marriage ceremony and no place of worship would be required to allow same-sex weddings at their facilities,” the report notes.

In 2006, the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled in Lewis v. Harris that “every statutory right and benefit conferred to heterosexual couples through civil marriage must be made available to committed same-sex couples.” The New Jersey legislature responded to the decision by legalizing civil unions, but a 2008 review commission found that “the separate categorization established by the Civil Union Act invites and encourages unequal treatment of same-sex couples and their children.” A marriage equality group is suing the state to establish same-sex marriage and will move forward with the lawsuit despite the legislative effort.

An August survey from Public Policy Polling found that 47 percent of New Jersey voters would “legalize marriage between same-sex partners, while 42 percent wanted to keep it illegal.” Gov. Chris Christie (R) says he supports civil unions but not marriage equality.