Texas Governor Rick Perry has been in the news with some frequency of late. A good deal of the coverage has centered on his support of a national day of prayer, “The Response USA,” which will invoke God’s help in restoring “moral purpose” to the United States.  (Incidentally, this is an event which some Catholic bishops, including Bishop Richard Malone of Portland, ME, have endorsed.) Perry also proclaimed a state-wide day of prayer asking for rain in Texas, which has drawn fire from various quarters.

Perry, who is rumored to be considering a run for the Republican Party’s nomination for President, is back in the headlines today. According to the Des Moines Register, he had the following to say about the recent passage of gay marriage in New York at a gathering of Republican donors at the Aspen Institute:

“Our friends in New York six weeks ago passed a statute that said marriage can be between two people of the same sex. And you know what? That’s New York, and that’s their business, and that’s fine with me,” he said to applause from several hundred GOP donors in Aspen, the AP reported.

Some of the governor’s more conservative supporters seem to be dismayed at this turn of events. And his possible opponents in the race seem to be wasting no time pouncing on the comments. Former senator Rick Santorum, also a Republican hopeful for the presidency, tweeted his (necessarily) terse rebuttal last night:

“So Gov Perry, if a state wanted to allow polygamy or if they chose to deny heterosexuals the right to marry, would that be OK too?”

So far, no response from Governor Perry on Santorum’s question. Nor, for that matter, Alex Pareene’s query over at Salon: 

What “if a state wanted to allow human beings to be bought and sold as property[?]” because Perry’s position on that particular Constitutional question still seems kind of fuzzy.

Timothy O’Brien, SJ