Correction: Lil Ricky DOESN'T Support gay rights!

Now this is funny.

Way way way way back in early August (the 4th, to be precise) Sue, our good friend over at Pittsburgh Lesbian Correspondents, posted this about our junior Senator, Rick Santorum:

Ricky does not discriminate against homosexuals in his hiring decisions. And now he's the 170th member of Congress who have signed a statement affirming that.

And she pointed to this article at PlanetQ where it says:

After a meeting with a Pennsylvania-based activist Adrian Shanker, US Senator Rick Santorum (R-PA) has signed onto a letter affirming that his office does not discriminate in hiring on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity, PageOneQ has learned. Santorum is the 170th member of Congress to sign the statement.

In a statement issued by GenderPAC, the Gender Public Advocacy Coalition, executive director Riki Wilchins said, "We welcome Sen. Santorum's signature affirming the need for basic equality in his own hiring practices. It puts him in good company with 169 other Members of Congress who have signed this statement."

Ah, what a difference six days makes. From The Advocate:

Less than a week after becoming the 170th member of Congress to affirm that his office does not discriminate in its employment practices based on an individual’s "sexual orientation or gender identity and expression," U.S. senator Rick Santorum, a Pennsylvania Republican, on Wednesday rescinded his signature on a diversity statement.

Some background:

The diversity statement is a joint project initiated in 2003 by GenderPAC and the Human Rights Campaign that has received bipartisan support on Capitol Hill from members of the House and Senate. Santorum's signature came after a meeting during the week of July 24 between the senator and GenderPac volunteers. After the meeting, Santorum posed for a picture with them. A copy of the senator's statement was faxed to GenderPAC on August 1, and the signature was confirmed the following morning by Santorum's openly gay senior aide, Robert Traynham.

And then something happened. Because:

On Wednesday, Santorum faxed GenderPAC a new statement that read in part, "To be clear, my office has not adopted the proposed 'diversity statement' nor the agenda of your organization.... My name should no longer be reported as having adopted the 'diversity statement.'"

So he supported the diversity statement before he decided not to support it.

Rick Santorum - a gay flip flopper.