Do you hate gays and lesbians with all your heart and soul? We've got news for you: a new scientific report says you may actually have same-sex desires yourself. Does this mean that Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum is gay? Hmmmmmm…

Conducted by a research team from the University of Rochester, the University of Essex, England, and the University of California in Santa Barbara, the study breaks ground in documenting that “homophobia is more pronounced in individuals with an unacknowledged attraction to the same sex and who grew up with authoritarian parents who forbade such desires,” a press release from the University of Rochester states.

To be honest, we're not surprised. It seems like some kind of Law of the Universe that well-known, homophobic politicians and ministers inevitably get caught in a gay sex scandal at one point or another. Remember U.S. Senator Larry Craig or Pastor Ted Haggard?

The study shows that “both parenting and sexual orientation play in the formation of intense and visceral fear of homosexuals, including self-reported homophobic attitudes, discriminatory bias, implicit hostility towards gays, and endorsement of anti-gay policies,” states the press release.

“Individuals who identify as straight but in psychological tests show a strong attraction to the same sex may be threatened by gays and lesbians because homosexuals remind them of similar tendencies within themselves,” says Netta Weinstein, a lecturer at the University of Essex and the study's lead author.

“In many cases these are people who are at war with themselves and they are turning this internal conflict outward,” says co-author Richard Ryan, professor of psychology at the University of Rochester.

Santorum, who's fighting Mitt Romney for the Republican presidential nomination, has long been a leading voice against gay rights and gay sex. He can't keep his mouth shut about the gays, often wrapping his arguments around notions of what's best for society and family.

“If the Supreme Court says that you have the right to consensual sex within your home,” Santorum told the Associated Press, “then you have the right to bigamy, you have the right to polygamy, you have the right to incest, you have the right to adultery. You have the right to anything.” and “Whether it's polygamy, whether it's adultery, whether it's sodomy, all of those things, are antithetical to a healthy, stable, traditional family.”

The new study is certainly food for thought for Santorum and anyone else who slams gays and lesbians.

Contact Patrick Range McDonald at pmcdonald@laweekly.com.

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