Rick Santorum Protest: 2 Men Kiss During Rally, Crowd Jeers

Two men interrupted a Rick Santorum event in Illinois with a same-sex kiss, and were promptly ejected by security when the crowd turned on them.

The fracas began in the middle of Santorum's remarks (at the 3:38 mark in the above video clip), when two protesters, identified as Timothy Tross and Ben Clifford, began yelling "mic check!" then embraced before bowing showily to the crowd. When the crowd realizes what was happening, they began to boo and chant "U-S-A!" in unison.

The duo would would not reveal whether they were gay to Palatine Patch reporter Savannah Ziegelbauer, emphasizing Santorum's oft-divisive gay rights policy, not their sexuality, as the important issue. "I don't think the message should be about what my sexuality is," Tross said. "It's the message that he's saying about sexuality that matters."

Santorum was speaking at Christian Liberty Academy in Arlington Heights, Illinois, in advance of the Illinois primary on Tuesday, March 20. His appearance had been expected to draw protests from gay rights supporters, as well as some former high school classmates.