jQuery - Simple text spinner with href links

I'm using the "Simple Text Rotator" and its awesome functionality, the only problem I'm having is that the text I'm trying to rotate is a link:

<h1 class="sliding-text">
    <span class="rotate">
        <a href="#link-1">Link 1</a>, 
        <a href="#link-2">Link 2</a>,
        <a href="link-3.php">Link 3</a>,
        <a href="link-4.php">Link 4</a>
    </span>
</h1>

But when I run my site they are no longer links :(

This is how I add the library to the sliding text h1:

$(".sliding-text .rotate").textrotator({
    animation: "fade",
    speed: 1000
});

Here is the jQuery code for the library:

!function ($) {

    var defaults = {
        animation: "fade",
        separator: ",",
        speed: 2000
    };

    $.fx.step.textShadowBlur = function (fx) {
        $(fx.elem).prop('textShadowBlur', fx.now).css({ textShadow: '0 0 ' + Math.floor(fx.now) + 'px black' });
    };

    $.fn.textrotator = function (options) {
        var settings = $.extend({}, defaults, options);

        return this.each(function () {
            var el = $(this)
            var array = [];
            $.each(el.text().split(settings.separator), function (key, value) {
                array.push(value);
            });
            el.text(array[0]);

            // animation option
            var rotate = function () {
                switch (settings.animation) {

                    case 'fade':
                        el.fadeOut(500, function () {
                            index = $.inArray(el.text(), array)
                            if ((index + 1) == array.length) index = -1
                            el.text(array[index + 1]).fadeIn(settings.speed);
                        });
                        break;
                }
            };
            setInterval(rotate, 8000);
        });
    }

}(window.jQuery);

As you can see the delimiter is, ,this is what I have after each link, why doesn't the link appear? Is there any way I can add a link with text in the spinner?