CarnalNation

Clipped from: gayrights.change.org (share this clip)

If you're openly gay—or an unmarried woman who is *ahem* "living in sin" with a man—you may want to give up on a career in education. At least, if Senator Jim DeMint (R-South Carolina) has his way. At a church rally in Spartanburg, South Carolina on Friday, DeMint gave his opinion on who should be allowed to teach the nation's children in no uncertain terms:

DeMint said if someone is openly homosexual, they shouldn't be teaching in the classroom and he holds the same position on an unmarried woman who's sleeping with her boyfriend — she shouldn't be in the classroom.

“(When I said those things,) no one came to my defense,” he said. “But everyone would come to me and whisper that I shouldn't back down. They don't want government purging their rights and their freedom to religion.”

From www.goupstate.com (share this quote)

DeMint's comments actually aren't out of the blue: he originally made his opinion known four years ago:

During a 2004 debate with Democrat Inez Tenenbaum, DeMint said he agreed with a state GOP platform item that says gays should not teach in public schools. Several days later, DeMint also said single, pregnant women with live-in boyfriends also should not be teachers.

From www.necn.com (share this quote)

Unsurprisingly, DeMint has received a great deal of criticism, even from the right wing, such as the gay Republican group, GOProud:

"Jim DeMint's comments can only be described as outrageous and bizarre," GOProud's Christopher R. Barron added in a statement. "The idea that someone who says they believe in limited government would support the government weeding out gay teachers and unmarried sexually active female teachers simply defies logic."

From www.cbsnews.com (share this quote)

GOProud, of course, recently made headlines when they invited Ann Coulter to address HomoCon 2010, their convention in Washington, DC. Coulter, who promoted herself as "the Judy Garland of the right," told the group in a speech that marriage isn't a civil right and that gays aren't entitled to it.

DeMint's spokesman made a rather bland defense of the comments, trying to paint them as a stand on local vs. federal control of education:

"Senator DeMint believes that hiring decisions at local schools are a local school board issue, not a federal issue. He was making a point about how the media attacks people for holding a moral opinion," a DeMint spokesman said Tuesday.

From www.upi.com (share this quote)