GREENWELL SPRINGS, LA – This weekend, GOP presidential candidate Rick Santorum reaffirmed his plan to bring back the Pentagon’s Don’t Ask Don’t Tell (DADT) policy if he is elected in November.
On Sunday, the former U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania was a guest of Tony Perkins, the head of the Family Research Council, a conservative and anti-LGBT rights organization, at Louisiana’s Greenwell Springs Baptist Church.
Perkins, who favors restoring DADT repeal, said the Obama administration “has systematically used this military for social experimentation” through “overturning the Don’t Ask Don’t Tell policy and forcing open homosexuality on the military.” He then asked Santorum if he would “reverse” Obama’s decision.
Santorum said the repeal of DADT was “not in the best interest of our men and women in uniform.” He pledged to restore DADT, but added that it “doesn’t mean that people who are gays and lesbians can’t serve” in the armed services.
Also on Sunday, Perkins warned LGBT activists against politicizing the verdict in the Tyler Clementi bullying suicide case. “Unfortunately, some prohomosexual activists would exploit the personal tragedies of these families to promote a political agenda,” he said.
“Some have even laid blame not on the actual bullies but on Christian churches and conservative politicians.”