Gay Rights:

Today's Republicans: Mitt Romney: "Im not planning on reversing [the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell] at this stage. I was not comfortable making the change during a period of conflict, due to the complicating features of a new program in the middle of two wars going on, but those wars are winding down, and moving in that direction at this stage no longer presents that problem. i Governor Romney supports the Employment Non-Discrimination Act. ii Ron Paul: The problem that we have with dealing with [the subject of gays in the military] is we see people as groups, as they belong to certain groups and that they derive their rights as belonging to groups. We don't get our rights because we're gays or women or minorities. We get our rights from our Creator as individuals. So every individual should be treated the same way. So if there is homosexual behavior in the military that is disruptive, it should be dealt with. But if there's heterosexual behavior that is disruptive, it should be dealt with. So it isn't the issue of homosexuality. It's the concept and the understanding of individual rights. If we understood that, we would not be dealing with this very important problem. iii Consider the Lawrence case decided by the Supreme Court in June. The Court determined that Texas had no right to establish its own standards for private sexual conduct, because gay sodomy is somehow protected under the 14th amendment "right to privacy". Ridiculous as sodomy laws may be, there clearly is no right to privacy nor sodomy found anywhere in the Constitution. There are, however, states' rights rights plainly affirmed in the Ninth and Tenth amendments. Under those amendments, the State of Texas has the right to decide for itself how to regulate social matters like sex, using its own local standards.iv Congressman Paul voted for the Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act of 2010. v Newt Gingrich: Speaker Gingrich has stated that he would have voted against allowing homosexuals to serve openly in the military, supports the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), and would not allow transgender people to serve in the United States armed forces. vi Rick Santorum: Gays destablize the family when they have children through technology. vii I would just say that, going forward, we would reinstitute [Don't Ask, Don't Tell], if Rick Santorum was president, period.viii

Goldwater: There has always been homosexuality ever since men and women were invented. I guess there were gay apes. So that's not an issue. The Republican Party should stand for freedom and only freedom. Don't raise hell about the gays, the blacks, and the Mexicans. Free people have a right to do as they damn well please. To see the party that fought communism and big government now fighting gays, well, thats just plain dumb. ix Any man or woman who wants to fight for his country shouldnt be kept from it just because they happen to be gay.x "The conservative movement, to which I subscribe, has as one of its basic tenets the belief that government should stay out of peoples private lives. Government governs best when it governs least and stays out of the impossible task of legislating morality. But legislating someones version of morality is exactly what we do by perpetuating discrimination against gays." xi "You don't have to be straight to shoot straight."xii "I served in the armed forces. I have flown more than 150 of the best fighter planes and bombers this country manufactured. I founded the Arizona National Guard. I chaired the Senate Armed Services Committee. And I think its high time to pull the curtains on this charade of policy. What should undermine our readiness would be a compromise policy like Dont ask, dont tell. That compromise doesnt deal with the issue it tries to hide it." xiii "If the government can regulate homosexuality, then they can regulate heterosexuality." xiv Its time America realized that there was no gay exemption in the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness in the Declaration of Independence. xv "The day is going to come when whether a person is gay or not isn't going to matter." xvi Notes: Goldwater first started speaking out on allowing gays to serve openly in the military after meeting a gay acquaintance of his grandson's in the late 1980s, who told the Arizona Senator that he was going to be discharged from the Air Force due to his sexual orientation. Goldwater, an Air Force veteran who flew over one hundred different planes during his lifetime, was appalled. "That's the damnedest thing I've ever heard," he said.xvii The Senator later led local efforts to stop Phoenix businesses from hiring based upon sexual preference, and signed on as the honorary co-chairman of a drive to pass a federal law preventing job discrimination against homosexuals. xviii

http://www.advocate.com/News/Daily_News/2011/12/12/Mitt_Romney_Now_Supports_Gays_in_the_Military/ http://www.christianpost.com/news/pro-gay-romney-upsets-family-values-leader-30684/ iii http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0706/05/se.01.html iv http://www.lewrockwell.com/paul/paul120.html v http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2010/roll638.xml vi http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/dec/11/gingrich-tough-on-women-gays-in-military/?page=all vii http://www.silobreaker.com/santorum-gays-destabilize-the-family-when-they-have-children-through-technology5_2265043788646842368 viii http://opinion.latimes.com/opinionla/2011/09/gop-debate-rick-santorum-dont-ask-dont-tell.html? utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed28L.A.+Times+-+Opinion+Blog%29 ix http://books.google.com.au/books? id=P2MEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA3&source=gbs_toc&cad=2#v=onepage&q=goldwater&f=false x http://tucsoncitizen.com/morgue2/1998/05/29/205367-barry-goldwater-1909-1998/ xi http://www.cs.cmu.edu/afs/cs.cmu.edu/user/scotts/bulgarians/barry-goldwater.html xii http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/08/us/politics/08gays.html xiii http://www.cs.cmu.edu/afs/cs.cmu.edu/user/scotts/bulgarians/barry-goldwater.html xiv http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRoDDrs1kc8 (2:57) xv Pure Goldwater, 370. xvi http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20142381,00.html xvii Ibid. xviii http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/daily/may98/goldwater072894.htm
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