Ron Paul and Mitt Romney are being
criticized by social conservatives for supporting openly gay military
service.
Texas Rep. Paul voted in favor of
repeal of “Don't Ask, Don't Tell,” the law that for 18 years
barred gay and bisexual troops from serving openly.
Romney recently told the Des Moines
Register's editorial board that he's no longer opposed to repeal
of the policy because the nation is no longer at war.
“I was not comfortable making the
change during a period of conflict, by virtue of 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,” Romney said.
Bryan Fischer of the American Family
Association called Romney and Paul “non-starters as [GOP
presidential] candidates” for their positions on the issue, media
watchdog Right
Wing Watch reported.
“If evangelical Christians simply
vote their values, there is simply no way they can cast a vote for
someone who is in favor of legitimizing homosexual behavior in the
military,” Fischer said. “In the GOP field, there are just two
candidates who support the presence of sexual deviancy in our armed
forces: Mitt Romney and Ron Paul.”
In discussing Romney's stance, Sandy
Rios of the Family-Pac called Romney “dishonest.”
“Truth and honesty are inconvenient
at times, but they are as much a part of conservative values as any
position on the economy or national defense,” Rios said in a
OneNewsNow.com
guest editorial. “Dishonesty and deceit are basic disqualifiers –
and bend as we may to excuse the inexcusable, in Romney's case, they
are very hard to ignore.”