Vice President Joe Biden has called the
booing of a gay service member during Thursday night's GOP
presidential debate “reprehensible.”
During the televised Fox News/Google
debate, presidential candidate Rick Santorum answered a question
submitted by Stephen Hill, a gay soldier serving in Iraq.
Referring to the recent repeal of
“Don't Ask, Don't Tell,” Hill, dressed in an Army t-shirt, asked
via a YouTube clip: “Do you intend to circumvent the progress that
has been made for gay and lesbian soldiers in the military?”
The audience booed Hill's question, but
cheered Santorum when he called DADT
repeal a “tragic social experiment” and vowed he would reinstate
the policy, if elected president.
Appearing Tuesday on ABC's The View,
Biden said the booing produced a “visceral response.”
“I know my son and all the kids with
him,” Biden said, referring to his son Beau Biden, who served in
Iraq. “I don't think they give a damn whether the guy firing the
rifle to protect them is gay or straight.”
President Barack Obama reacted
to the booing during a Sunday fundraiser, saying, “That's not
reflective of who we are.” (The video is embedded in the right
panel of this page.)
Santorum,
Jon Huntsman and Gary Johnson have also condemned the booing.