Romney Says He Won't Repeal DADT

GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney says he will not overturn the recently repealed Don't Ask Don't Tell Act, which prohibited gays to openly serve in the military. During an editorial meeting with the Des Moines Register in early November, a reporter asked the former Massachusetts governor, "How do you feel about gays serving openly in the military?"

"That's already occurred. I'm not planning on reversing that at this stage," Romney replied.

"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."

The story was apparently ignored by the media, GOP primary voters and the other candidates. But Christian News Service spotted the story and reported it on Dec. 21. It was picked up quickly by other right-wing sites, such as Free Republic.

DADT was put into effect on Dec. 21, 1993 but on a July 22 President Obama, Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen, sent the repeal to Congress. Then on Sept. 20, 2011 the policy was officially repealed, which allowed members of the LGBT community to serve openly.

Not all of the presidential candidates have the same feelings towards gays openly serving as Romney does, however. EDGE reported that Rick Perry, the governor of Texas, recently released a video ad titled "Stronger." In the ad, Perry slams gays serving openly in the military and says, "gays can serve openly in the military but our kids can't openly celebrate Christmas or pray in school."

In a recent poll 25 percent voters said that they trust Romney the most trusted candidate on gay marriage, EDGE reported in a Dec. 20 article. Romney beat out front runner Newt Gingrich who received 15 percent of the vote and Michele Bachmann placed third with 13 percent of the vote.