National
Santorum to gay soldier: ‘Don’t Ask’ repeal is ‘tragic’
Gay soldier asks question on LGBT rights at GOP debate
Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum (Blade file photo by Michael Key)
Former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum reiterated his support for reinstating “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” on Thursday in response to a question asked by a gay soldier serving in Iraq during a presidential debate.
Santorum — one of nine GOP presidential hopefuls who attended the Fox News/Google debate in Orlando, Fla. — said he’d reinstitute the military’s gay ban but suggested he would allow troops who have already come out to continue serving.
The question came via video from an Army soldier serving in Iraq identified as Stephen Hill. The service member said he was gay during the video and asked if debate participants would rollback LGBT advances in the military that have been achieved under President Obama.
“In 2010, when I was deployed to Iraq, I had to lie about who I was because I’m a gay soldier and I didn’t want to lose my job,” the soldier said. “My question is: under one of your presidencies, do you intend to circumvent the progress we’ve made for gay and lesbian soldiers in the military?”
In response to the question, which was audibly booed by audience members during the debate, Santorum said, “Any type of sexual activity has absolutely no place in the military.”
Santorum maintained repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” — the 18-year-old ban on open service that officially came to an end Tuesday — amounts to affording special protections to gay troops.
“The fact that they’re making a point to include it as a provision within the military — that we are going to recognize a group of people and give them a special privilege in removing ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,’ I think tries to inject social policy into the military,” Santorum said. “And the military’s job is to do one thing, and that is to defend our country.”
Santorum continued, “We need to give the military, which is all volunteer, the ability to do so in a way that is most efficient in protecting our men and women in uniform, and I believe this undermines that ability.”
The audience shouted in approval and applauded as the former U.S. senator from Pennsylvania made his remarks.
Pressed by Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly on what he would do with troops like Hill who are in service but already out, Santorum replied, “What we’re doing is social experimentation. That’s tragic.”
Santorum then restated his pledge to reinstitute “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” as he maintained service members who are already out should be excluded from expulsion.
“I would just say that going forward, we would reinstitute that policy if Rick Santorum was president: period,” Santorum said. “That policy would be reinstituted, and as far as people who are in it, I would not throw them out because that would be unfair to them because of the policy of this administration.”
But then, in a seeming contradiction, Santorum said he’d “move forward with conforming with what was happening in the past,” under which he said “sex is not an issue. ”
“It should not be an issue. Leave it alone,” Santorum said. “Keep it to yourself — whether you’re heterosexual or homosexual.”
Gay GOP groups railed against Santorum in response to the answer he gave to the gay service member during the debate.
In a joint statement, Jimmy LaSalvia, executive director of GOProud, and Chris Barron, chair of the organization, said Santorum “disrespected” troops and owes the soldier who asked the question “an immediate apology.”
“That brave gay soldier is doing something Rick Santorum has never done — put his life on the line to defend our freedoms and our way of life,” LaSalvia and Barron said. “It is telling that Rick Santorum is so blinded by his anti-gay bigotry that he couldn’t even bring himself to thank that gay soldier for his service.”
LaSalvia and Barron noted that Hill is serving in the Iraq war, an operation that Santorum said he supports.
“How can Senator Santorum claim to support this war if he doesn’t support the brave men and women who are fighting it?” LaSalvia and Barron said.
R. Clarke Cooper, executive director of the National Log Cabin Republicans, said Santorum gave a “shameful response” to the service member and “was incoherent and out of touch.”
“America’s uniformed leaders support gays and lesbians serving alongside their colleagues with dignity and respect,” said Cooper, who’s also an Iraq combat veteran and current Army Reserve officer.
“Santorum’s divisive and homophobic remarks do not befit a commander-in-chief,” Cooper continued. “Americans want to hear about how our next president is going to cut our national debt, advocate for a confident foreign policy and most importantly help let the private sector thrive to create jobs.”
It’s not the first time Santorum has said he’d reinstate “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” He affirmed he would institute the military’s gay ban when Think Progress asked him about the issue in April.
Republican presidential candidate and U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) has also said she’d reinstitute “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” if elected to the White House.
Watch the video here (via Think Progress):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKtzOjAWGIE&feature=player_embedded
UPDATE: In a subsequent appearance Friday on Fox News, Santorum said he condemns those in the audience who booed Hill, although the candidate added he heard no jeers during the debate.
“I condemn the people who booed that gay soldier,” Santorum said. “That soldier is serving our country. I thank him for his service to our country. I’m sure he’s doing an excellent job. I hope he is safe. I hope he returns safely and does his mission well.”
Santorum continued, “I have to admit I seriously did not hear those boos. Had I heard them, I certainly would have commented on them, but, as you know, when you’re inside that sort of environment, you’re sort of focused on the question and formulating your answer, and I just didn’t hear those couples of boos that were out there. But certainly had I, I would have said, ‘Don’t do that. This man is a serving our country and we are to thank him for his service.'”
Watch the video here (via Think Progress):
South Carolina
Man faces first S.C. ‘hate intimidation’ charge
Timothy Truett allegedly shot at gay club in Myrtle Beach on April 1
A South Carolina man remains in custody on a more than $300,000 bond after he allegedly opened fire at a Myrtle Beach nightclub on April 1, according to WMBF.
Reports say 37-year-old Timothy James Truett Jr., of Clover, S.C., was detained by the Myrtle Beach Police Department after the April 1 incident outside Pulse Ultra Club. He was later arrested and charged with possession of a weapon during a violent crime, discharging a firearm into a dwelling, discharging a firearm within city limits, malicious injury to real property valued over $5,000, and assault or intimidation due to political opinions or the exercise of civil rights.
At 10:57 a.m. on April 1, officers responded to a call about a possible shooting at Pulse Ultra Club, located in the 2700 block of South Kings Highway.
In an affidavit released later, the club’s owner, Ken Phillips, said he was doing paperwork that morning when he heard “five or six” gunshots. He went outside and found a window and the windshield of his SUV shattered by bullets. An SUV with blue plastic covering one window was left at the scene.
Police later reviewed footage that showed a silver vehicle stopping in the middle of the road. The video appeared to capture muzzle flashes coming from the passenger-side window.
According to the affidavit, an officer later pulled over a vehicle driven by Truett and found spent shell casings in the back seat, along with a gun.
Documents do not detail why Truett was ultimately charged under the state law covering assault or intimidation tied to political opinions or the exercise of civil rights.
As of April 1, records show Truett is being held in Horry County on a combined bond of more than $312,000.
WMBF spoke with Phillips after the incident and asked whether there was any prior conflict that might have led to the shooting.
“I don’t know if it’s personal, I don’t know if it’s related to being gay, I don’t know if it’s related to the bar issues,” Phillips told WMBF. “Anybody with a mindset of pulling out a weapon in broad daylight is not right.”
“My primary concern has and always will be the safety of my community and my customers,” he added. “It’s given me great concern … as to how far people will go.”
WMBF also spoke with Adam Hayes, vice chair of Myrtle Beach’s Human Rights Coalition, who was involved in pushing for the ordinance. He said that while the incident itself is troubling, it shows the policy is being put to use.
The ordinance is intended to deter “crimes that are motivated by bias or hate towards any person or persons, in whole or in part, because of the actual or perceived” identity, in the absence of a statewide hate crime law.
“It’s nice to see that something we put into policy is not just a piece of paper, that it’s actually being used,” said Hayes.
He said the shooting underscores the need for a statewide hate crime law in South Carolina and added that the incident has left the local LGBTQ community shaken.
South Carolina and Wyoming are the only two states in the U.S. without a comprehensive statewide hate crime law.
Truett remains in jail as of publication.
The White House
Trump budget would codify expanded global gag rule
Funding for LGBTQ health programs around the world would also be cut
The Trump-Vance administration’s fiscal year 2027 budget would codify the expanded global gag rule and eliminate funding for LGBTQ-specific programs in global health initiatives.
“The budget would ensure no funding supports abortion, unfettered access to birth control, and also eliminates funding for circumcision and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer services to better focus funds on life-saving assistance,” reads the proposed budget the White House released on April 3. “The United States should not pay for the world’s birth control and therapy.”
The proposed budget includes four examples of “eliminated activities.”
- In the last administration, PEPFAR funded health workers who performed over 21 abortions in Mozambique
- Promoting reproductive health education and access to birth control and other harmful programs couched under ‘family planning’ in Ghana
- A supply chain “control tower” to provide a “holistic commercial of the shelf solution” on the Office of Population and Reproductive Health (PRH)
- Promoting health equity and providing condoms and contraception in Kenya.
President Ronald Reagan in 1985 implemented the global gag rule, also known as the “Mexico City” policy, which bans U.S. foreign aid for groups that support abortion and/or offer abortion-related services.
Trump reinstated the rule during his first administration. The Biden-Harris administration shortly after it took office in January 2021 rescinded it.
The Trump-Vance White House earlier this year expanded the global gag rule to ban U.S. foreign aid for groups that promote “gender ideology.” The expansion took effect on Feb. 26.
US funding cuts have devastated global LGBTQ rights movement
The Trump-Vance administration after it took office in January 2025 moved to dismantle the U.S. Agency for International Development, which funded LGBTQ and intersex rights groups around the world. USAID officially shut down on July 1, 2025.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio in March 2025 announced the State Department would administer the 17 percent of USAID contracts that had not been cancelled. Rubio issued a waiver that allowed PEPFAR and other “life-saving humanitarian assistance” programs to continue to operate during the U.S. foreign aid freeze the White House announced shortly after it took office.
The global LGBTQ and intersex rights movement has lost more than an estimated $50 million in funding because of these cuts. The Washington Blade has previously reported PEPFAR-funded programs in Kenya and other African countries have been forced to suspend services and even shut down.
The Trump-Vance administration has signed healthcare-specific agreements with Kenya, Uganda, and other African countries through its American First Global Health Strategy. Advocacy groups with whom the Blade has spoken have expressed concern these partnerships will result in further exclusion and government-sanctioned discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity.
The proposed fiscal year 2027 budget includes $5.1 billion for “global health to end the previous administration’s abuse of these programs and to execute (the State Department’s) newly released America First Global Health Strategy.” This figure represents a $4.3 billion cut from the previous year.
“The president’s new vision of bilateral health assistance eliminates bloated Beltway Bandit contracts, does more with fewer dollars, and transitions recipient countries to self-reliance,” reads the proposed budget. “The budget would also eliminate disease-specific accounts and provide the department crucial agility to address the actual needs of each recipient country — across HIV/AIDS and other infectious diseases such as malaria, tuberculosis, and polio — to strengthen global health security and protect Americans from disease.”
“The budget would focus on new compacts that unify funding, achieving economies of scale in both implementation and oversight,” it adds. “Under the prior administration, only about 40 percent of PEPFAR funds supported actual service delivery, including medications, testing, commodities, and health workers, with the remaining 60 percent wasted on duplicative administrative costs, unwieldy supply chains, and layers of endless bureaucracy. The new AFGHS (America First Global Health Strategy) compacts would improve efficiency, cut red tape, and dismantle the bloated ecosystem of foreign assistance profiteers.”
The Council for Global Equality on April 3 reiterated its criticism of the expanded global gag rule, and urged Congress to reject the proposed budget.
“We won’t mince words: people are dying because of this policy,” said the Council for Global Equality in a statement. “Making this policy permanent will only ensure that U.S. foreign assistance discriminates against those who need services the most, all while forcing people around the world to adhere to the Trump administration’s extremist, ideological agenda that denies the very existence of transgender, nonbinary, and intersex persons.”
“We will not be silent as Trump threatens to upend decades of bipartisan foreign assistance programs to appease his extremist base,” added the group. “We call on Congress to immediately reject this budget and block implementation of the expanded global gag rules.”
Vice President JD Vance and his wife, second lady Usha Vance, will visit Hungary next week.
An announcement the White House released on Thursday said the Vances will be in Budapest, the Hungarian capital, from April 7-8.
JD Vance “will hold bilateral meetings with” Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. The announcement further indicates the vice president “will also deliver remarks on the rich partnership between the United States and Hungary.”
The Vances will travel to Hungary less than a week before the country’s parliamentary elections take place on April 12.
Orbán, who has been in office since 2010, and his Fidesz-KDNP coalition government have faced widespread criticism over its anti-LGBTQ crackdown.
The Associated Press notes polls indicate Orbán is trailing Péter Magyar and his center-right Tisza party.
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