DeMint apologizes after remarks on gays

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"I clearly said something as a dad that I just shouldn't have said," DeMint said. "And I apologize. As a Senate candidate, it is my responsibility to present ideas and to answer questions in a way that will let people know what I will do as their U.S. senator.

"I did not do that in this instance," he said in the statement issued by his campaign.

But whether DeMint was apologizing for Sunday's remark about gays, Tuesday's about unwed teachers, or both, wasn't clear from the statement issued by his campaign.

DeMint's campaign declined to clear the air.

Campaign manager Terry Sullivan said in an interview, "The statement stands by itself to address the overall issue. It shows remorse, (but) there is not an issue (involved) over which a U.S. senator has any say."

During a televised debate with Democratic rival Inez Tenenbaum Sunday in Charleston, DeMint said in response to a question that he supports a plank in the state GOP's platform calling for banning openly homosexual and lesbian teachers from public schools.

"We need the folks that are teaching in schools to represent our values," he added.

Tenenbaum, the state's education superintendent, said she opposed it.

Later, Tenenbaum told reporters, "The private lives of our teachers should stay put," and categorized DeMint's remark as "un-American."

DeMint, 53, has four adult children, two daughters and two sons.

In an interview Tuesday with The Aiken Standard, published Wednesday, DeMint was quoted as saying, "I would have given the same answer when asked if a single woman, who was pregnant and living with her boyfriend, should be hired to teach my third grade children. I just think the moral decisions are different with a teacher."

But Wednesday afternoon, DeMint took it back.

The apology from the three-term Greenville congressman came after criticism from gay activists and appeared to contradict aides who said there would be none. Sullivan said there was no dissension within the campaign over DeMint's comments or apology.

Tuesday night, Sullivan told The Associated Press that DeMint's Aiken comments were "clearly an out-of-context quote."

"Jim is a product of a single-mother family," Sullivan said. "His brothers and sisters were raised without a father. The congressman is absolutely not saying he's opposed to a single mom teaching."

Several gay activist groups including the Log Cabin Republicans, a national organization of gay conservatives called on DeMint to apologize for his comments during the debate, but campaign officials said initially he stood by his beliefs and there would be no apology.

The Log Cabin Republicans were among several activist groups that asked DeMint to apologize for his comments on openly gay teachers.

"At a minimum, he should issue a formal apology for the comment," said former Charleston County prosecutor David Schwacke, who leads the Charleston chapter of the Log Cabin group, which has about 50 members.

It was DeMint's second apology in a week involving homosexuals.

He reprimanded a staffer and issued an apology after an e-mail with a slur about lesbians was inadvertently send to Lisa Hall, the chairwoman of the Central Savannah River Area Rainbow Alliance.

Also, in Wednesday's apology, DeMint said, "Those of us who are parents know that feeling in your gut every time you drop your child off at school, it's an act of faith.

"You trust a group of people the principal, the teachers, even the janitors, with the most precious thing in your life your children. And you just want what's best for them," he said.

"So, as my wife often reminds me, sometimes my heart disengages from my head and I say something I shouldn't have," DeMint said.

(The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

Dan Hoover covers politics and can be reached at 298-4883.