The director of operations for Jim DeMint’s U.S. Senate campaign has been reprimanded for derogatory remarks she made about gays and lesbians in an errant e-mail.

Ginny Allen was admonished personally Monday by the Republican nominee, who promised in a letter of apology that she would be dealt with “according to office guidelines.”

Allen was not fired. Attempts to reach her for comment were unsuccessful Monday.

Lisa Hall, chairwoman of the Central Savannah River Area Rainbow Alliance, which works to raise awareness of gay and lesbian issues, in July invited both Senate campaigns to an Oct. 7 town hall meeting to discuss issues of interest to gay voters.

Democratic nominee Inez Tenenbaum promptly promised to send a representative, but after receiving no reply from the DeMint campaign, Hall sent a follow-up e-mail Monday.

Allen, apparently thinking she was forwarding the e-mail to someone inside the campaign, inadvertently replied to Hall.

“Come on, fag, give this dike a reply,” Allen wrote.

DeMint sent Hall a personal letter of apology Monday for the “extremely inappropriate remarks” in the e-mail.

“Mrs. Allen’s remarks do not reflect my beliefs or the character of the campaign,” DeMint wrote. “I am running a positive campaign of ideas, and that includes personal respect for others.”

During three terms in Congress, DeMint has consistently opposed allowing gays and lesbians to marry. He backs a constitutional amendment to prohibit it nationwide.

“The government cannot approve and promote homosexuality,” DeMint says in a video on his campaign Web site. “If we approve gay marriages, we’ve, in effect done that. We’ve changed our value system; we’ve changed what marriage means.”

In the letter to Hall, DeMint said he was not aware of the e-mail sent by Allen, but because the campaign bears his name, “I feel it is my responsibility to apologize.

“Please rest assured that Mrs. Allen has received a thorough admonishment from me.”

Campaign director Terry Sullivan said Allen has been “written up” — meaning she has been put on notice that any future missteps will lead to dismissal.

Hall said she was “shocked” when she got the reply from Allen.

“It hurt,” she said. “My parents raised me to be a Christian and not to speak hateful of anyone, even when having a disagreement with somebody.”

Hall said she accepted DeMint’s apology and suggested “perhaps some diversity training would be of some benefit” to Allen.

Ed Madden, a USC English professor and board member of the South Carolina Equality Coalition, a statewide gay rights organization, said Allen’s e-mail “clearly says something about the climate of the DeMint office and what they think about gay and lesbian South Carolinians.

“The fact she felt comfortable sending that e-mail says a lot,” he said. “I wonder if she would have been censured if the e-mail hadn’t been accidentally sent.”

The Tenenbaum campaign declined comment.

Reach Bandy at (803) 771-8648 or lbandy@thestate.com