Jim DeMint Apologized for 2004 Gay Slight -- Sort of

So what does he really think? Sen. Jim DeMint said he has been encouraged in private conversations by the reaction to remarks he made years ago when he argued that openly gay people and unmarried pregnant women should not be teaching in public schools.

DeMint, (R-S.C.), a hard-edged conservative and a favorite of the Tea Party movement, made the comment about gays way back in 2004. During a debate, he said we "need folks that are teaching in schools to represent our values," the Washington Post reported. He later added that he would feel the same way about "a single woman, who was pregnant and living with her boyfriend." She should not be hired "to teach my third grade children," he said.

On reflection, DeMint apologized, explaining that his heart sometimes "disengages from my head and I say something I shouldn't." That was then. Last week, he appeared to have reconsidered again. No one had come to his defense publicly in 2004, he said at a rally Friday in South Carolina. "But everyone would come to me and whisper that I shouldn't back down. They don't want the government purging their rights and their freedom to religion."

Gay rights advocates denounced DeMint. Jimmy LaSalvia of GOProud said the senator's recent statement amounted to a reaffirmation of the original offensive remarks. "I don't know anybody in 2010 who thinks that," he told CBS News. National Organization for Women President Terry O'Neil called DeMint a "sexist bigot," who would bar gay men and women and sexually active single women from the teaching profession, while saying "nothing about sexually active, single straight men."

DeMint is heavily favored in his bid for a second term against Democrat Alvin Greene.