During an Oct. 27 debate with U.S. Senate opponent Alexi Giannoulias, Republican Mark Kirk (who is a Navy reservist) said that he has never met a gay member of the military while being deployed, according to Advocate.com.
Kirk, who is currently in the U.S. House, voted against the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT) earlier this year. He told debate moderator Phil Ponce, “The problem is when you remove a policy, you’ve got to have a new policy.” Kirk also criticized the White House because it wants Congress to repeal DADT even though it has been defending the policy in court: “I’m not sure where the administration is.”
When Ponce asked him if he knew any gay service members, Kirk responded, “I don’t. Not openly.”
Giannoulias said he supported the repeal of DADT. He also said that he supports same-sex marriage and civil unions. Kirk said he is only for civil unions.