Gays and lesbians should not be allowed to teach in public schools, Republican Jim DeMint said Sunday in a U.S. Senate debate.

The remark came late in the first debate between DeMint and Democrat Inez Tenenbaum — a testy and acrimonious hour that broke little new ground on their positions on most issues.

DeMint, a Greenville congressman, said the government should not endorse homosexuality and “folks teaching in school need to represent our values.”

Tenenbaum, the state education superintendent, called DeMint’s position “un-American.”

DeMint said after the debate that he would not require teachers to admit to being gay, but if they were “openly gay, I do not think that they should be teaching at public schools.”

Bette Cox, a board member of the S.C. Christian Coalition, defended DeMint, saying she, too, abhors the homosexual lifestyle and that he must have spoken without thinking.

“I wouldn’t have said that,” said Cox, chairwoman of the Florence County Christian Coalition. “It’s a civil rights issue with me. You can’t cut off someone’s civil rights.

“DeMint is going to regret that he made that statement.”

A U.S. Senate candidate who said recently that homosexuals should not be teaching in South Carolina's public schools has added another group to his list of poor role models for children -- pregnant women with live-in boyfriends.

Jim DeMint, a Republican third-term congressman running for the Senate, made the comment about homosexuals during a debate Sunday with his Democratic opponent. Some gay organizations immediately demanded an apology.

On Tuesday, in an interview with the Aiken Standard, DeMint said: \"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.\"

has added another group to his list of poor role models for children -- pregnant women with live-in boyfriends.