On Saturday, Dan Manning — an openly gay military veteran who was discharged under Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell and is now running for Kansas House of Representatives in Wichita — arrived home from work “to find a death threat attached to his front door.”

The threat, compiled of newspaper clippings so as to resemble a classic ransom note, calls Manning a “homo” and “fagit” and predicts that he “will die”:

“It’s not completely surprising to me,” Manning told me during a phone interview. “I’ve not made any effort to hide my sexual orientation, I’ve been open about it and my opponent has known about it since day one.” There is “no indication” that his Republican opponent Brenda Landwehr “or anyone in her campaign is behind this,” Mannning said, but added that “as I’ve been out talking to constituents in the district, they’ve made mention that they’ve heard stuff about me. They didn’t say it came specifically from Brenda. One can assume it may have come from her. Again, there is no proof, and I would not accuse her of such.”

The threat did come out of the blue however, since the campaign has eschewed social issues and both candidates have focused on the economy, jobs and education. “My personal life is not something to talk about, on the priority list,” Manning said. “There are a lot of issues in Kansas that need to be addressed, the same way as the rest of the U.S.” “Some people are going to try to make my sexual orientation the prominent issue of the campaign. But the feeling I’ve got from my constituents that I had a chance to speak to, they don’t care, as long as I’m qualified, I’m going to represent their interests.”

In 2005, voters in Kansas approved a constitutional amendment that defined marriage as a civil contract between two persons who are of opposite sex and declared “all other marriages to be contrary to public policy and void.” The measure, which Landwehr supported, passed with 70% of the vote.

Arranged by hight at last night’s GOP Senate debate (see 2:00 on the video), the three Republican candidates hoping to unseat Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) condemned the the Senator for placing “special interests” ahead of the needs of the military in advocating for the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell:

- Treasury Department official David Malpass: “The military commanders have to have a huge say in this matter. And so I dont’ agree with Senator Gillibrand on her having the strong view coming from New York state, without the experience in the military….We now have General Petraeus in the Afghanistan war…I would be listening to him, rather than as a Senator injecting myself into that type of debate as strongly as Sen. Gillibrand has done.”

- Long Island attorney Bruce Blakeman: “The Generals and Admirals of our military asked for a year to review the policy and make a report to Congress. Senator Gillibrand, pandering to special interest groups, jumped the gun within two months that they asked for that time…I believe if the military leaders asked for a year to review the policy, then we should wait for that report.”

- Westchester Congressman Joe DioGuardi: “My feeling is we need to wait for them to give us their judgment and I would trust that judgment.”

Watch it:

Of course, the actual repeal amendment does accomodate the military’s ongoing study of DADT and would preserve the policy until the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Secretary of Defense and the President guarantee that it does not undermine military readiness. The country’s most prominent military leaders — including Gen. David Petraeus, have expressed support for this process, suggesting that they would like to end the failed policy.

But beyond that, in watching this exchanges, it’s difficult to get beyond their assumption that gay people — by their very nature — are so incredibly disruptive to military service that to embark on a parallel track of congressional action and military study is just unthinkable.