During this evening’s Delaware Senate debate, Christine O’Donnell — who has a spotty record on LGBT rights — repeatedly compared allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly in the military to “adultery” and condemned the recent court decision which banned the military from enforcing the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy:

O’DONNELL: A federal judge recently ruled that we have to overturn Don’t Ask Don’t Tell. There are a couple of things we need to say about that. First of all, judges should not be legislating from the bench. Second of all, it’s up to the military to set the policy that the military believes is in the best interest of unit cohesiveness and military readiness. The military already regulates personal behavior in that it doesn’t allow affairs to go on within your chain of command. It does not allow it you are married to have an adulterous affair within the military. So the military already regulates personal behavior because it feels that it is in the best interest of our military readiness. I don’t think that Congress should be forcing a social agenda on to our military. I think we should leave that to the military.

Pressed by debate moderator Wolf Blitzer about why the United States is one of the few NATO members to prohibit open service, O’Donnell reiterated her offensive simile and added, “If the heads of all four branches of the military said [they favored repeal], then it would be up to them, not me as U.S. Senator to impose my social agenda wether it’s for or against Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”

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O’Donnell recently dodged a question about DADT at a town hall event, but it’s still more likely that she’d support strengthening the ban against open gay and lesbian service than vote for legislation repealing it. After, all how can she allow gay people to serve openly if she believes they suffer from a psychological disorder?

“People are created in God’s image. Homosexuality is an identity adopted through societal factors. It’s an identity disorder,” O’Donnell told the Washington Post four years ago, taking a position that has been universally rejected by science and psychology since the early 1970s.

O’Donnell’s opponent Chris Coons, meanwhile, likened the push for open service to the civil rights movement and President Harry Truman’s executive order desegregating the armed forces.

Shouting erupted at a Christine O’Donnell campaign event Thursday night after a young gay conservative asked the Senate candidate about the her view of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. O’Donnell implied that she hadn’t thought about the policy, but some audience members were angered by the question:

So when Matt Hissey, a junior political science major at West Chester University, asked U.S. Senate candidate Christine O’Donnell about the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy that allows gays to serve in the military as long as they don’t divulge their sexual orientation — it angered one New Castle man in the audience.

Hissey said he is a gay conservative and wanted to know her views.

“Who cares?” the New Castle man shouted.

O’Donnell said some of her campaign workers are gay, and went on to say she was focusing on the nation’s most important issues because “whether you’re from the far left or the far right, we have to get our country back.” [...]

A few moments later, Tim Joines of Christiana spoke up. He was standing along the wall in the standing-room-only banquet room and couldn’t let that “who cares?” hang in the air uncontested.

“He’s still a human being!” Joines shouted at the New Castle man, who stood up, took his belongings and walked out of the room, shouting, “You are why we’re going to lose!” in Joines’ direction. “How can you come to a forum like this and say, ‘I don’t care,” Joines, an independent voter, said later. “Everybody’s got a voice, and nobody should be silenced.”

O’Donnell is dodging the question to move beyond her anti-gay rhetoric, but it’s more likely that she’d support strengthening the ban against open gay and lesbian service than vote for legislation repealing it. After, all how can she allow gay people to serve openly if she believes they suffer from a psychological disorder?

“People are created in God’s image. Homosexuality is an identity adopted through societal factors. It’s an identity disorder,” O’Donnell told the Washington Post four years ago, taking a position that has been universally rejected by science and psychology since the early 1970s. For more on O’Donnell’s anti-gay record, click here.

In light of Christine O’Donnell’s gay baiting of Rep. Mike Castle (R-DE), Slate’s Margaret Wheeler Johnson put together this handy guide to how politicians have insinuated that their opponent are gay while avoiding direct confrontation. For the accuser, baiting is full of benefit and almost no risk, Johnson writes. The baiter can always plead ignorance or suggest that opponents needs to develop a sense of humor. The practice “has been around since before the Revolutionary War” and is still alive and well, despite growing public support for LGBT rights. Here is a sampling:

- The Euphemisms: “Relies on certain preexisting association in the public’s mind. Terms like “San Francisco,” “wine drinker,” and even “renter” rather than homeowner.”

- Weak and Whiny: “One way to suggest a man is gay is to play to the notion that a man with a soft voice, touch, or walk is weak, and that weak men are gay. i.e. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) described “a little too light in the loafers” to fill the shoes of his predecessor”

- Like a Woman: Another way to suggest that a male politician is sexually attracted to other men is to liken him to a woman. i.e. John McCain McConce called Obama “fussy” and “hysterical,” and in an ad compared him to Britney Spears and Paris Hilton.

- Lifestyle: “The goal of this bait isn’t necessarily to make voters believe the target is gay, only to make them think he possesses negative, stereotypically gay male qualities.” Ex: “When he’s not in San Francisco … Perry’s … flipping through the pages of his Food and Wine magazine … in his fancy … rental mansion.” This bait sticks not just because it is blatantly coded—”San Francisco,” “Food and Wine,” “fancy,”—or because it could also be cross-listed under “weak” and “effeminate” (the ad concludes, “Tell Rick Perry to stop cowering and face Texans like a man”)—but because it refreshes public memory of the already existing, unsubstantiated rumors that Perry is gay.

- All the Single Ladies: “Also known as the sporty/brainy-ladies-with-short-haircuts-and-no-kiddos bait.” The Wall Street Journal decided to announce Elena Kagan’s Supreme Court confirmation proceedings alongside a photo of Kagan in her softball-playing days on its front page,

- Unruly Wife: ” This rumor insinuates that a political wife who refuses to allow her ambitions to be overwhelmed by her husband’s—who in this sense acts like a single lady—must be a lesbian. ” i.e. Hillary Clinton

O’Donnell’s gay baiting was, in some ways, even more direct. One group, working on O’Donnell’s behalf, suggested that Castle was “gay” and she herself called Castle ‘unmanly.’ “You know, these are the kind of cheap, underhanded, un-manly tactics that we’ve come to expect from Obama’s favorite Republican, Mike Castle,” said O’Donnell. “You know, I released a statement today, saying Mike this is not a bake-off, get your man-pants on.” For more on O’Donnell’s record of anti-gay rhetoric, click here.

In late July, Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) — who has a questionable record on gay rights — announced that he would attend a fundraiser next week for the Log Cabin Republicans — the GOP’s leading gay advocacy organization. “Some things we won’t agree on,” Cornyn, who is also chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee said at the time. “But I think it’s always better to talk and then try find those things we can agree on rather than just assume there’s no common ground whatsoever.” “I don’t want people to misunderstand and think that I don’t respect the dignity of every human being regardless of sexual orientation,” Cornyn said.

But earlier today — after an initial tepid statement of support from NRSC executive director Rob Jesmer — Cornyn endorsed Delaware U.S. Senate GOP primary winner Christine O’Donnell, despite her strong history of anti-gay rhetoric and positions. “I reached out to Christine this morning, and as I have conveyed to all of our nominees, I offered her my personal congratulations and let her know that she has our support,” Cornyn wrote in an email. “This support includes a check for $42,000 –- the maximum allowable donation that we have provided to all of our nominees.” Later in the day, he appeared on Sean Hannity’s radio show to clear up any confusion about his commitment:

CORNYN: Well, really I don’t know the source of the rumors that were attributed to the Republican National Senatorial Committee. I’m the Chairman as you know and certainly without my authorization I corrected the record, talking to Christine this morning. Told her we will support her, in fact we send her some money already…I’ve encouraged my other colleagues to send money from their leadership PAC funds. We’re going to do everything we can to help her get elected in November.

O’Donnell has a long track record of saying and doing things that would suggest that she doesn’t respect the “dignity” of gay people. For instance, as president of Savior’s Alliance for Lifting the Truth (SALT), “O’Donnell helped facilitate an ex-gay program within the group, even bringing on a staff member to work exclusively on ex-gay issues.” During a 2000 interview on Fox’s now defunct Hannity & Colmes, “O’Donnell decried ‘offensive’ behavior at gay rights parades, complaining that ‘homosexuals’ special rights groups can get away with so much more than nobody else can!” “They’re getting away with nudity! They’re getting away with lasciviousness! They’re getting away with perversion,” she said.

As press secretary for Concerned Women of America, O’Donnell complained that policies extending health benefits to gay employees’ partners “legitimizes the homosexual lifestyle” and could “desensitize” Americans to same-sex relationships and lead to legal marriage. O’Donnell also opposed funding programs for AIDS sufferers through the Ryan White Act because she said that federal money has “in the past gone to teach teenagers to use condoms to engage in homosexual behavior that includes anal sex.” Most recently, in her race against Rep. Mike Castle (R-DE), O’Donnell insinuated that Castle is gay and then denied it.

And while social conservative organizations have criticized Cornyn for speaking at the Log Cabin event, LGBT friendly groups have remained mum on the Senator’s apparent contradiction. Reached today by phone, Jimmy LaSalvia, a co-founder of GOProud and its Executive Director, told me that “if you look at it, O’Donnell wasn’t elected on social issues. She was elected nominated for the same reason that a lot of other candidates are bring nominated and that’s to call an end to the status quo in Washington.”

The Log Cabin Republicans did not reply to my questions about Cornyn’s participation at next week’s fundraiser, despite repeated inquiries. It would be interesting to know if Cornyn is still invited to attend their event.