A Fox News host said that allowing gays to openly serve has made the military ‘laboratory rats in some radical social experiment’, and blamed Obama’s ‘pink crayon’ policies for the current conflict in Ukraine.

Commentator Oliver North, a former Lieutenant Colonel who hosts a War Stories segment on Fox News, made the comments at the Conservative Political Action Conference.

Referring to the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell two years ago,he said: “The members of our armed forces and their families deserve better than being treated like laboratory rats in some radical social experiment.”

“The people of Ukraine are this very minute paying the terrible price for America’s leadership deficit disorder.”

“Our leader should be admired and trusted by our allies, and if not feared, at least respected by our adversaries.”

“We don’t need a head of state who guts our defences and draws phony red lines with a pink crayon… Yeah, I did just say that.”

North continued in his speech to compare the struggle against gay marriage to the fight against slavery, and warned that the United States was in a “headlong rush to socialism”.

Watch part of his speech below: