Top military commander's comments on gays prompt outrage
Pastor Dale Morgan
Wednesday March 14, 5:28 AM
*Top military commander's comments on gays prompt outrage*
The US military's top officer called homosexual acts immoral in an
interview published Tuesday, sparking outrage among gay rights advocates
and reopening a debate on a ban on gays openly serving in the military.
The controversy prompted US Defense Secretary Robert Gates to say
"personal opinion doesn't really have a place here," while reaffirming
the Defense Department's duty to carry out the so-called "don't ask,
don't tell" policy.
General Peter Pace's remarks set off angry reactions from gay rights
advocates and calls by some Democrats to review the 1993 law that allows
gays to serve only if they do not declare their sexual orientation or
engage in homosexual conduct.
Pace, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the Chicago
Tribune he supported the policy because, "I believe homosexual acts
between two individuals are immoral and that we should not condone
immoral acts," Pace said. "I do not believe the United States is well
served by a policy that says it is OK to be immoral in any way."
He later issued a statement that sought to blunt the impact of his
remarks. "I should have focused more on my support of the policy and
less on my personal moral views," he said.
Asked his view of "don't ask, don't tell," Gates told the Pentagon's
television channel, "I think personal opinion really doesn't have a
place here."
He said it was his responsibility to carry out the law "as effectively
as we can. As long as the law is what it is, that's what we'll do."
Representative Nancy Pelosi, speaker of the House of Representatives,
said the military "should carefully consider changing their policy."
"We need the most talented people, we need the language skills, we need
patriotic Americans who exist across the board in our population. We
don't need a moral judgment from the chairman of Joint Chiefs," she
said, alluding to numerous linguists, especially Arabic speakers, who
have been discharged.
Joe Solomonese, president of Human Rights Campaign, said Pace's comments
"were irresponsible, offensive and a slap in the face to the gay men and
women who are currently serving their country with honor and bravery."
The Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN), another advocacy group
that has represented soldiers dismissed from the military because of
their sexual orientation, demanded an apology.
"General Pace's comments are outrageous, insensitive and disrespectful
to the 65,000 lesbian and gay troops now serving in our armed forces,"
said C. Dixon Osburn, the group's executive director.
In his response, Pace acknowledged that people "have a wide range of
opinions on this sensitive subject."
"I made two points in support of the policy during the interview: One,
'don't ask, don't tell' allows individuals to serve this nation; and
two, it does not make a judgment about the morality of individual acts,"
he said.
But in the Tribune interview, Pace cast the issue in starkly moral terms.
"As an individual, I would not want (acceptance of gay behavior) to be
our policy, just like I would not want it to be our policy that if we
were to find out that so-and-so was sleeping with somebody else's wife,
that we would just look the other way, which we do not. We prosecute
that kind of immoral behavior," he said.
SLDN spokesman Steve Ralls said his group urged Gates to condemn Pace's
comments and rejected Pentagon claims that the general was just
expressing his personal views.
"General Pace knows better than to think he can give such an interview
and not have those comments reflected as the opinion of our military's
leadership," Ralls told AFP.
US Representative Marty Meehan, who has introduced legislation to change
the military's policy of "don't ask, don't tell," said Pace's remarks
did not reflect the views of the general public or the military.
"He needs to recognize that support for overturning 'don't ask, don't
tell' is strong and growing," Meehan said.
The law grew out of a furor within the military and its supporters in
Congress over an attempt by then-president Bill Clinton to lift the ban
on gays in the military altogether.
The Clinton administration settled for "don't ask, don't tell" as a
compromise.
The Pentagon said 726 service members were discharged in 2005 under the
policy, and 653 in 2004. At least 612 were discharged in 2006, but those
numbers are partial, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said.