Chaplains Consider DADT Repeal, Loss of DOMA
FoxNews notes a gathering of Chaplains and endorsers who are forming a “coalition” to
provide legal and other support for chaplains and soldiers who might be disciplined over conflicts concerning their views on homosexuality.
According to the article, the Chaplains and their endorsers are concerned about how the integration of openly homosexual military members will actually play out — not just how the DoD says it will.
The article explains the disconnect, when the military responded to the questions with a standard refrain:
“We’re working under the assumption that DOMA (the Defense of Marriage Act) is the law of the land and we haven’t been working in anticipation of anything else right now,” said [Chaplain Carleton Birch, spokesperson for the Army Chief of Chaplains].
Retired Chaplain (COL) Ron Crews has helped found the Chaplain Alliance for Religious Liberty, and says that’s precisely the point.
Crews says that’s precisely the point. All the training that chaplains have been receiving for months anticipating the end of DADT was conditioned on DOMA being in place. But the White House announced back in the spring that the Defense of Marriage Act, which says marriage is only between a man and a woman, was not legally defensible.
Even the Army spokesman admitted as much:
Birch and others agree all bets are off if DOMA is repealed. “I don’t think we know the implications yet.”
Via the ADF.
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