A group representing “more than half of America’s uniformed chaplains,” the Chaplain Alliance for Religious Liberty, decried the decision by the Department of Justice to abstain from defending the Defense of Marriage Act against lawsuits.

Chaplain (Col, Ret) Ron Crews accurately notes the existence of DOMA was often cited by supporters of DADT repeal as a mitigation of critics’ concerns: 

During the debate over the proposed repeal of ‘don’t ask, don’t tell,’ the Pentagon told chaplain endorsers that the Defense of Marriage Act was the law of the land and that all military policies would be guided by DOMA.  It was only after the vote in Congress that the president announced that his administration would no longer defend DOMA, and now he is announcing that DOJ will not defend DOMA in the military.