Secretary of Defense Outlines New Benefits for Homosexuals

Woe to those who call evil good
and good evil,
who put darkness for light
and light for darkness,
who put bitter for sweet
and sweet for bitter!
Isaiah 5:20 (ESV)

As part of the effort to ensure everyone gets treated “with equal dignity and respect,” outgoing Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta has announced access to military benefits available only to homosexuals:

It is a matter of fundamental equity that we provide similar benefits to all of those men and women in uniform who serve their country…Today, I am pleased to announce that after a thorough and deliberate review, the department will extend additional benefits to same-sex partners of service members.

According to the SecDef memo (PDF),

These [new] benefits shall be extended to the same-sex domestic partners and, where applicable, children of same-sex domestic partners, once the Service member and their same-sex domestic partner have signed a declaration attesting to the existence of their committed relationship.

The new DoD policy emphasizes these benefits are available only to homosexuals.  Heterosexuals cannot sign the same statement and Read more

US Military Expected to Expand Homosexual Access

Multiple news sites reported the ‘leak’ that the Pentagon was preparing to expand the list of military benefits available to homosexuals.

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has not made a final decision on which benefits will be included, the officials said, but the Pentagon is likely to allow same-sex partners to have access to the on-base commissary and other military subsidized stores, as well as some health and welfare programs.

Competing articles offered differing lists of benefits expected to be extended (and refused).  Apparently, “gay activists” were leaked differing information.

Secretary Panetta’s proposed replacement, former Senator Chuck Hagel, has indicated he similarly supports the extension of benefits.

Some articles noted that there is a “fine legal line” to walk, since the Read more

Military Spouse of the Year: Devout Christian, Homosexual

Ashley Broadway, the homosexual who complained about being denied membership in a Fort Bragg spouses’ group, has been named the “spouse of the year” for Fort Bragg in a popular vote called the Spouse of the Year program.

In the online election held Tuesday, Ashley Broadway captured the Fort Bragg vote “by a country mile,” said Babette Maxwell, founder of Military Spouse magazine and the Military Spouse of the Year award. Ballot totals were not revealed. As one of the 154 base-level winners, Broadway now is eligible to be nominated for Army “spouse of the year.”

As the “spouse of the year program” is a private operation, Read more

Homosexual Advocates Lament Lack of Military Benefits

A veritable plethora of articles were published over the weekend highlighting the fact “spouses” of homosexual service members don’t have access to the benefits of heterosexual married families.

  • On January 19th, multiple media sites noted homosexual Ashley Broadway had declined the invitation of the Fort Bragg spouse’s group to be a “special guest.”  Broadway doesn’t meet the group’s criteria for membership as she isn’t a military spouse.
  • The same day, the New York Times told the story of US Army Lt Nakisha Hardy, who was awkwardly asked to leave a chaplain-run marriage retreat because she was a homosexual.
  • The next day, the Associated Press highlighted US Army Sgt Karen Alexander’s financial struggles, as she doesn’t get family pay rates that married troops do.
  • On the same day, the Stars and Stripes republished a local paper’s article noting homosexual National Guard member SSgt Tracy Dice is “not considered war widow,” though her “wife” was killed in Afghanistan.

This lack of “fairness” was, of course, always known Read more

Homosexual Military Advocate to Co-Chair Inauguration

Update: A follow-up from the Anchorage Daily News, in which David Hall said

I would have never thought in a million years that one day I would be standing in the Oval Office…thanking the president for the work he did for gay people…


David Hall, current director of development at the homosexual advocacy OutServe-SLDN, has been named a “citizen co-chair” of the Presidential inauguration.

Former Air Force Staff Sgt. David Hall, discharged under the repealed “don’t ask, don’t tell” law, was chosen as one of eight Americans to serve as a “citizen co-chair” of the 57th Presidential Inauguration…

On Inauguration Day, the co-chairs will take part in the inaugural parade, riding on the “Our People, Our Future” float, and attending the Inaugural Ball.

A famous man once said he looked forward to the day when people would be judged based upon the “content of their character.”

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Pentagon Backs Army Spouse Club on Homosexuals

According to Buzzfeed, the Pentagon has supported Fort Bragg’s stance that an Army spouse group is not required to accept homosexuals:

Pentagon spokesman Nathan Christensen explained the current policy to BuzzFeed: “When [a private group] asks for authority to operate on a base, it must comply with all applicable DOD instructions and directives and laws, in this case [Department of Defense Instruction] 1000.15.”…

A Pentagon spokesman added late Tuesday that the Department of Defense “neither drafts, executes nor exercises control over the Club or its governing documents. Private organizations who adhere to the criteria outlined in applicable instructions are allowed base access.”

Technically, the Pentagon isn’t backing the group — they’re backing the law.  Since neither federal law nor military regulations require special accommodation based on sexual preference, neither does the Army.

If that’s the official Pentagon interpretation, though, it may leave some Marine lawyers in an awkward position.

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Mohler on Homosexuality and the Moral Revolution

Dr. Albert Mohler, speaking on the “imbroglio” of the planned and then reversed decision to have Pastor Louis Giglio give the benediction at President Obama’s inauguration, made some particularly astute observations.

In short, Pastor Giglio was not welcome once it became clear he had once preached a Christian doctrine:

A Christian pastor has been effectively disinvited from delivering an inaugural prayer because he believes and teaches Christian truth…

Mohler notes that “avoiding” the issue of homosexuality, with a view to public perception, is a “failed strategy:”  Read more

USMC Lawyers say Spouse Groups Must Accept Homosexuals

If DADT repeal was such a benign ‘non-event,’ why are incidents like this erupting into scandals more than a year later?

The top lawyer in the US Marine Corps has reportedly told the Marine legal community that, to avoid “a stir” as seen at Fort Bragg, spouse groups operating on Marine installations must accept homosexuals:

The memo noted that spouses clubs and various other private institutions are allowed to operate on bases only if they adhere to a non-discrimination policy encompassing race, religion, gender, age, disability and national origin.

“We would interpret a spouses club’s decision to exclude a same-sex spouse as sexual discrimination because the exclusion was based upon the spouse’s sex,” the memo said.

This appears to be legal advice within the legal community and, as noted before, military lawyers do not make decisions about military policy (nor are they always right).  However, the article does not cite a Marine policymaker Read more

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