Doug Napier has a Christian Post column out today that looks at how the repeal of DADT has played right into the hands of homosexual activists, and how, ironically, even though “Don’t ask, Don’t tell” has been done away, we still can’t ask.

The column can be viewed here

After DADT was stripped away last year, the military entered 2012 in a whole new world. It’s one in which the dismantling of DADT has actually provided homosexual activists the momentum they needed to step up and try to fashion not just the military in their own image, but other related agencies and associations as well.

As others have pointed out, the Obama administration’s legal attack on the Defense of Marriage Act, which partially relies on the move to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” lacks controlling legal precedent or persuasive moral reasoning.  That alone is sufficient reason to oppose it.  But the President’s use of DADT repeal to attack DOMA is wrong for two other important reasons.  When President Obama rammed repeal through the lame-duck Congress, he did so while relying heavily on the existence of DOMA to ward off many of the problematic implications of repeal.  Moral concerns about marriage and religious liberty, along with fiscal concerns about benefits and housing, were rejected as irrelevant because DOMA allegedly prevented many of them from materializing.  Effectively, Congress was told to accept DADT repeal based on DOMA’s authority, all while the President was just a month away from launching an unprecedented attack on DOMA as soon as he secured DADT repeal.

But the actual situation now is much worse than a regrettable tale of political shenanigans and hypocrisy.  The military’s attempt to brace service members for repeal—via painfully inadequate PowerPoint training slides—still relies on DOMA’s existence to answer many controversial problems.  Thus, our troops are having a radical change imposed on them during a time of war by a Commander-in-Chief who is training them to rely on a law that his administration is actively trying to subvert.  This is wrong.  Misleading Congress is one thing.  Misleading the men and women in harm’s way who must follow his leadership is a wholly indefensible other thing and should not be tolerated.  Congress should demand that the President explain his duplicity to it and stop his mistreatment of our troops.

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Since well before he became our military’s Commander-In-Chief, President Obama has insisted on the immediate demise of the military policy against open homosexual behavior.  Given his lack of experience with or connection to military policy, one might have expected the awesome weight of sending our warriors into harm’s way might have made him reconsider his call for radical change.  After all, the reason the military has closely regulated sexual conduct for centuries—just like it closely regulates other aspects of service member’s lives—is to ensure it can do its incredibly difficult and dangerous job.  But one would have been wrong.

After entering office, the President remained insistent that the mores of sexual behavior in the military, which have successfully benefitted our country in one capacity or another since the founding era, be turned on their heads.  And, over the combined objections of the Chiefs of the Army, Air Force, Navy, and Marines—not to mention over a thousand retired high-ranking officers and a large group of decorated veteran chaplains—he got his wish with a law that set a sexual revolution in the military into motion.

One might think, then, that the President would be delighted that a federal court more or less finished the job for him recently by allowing a worldwide ban on the policy to go into effect.  One would again be wrong.  Almost immediately, the Department of Justice filed an emergency request that the court undo what the President has demanded be done for so long.  This request said that “significant immediate harms” would occur if the President’s campaign promise became overnight the new worldwide policy for the U.S. military, citing the need to give combat units time to “prepare themselves” for “any challenges they may face after repeal [of the policy].”  Fortunately, the court granted the emergency request.  But this panicky response shows that changing the policy will not be the smooth sailing that the President promised.

All along, the President has argued that repeal of the policy known as Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell would simply benefit military “integrity” and not harm the military mission at all.  But even his pro-repeal Secretary of Defense spoke of repeal in terms of attempting to “mitigate[], if not eliminate[], to the extent possible, risks to combat readiness, to unit cohesion and effectiveness.”  That is, trying to keep a clearly politically-motivated move from harming the military too much.

Similarly, in the President’s own “study” of the military (the pro-repeal spin of which has since been revealed as a sham by the Inspector General), for every service member that predicted repealing DADT would be beneficial, more than two said it would be harmful.  Indeed, the vast majority of combat troops polled opposed repeal because of this anticipated harm.  This, of course, is common sense, as most Americans understand that injecting a politicized sexual agenda into the military is not a winning formula for maintaining maximum troop readiness.

All this leads one to wonder: if this change is risky enough that even the President scrambles to prevent it from happening “too quickly,” the Secretary of Defense who championed it focuses on limiting damage wrought by it, and most combat troops anticipate harm from it, why are we forcing it on our service men and women at all?
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For months now, chaplains, organizations that are responsible for placing chaplains in the military, and prominent religious liberty organizations have warned that forcing the military to normalize homosexual behavior by dismantling the so-called “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” law will harm religious liberty.  Now, the just-released report issued by the entity tasked by the Pentagon to study the effects of repeal confirms that the men and women who fight to preserve America’s religious liberty agree with those warnings.  Here’s a few comments by service members quoted in the report:  (Note: the report kept the identity of the service member confidential, only identifying the sex of the respondent and whether he or she was a chaplain.)

 “Military chaplains who have volunteered to defend the liberties protected in our Constitution shouldn’t be denied those very same liberties. Preventing chaplains from sharing the full counsel of their faith defeats the purpose of the chaplaincy and threatens the free exercise rights of Service members who depend on chaplains.”(female)

 “I served in the active military as a Southern Baptist Chaplain for over 9 years including two deployments to Iraq. I believe that allowing openly gay individuals will create problems such as openly gay chaplains which in many instances will destroy chapel congregations on army posts. Many of these congregations view the issue as moral and that is in their mind a sinful lifestyle that in the civilian sector the minister would be subject to dismissal as he would for any other unrepentant immoral behavior. Many of these congregations do not get to choose the chaplain that is assigned to the chapel and so would be forced to leave in order to find the spiritual leadership they desire and need.” (male chaplain)

“Forcing chaplains to deny their faith in order to serve in the Armed Forces is a grave threat to the First Amendment and to the spiritual health of Marines, Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen who depend on them. If the military is forced to promote homosexual behavior, for the first time in American history there will be open conflict between the virtues taught by chaplains and the moral message delivered by the military.”(female)

“Repealing DADT will impact my religious liberty as a Christian chaplain. The Christian Scriptures make it clear that homosexuality—like fornication and adultery (which are, along with homosexuality, against the UCMJ)—is a sin. All sexual sins inherently break the law of God. If DADT is repealed, then that situation creates an unavoidable conflict with my ability to preach and teach the entirety of the Scriptures with impunity. What is the constitutional basis for the government ever curtailing my freedom of religion?” (male chaplain)

“Key questions to be considered: Will Chaplains be forced to integrate homosexuals into ‘family’ ministry? If so, what impact will this have on families that do not accept homosexuality? Will Chaplains be limited on what they can define as moral? Until the answers to these questions are presented and the resulting impacts clearly defined, DADT should remain in place.” (male)

“There exist potential ramifications for those who refuse couples counseling to gays. Chaplains who refuse to counsel gays on how to better their relationships or refuse to allow ‘married homosexuals’ to attend marriage retreats would be subject to discrimination charges even though to allow such things would directly violate many chaplains’ beliefs. If it then becomes mandatory to open these events to all couples, chaplains would quit offering the retreats. When family wellness is so important, this would do nothing but hurt the majority for the sake of a few.” (male)

Remarkably, while the report was largely based on a written survey that failed to ask a single question about religious liberty concerns (and had many other deficiencies), it admits that one of the primary objections given by the military to the dismantling of the policy is that normalizing homosexual behavior will harm the ability of service members to fully practice their faith.  Thus, our men and women in uniform have decided not to let their religious liberty go without a fight.  Given that they’re willing to fight for ours, that tenaciousness shouldn’t come as a surprise.

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Photo Credit: JOEL PAGE / Reuters

“Lady Gaga, Katy Perry and George Washington” by Jordan Lorence – ADF Sr. VP; Sr. Counsel

On Monday, Lady Gaga appeared at a rally in Maine to proclaim her support for repeal of the federal law that bans people from the military who engage in homosexual behavior. She said at the rally, “I am here today because I want to propose a law … called, ‘if you don’t like it, you can go home.’… A law that sends home the homophobes, that sends home the prejudiced.”

Now, the media is reporting Lady Gaga’s comments as if she is making a substantive contribution to the debate, as if her remarks are well-researched and based on careful thought. It is hard to keep a “poker face” in response to her comments, because she is no more informed on this issue than someone on the street. The fact that she is a celebrity does not make her an authority.

For example, if Katy Perry came out with a new single called, “California Drills” or (“Dryllz”), with lyrics favoring aggressive drilling for oil off the Santa Barbara coast, in order to meet our nation’s energy needs, the media would probably not report it, or say, “what does she know about energy policy, she’s a singer!” Bingo! It seems that the media is reporting Lady Gaga’s comments as informed mainly because they agree with her views, rather than because it means something in the debate. (Note: to my knowledge, Katy Perry has taken no public positions on oil drilling off the Santa Barbara coast, lest her publicist call me and ask for a clarification – this blog being so widely read and all).

ADF has been publicly commenting on the real threat to religious liberty and the right of conscience for military chaplains. Major religions and the major branches of Christianity define marriage as one man and one woman only, and teach that certain sexual behaviors, such as same-sex activity, are immoral. How will military chaplains from those religions be able to counsel servicemembers and preach to them if the chaplains believe in doctrines that conflict with new military policy?

The celebrity I want to bring forth to match Lady Gaga would be someone else who likes to wear wigs made of white hair – George Washington. And he was a “rock star” in his own way back in the late 1700′s. Did you ever wonder what he thought about soldiers serving in the military who engage in homosexual conduct? He was against it. For example, on March 14, 1778, he issued an order separating a soldier from active duty for attempting homosexual conduct with another soldier:

At a General Court Martial whereof Colo. Tupper was President (10th March 1778), Lieutt. Enslin of Colo. Malcom’s Regiment [was] tried for attempting to commit sodomy, with John Monhort a soldier; Secondly, For Perjury in swearing to false accounts, [he was] found guilty of the charges exhibited against him, being breaches of 5th. Article 18th. Section of the Articles of War and [we] do sentence him to be dismiss’d [from] the service with infamy. His Excellency the Commander in Chief approves the sentence and with abhorrence and detestation of such infamous crimes orders Lieutt. Enslin to be drummed out of camp tomorrow morning by all the drummers and fifers in the Army never to return; The drummers and fifers [are] to attend on the Grand Parade at Guard mounting for that Purpose.

So, the U.S. military has had this policy since the time of the Revolutionary War. It would be best to study history and military thinking on this issue, rather than listen to uninformed people like Lady Gaga.