Recently the Washington Times featured an article that spotlights what ADF has been predicting for some time: using the forced acceptance of open homosexual behavior in the military (which has been disguised as “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” repeal) to attack the federal Defense of Marriage Act.  As we said then:

[P]erhaps the only institution more deeply respected and widely recognized as the training ground for inculcating societal values than the military is marriage.  And normalizing homosexual conduct in the military will not only—as an ACLU attorney recently stated—be a cultural precursor to normalizing homosexual “marriage,” it will actually create the perfect storm for destroying the primary federal law protecting marriage—the Defense of Marriage Act (“DOMA”).

Basically, it will go like this: a same-sex couple will get “married” in a state like Massachusetts. One or both members of the couple will be in the military, and will press for married couples’ benefits, like housing and medical coverage, arguing that the military cannot discriminate against homosexual “marriages.”  And when the military denies the request based on DOMA, that Service member will sue in a sympathetic federal court to get DOMA declared unconstitutional.  And, quite possibly, the only federal bulwark against a nationwide redefinition of marriage will be breached.  Sound far fetched?  The first part of the strategy is already happening: a soldier in a homosexual relationship applied for married housing just after Defense Secretary Gates announced the goal of repealing current policy.

The Obama administration’s startling duplicity since that prediction makes the strategy to attack DOMA via the military all the more clear.  In a recent letter to Congress, Attorney General Holder cited the move to force open homosexual behavior on the military as evidence that the time-honored and logic-based definition of marriage in the Defense of Marriage Act must be abolished as unconstitutional.  Mr. Holder’s Department of Justice then followed that radical position up by filing an anti-DOMA brief in ongoing litigation that even sympathetic observers have called “a gay rights manifesto.”

The President is using one time-honored preserver of our country—the military—to attack another—marriage.  Defenders of marriage, though, should not be surprised.  Marriage is so foundational an institution that it is related to most facets of life.  Thus, for instance, defending marriage also means defending religious liberty.  Now, due to the creativity of marriage’s attackers, it means defending the military itself.

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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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Last week, I discussed attempts by local governments to make churches pay property taxes. But property isn’t the only thing they’re trying to tax.  Cash strapped municipalities are also starting to assess churches with “fees” that are really just taxes in disguise.  While these “fees” often start out as very low cost, any attempt to tax churches has profound implications for church sovereignty and religious freedom.  We are currently representing two churches in Mission Baptist Church v. Mission, Kansas, which have been assessed what amounts to a driveway tax.  It is calculated based on the number of people who attend the church.  Churches should actively oppose any new proposed laws that would attempt to tax churches with “fees” or otherwise.  They should encourage other religious groups in the area to join them.  If the law passes anyway, churches should consult with ADF or another legal group to determine if it is susceptible to legal challenge.

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ADF Senior VP; Senior Counsel Gary McCaleb writes:

February 2, 1943:  the bitter chill of the North Atlantic suffused the dusk as an Allied convoy laden with troops and gear wallowed its way to Europe.  Those who could sleep did so uneasily; German submarines crept about nearby.

The first hour of February 3, 1943 would be the last hour for the transport ship Dorchester.  Minutes after midnight, the ship was gut-shot by a German torpedo.  Dark terror ensued—without power or lights, heaving in the winter seas, the 902 men aboard sought their salvation from the deep.

Only 230 would succeed. 

But from that horror emerged the remarkable story of four Army chaplains who acted with uncommon valor—steadying the panicked troops, guiding them to safety, urging calm amidst the chaos.  As the ship pitched in its death throes, the four handed their own life jackets to troopers who had none, and with that final act of grace they surrendered their lives for the sake of others. 

While the valor was uncommon, the will to serve was not – and the military properly honored the right of all chaplains to serve both as religious leaders and secular counselors.   But sadly, that high regard is now undercut by President Obama imposing open homosexual behavior on the military by repealing the so-called “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy.

Now, while the repeal is scarcely a done deal, military officials who prefer political correctness over moral courage began implementing some bizarre changes.  The breaking point came when the Navy ordered its chapels to be open to same-sex “marriages,” in defiance of the federal Defense of Marriage Act. 

Legislators swiftly responded and the Navy backed off—for now.  But the conflict between the impending military sexual “morality” and that taught by the vast majority of chaplains could no longer be hidden.

Indeed, the conflict prompted rare written protests from the Catholic  and Protestant chaplain endorsing agencies that supply the vast majority of chaplain candidates to the armed forces.

Their protest resonates with the spirit of the four sacrificial chaplains who were willing to serve whatever the cost, reserving only one thing:  “Chaplains have a tremendous moral responsibility to insure that when they preach, teach or counsel, they do so in accordance with their conscience and in harmony with the faith group by which they are endorsed.”

Bluntly put, chaplains cannot and will not sacrifice Christian truths at the altar of President Obama’s sexual politics—a reality that the President had fair warning of.  Now that the warning is becoming reality, Congress must act to protect the faithful service of the Chaplains, lest the military find itself on the wrong side of history in a war of morals.  Do your part and let your Senators and Representatives know of the endorsing agencies’ concerns while there is still time to act!

Visit “Faith Under Fire” to learn more about how the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” threatens religious liberty.

 ADF Senior VP; Senior Counsel Gary McCaleb writes:

The 1960s blockbuster movie Seven Days in May  recounted a fictional plot by military leaders to overthrow a president who pushed for nuclear disarmament. It is a classic anti-military screed that embodied some of the worst far-left thinking of the sixties.

The movie was pure fiction.  But the leftist thinking behind the movie was unfortunately real.  And as we verge on another May, that bad thinking is incarnated in a real president who is bent on overthrowing the moral standards of our military—standards that have seen this Nation safely through centuries of peace and war.

In May 2011 President Obama will keep after his goal of forcing bisexual and homosexual behavior on the military by repealing the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy—not just so a few individuals may serve, but to enforce the homosexual agenda by force of law and military regulation.  When he rolled the idea out in his inaugural address, it seemed like a done deal. But in the wake of the 2010 elections in which he lost control of the House of Representatives, it is no longer a sure bet.

Recently, House committees have been asking hard questions of some generals and admirals on April 1st and 7th—and much to their shame, those active duty commanders tap danced around the hard truths that were set forth months ago by almost 1200 senior veteran officers—retired flag and general officers who can speak without career fears hanging over them. 

But the commanders’ evasion did not go unnoticed, and now some of the best minds in America are rebelling against this radical “repeal” of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.  Renowned author and Christian leader Chuck Colson—who once commanded a platoon of Marines—pungently points out that forcing errant eros into the band-of-brothers military culture will have devastating impacts.  Chuck Donovan, Senior Research Fellow at the Heritage Foundation, calls out Congressional and military leaders for indulging in shoddy politics that elevate a wrongheaded “sexual liberty” over real military needs.  And of course, ADF has spoken forcefully on the religious freedom aspects of the issue.

This resistance is good news, and it is growing. One hearing already led to a second, and those inspired these incisive commentaries. And if you act swiftly by letting your Senators and Representatives know today that the repeal is wrong and must be stopped, then this May may bring real hope to our stressed and deeply endangered troops.

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