General Peter Pace, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, expressed his view about homosexuality during a newspaper interview.

"I believe that homosexual acts between individuals are immoral and that we should not condone immoral acts," he said.

"I do not believe the United States is well served by a policy that says it is OK to be immoral in any way."

[...]

General Pace has issued a statement expressing his regret about the remarks, saying he should not have elaborated on his personal, moral views.

"I should have focused more on my support of the policy and less on my personal moral views," he said.

Since when do Army guys back off that fast?

By the way, am I a bad guy for thinking that if queers can't serve in the US armed forces, "so what"?

Why should any of us serve and put our lives on the line for a country that won't recognize our civil rights?

I say "fuck 'em".

Since when do Army guys back off that fast?

I think the military should carefully consider changing the policy.

A Statement From Gen. Peter Pace, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

“Yesterday, during a wide ranging interview with the Chicago Tribune Editorial Board, I was asked if I think the current policy as codified in U.S. Code, generally referred to as “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell,” should still hold.

“People have a wide range of opinions on this sensitive subject. The important thing to remember is that we have a policy in effect, and the Department of Defense has a statutory responsibility to implement that policy.

“I made two points in support of the policy during the interview. One, “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” allows individuals to serve this nation; and two, it does not make a judgment about the morality of individual acts.

“In expressing my support for the current policy, I also offered some personal opinions about moral conduct.

“I should have focused more on my support of the policy and less on my personal moral views.”

"I think [Pace] was wise to correct his comment and to suggest that was an inappropriate point to make," said Romney.

[...]

"I believe the current policy [of DADT] has proven to be effective. And I would not propose a change in the current policy at this time. We're in the middle of a conflict and the 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' policy which I didn't think made a lot of sense of when I first heard about it has obviously served us well."

I wonder if ... the fallback position will be "segregated units"?

An ABC reporter asked her a direct question about whether homosexuality was immoral, and the wheels spun and this came out.



Hardly a statement of support for a community that she's trying to squeeze cash out of on the DL.

This shouldn't have been a hard answer to offer up, given she's for the repeal of DADT, but there you have it. Her inability to answer the question with a flat out "no" to ABC resulted in underlings scrambling to clarify the message.

When asked the same question about homosexuality and immorality, suddenly the smooth-talking, crowd-pleasing Obama caught a bad case of the sHillaries when talking to Newsday:

On Wednesday, Newsday repeatedly asked Obama if same-sex relationships were immoral.

At least John Edwards had the cojones to directly answer the question on the first try when Wolf Blitzer asked him about it on The Situation Room:

As a lifelong Republican who served in the Army in Germany, I believe it is critical that we review -- and overturn -- the ban on gay service in the military. I voted for "don't ask, don't tell." But much has changed since 1993.

[...]

In today's perilous global security situation, the real question is whether allowing homosexuals to serve openly would enhance or degrade our readiness. The best way to answer this is to reconsider the original points of opposition to open service.

[...]

...[T]here are not enough troops to perform the required mission. The Army is "about broken," in the words of Colin Powell.

[...]

Since 2005, more than 800 personnel have been discharged from "critical fields" -- jobs considered essential but difficult in terms of training or retraining, such as linguists, medical personnel and combat engineers.

[...]
Since 1993, I have had the rich satisfaction of knowing and working with many openly gay and lesbian Americans, and I have come to realize that "gay" is an artificial category when it comes to measuring a man or woman's on-the-job performance or commitment to shared goals.

It says little about the person.

Our differences and prejudices pale next to our historic challenge.

[...]

Let us end "don't ask, don't tell." This policy has become a serious detriment to the readiness of America's forces as they attempt to accomplish what is arguably the most challenging mission in our long and cherished history.

In other words, now they need us, so everything is suddenly a-okay.

I hear that the gay civil rights group the Human Rights Campaign had a come-to-Jesus (come-to-Mary?) chat with the Clinton and Obama campaigns this morning over the candidates' seeming inability to give a straight answer yesterday to the question of whether they think homosexuality is immoral.

...

HRC reportedly told both campaigns that they were not happy, and that the campaigns' various and ever-changing answers to the question were evasive and unacceptable, and that both needed to issue forceful and unequivocal statements saying that they don't think homosexuality is immoral.

I do not think homosexuality is immoral.

NEW YORK, March 15, 2007 – About 250 people picketed the Armed Forces Recruiting Station in Manhattan this afternoon in a demonstration that is being seen as the likely resurrection of ACT UP.

...

Several well-known individuals participated in or attended the Pace protest, including Kramer, former New Jersey Gov. James McGreevey, author and radio host Michelangelo Signorile, columnist Michael Musto, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Executive Director Matt Foreman, longtime activist and TV host Ann Northrop and blogger Joe.My.God.

Photographer Andrés Duque said Foreman and Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum were arrested for obstructing traffic and “their rainbow flag was taken into custody.”

...

Today, what apparently is being called ACT UP ARMY had announced several more actions in New York City, including one targeting a live airing of Garrison Keillor’s Prairie Home Companion and a large demonstration in favor of universal health care.

(AP) WASHINGTON Defense Secretary Robert Gates declined to say Sunday whether the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff should apologize for his remark that homosexual acts were immoral or whether it was a slur on gay members of the armed forces.

"Everything has changed," Simpson said, walking me through his own remarkable evolution. "There are less homophobes in the world now. If you have someone close in your family or a dear friend who is gay, that stuff disappears," added Simpson, who has a gay cousin and many gay friends.

Having retired from the Senate in 1996 after chairing the Veterans' Affairs Committee, Simpson voted for Don't Ask in 1993 and for the anti-gay Defense of Marriage Act, yet he was one of only eight Republicans who voted to outlaw anti-gay job discrimination.

He says the brutal murder of Matthew Shepard in his home state in 1998 profoundly affected him. And in 2001, he became a key player in the Republican Unity Coalition, which advocates a "big tent" party that welcomes gays and values tolerance and diversity.

[...]

To Simpson, the uproar over Pace's "immoral" comment -- even the Bush White House distanced itself from it -- shows that a gay-friendly national consensus is forming on everything short of marriage.

"Other things are critical. The recognition of every right a person should have -- association with their loves ones, civil unions and pensions," he says. "You get into (marriage), and you get into the Bible pounders. ... I say: 'Get these things done. And we'll deal with that other one later.'"

Sweetly gruff, Simpson growls that the trouncing that his party got in November shows the public is tired of the anti-gay drumbeat and wants lawmakers to focus instead on real problems.

"There are less homophobes in the world now. If you have someone close in your family or a dear friend who is gay, that stuff disappears"

While condemnation of the military's top general continues to grow over his remarks last week at gays are "immoral', Denver's Archbishop has rushed to his defense.

"Note that Pace did not say, 'homosexual persons are evil,' " Archbishop Charles Chaput writes in the Denver Catholic Register. "He said that homosexual acts are wrong. And of course he's right."

[...]

But Chaput writes that most Americans agree with Pace's assessment of homosexuality. "The only strange thing about his remarks was the theatrical wave of shock they generated from critics . . . We should respect his courage for saying it."

The Archbishop also had some harsh words for Pace's critics saying their outrage is is a symptom of how "dysfunctional" the culture has become about sexuality.

We should respect his courage for saying it.

"We need to be very precise then, about what I said wearing my stars and being very conscious of it," he added. "And that is, very simply, that we should respect those who want to serve the nation but not through the law of the land, condone activity that, in my upbringing, is counter to God's law."

Anti-war protesters sitting behind Pace jeered the four-star general's remarks with some shouting, "Bigot!" That led Committee Chairman Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., to abruptly adjourn the hearing and seal off the doors.