Navy
Authorizes Chaplains to Perform Same Sex Marriages in Naval Chapels
Monday,
May 09, 2011
This is an absolute outrage against God, the
bible, and Military Chaplains
The dome of the U.S. Naval Academy Chapel in Annapolis,
home to 10 weekly church, wedding and funeral services attended by more than
100,000 people annually. (
(CNSNews.com) –
Anticipating the elimination of the military ban on homosexuality, the Office
of the Chief of Navy Chaplains has decided that same-sex couples in the Navy
will be able to get married in Navy chapels, and that Navy chaplains will be
allowed to perform the ceremonies -- if homosexual marriage is legal in the state
where the unions are to be performed.
The advisory came
in the form of an April 13 memo issued to all chaplains, in which the
Chief of Navy Chaplains, Admiral Michael Tidd, said
the Chaplain Corps was revising its Tier I training manuals, which had
previously indicated that same-sex marriages are not authorized on federal
property.
Instead, Tidd called for chaplains to comply with service-wide
efforts underway to be more accepting of homosexuality and same-sex marriage as
the end of the military policy on homosexuality nears.
Citing
"additional legal review" by Navy attorneys, the admiral said the
Navy "has concluded that, generally speaking, base facility use is sexual
orientation neutral.”
“If the base is
located in a state where same-sex marriage is legal, then the base facilities
may be used to celebrate the marriage,” the admiral’s directive states.
The admiral’s memo
also gives chaplains permission to "marry" homosexual couples – but
would not force them to perform ceremines.
“Regarding
chaplain participation, consistent with the tenets of his or her religious
organization, a chaplain may officiate a same-sex,
civil marriage: if it is conducted in accordance with the laws of the state
which permits same-sex marriages or union; and if the chaplain is, according to
applicable state and local laws, otherwise fully certified to officiate that
state’s marriages.”
Navy spokeswoman Alana Garas
confirmed the change was ordered, but told CNSNews.com that the document “does
not reflect a change in policy, but a change in Tier I training for Navy
chaplains that looks forward to when Don’t Ask Don’t Tell is removed”—
something which will not happen, she said, until 60 days after the president,
the secretary of defense and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff certify
to Congress that repeal will not harm military readiness.
But Rep. Todd Akin
(R-Mo.), a member of the House Armed Services Committee, is concerned that, in
its haste to “hustle-in homosexuality,” the Navy may be violating federal law –
the Defense of Marriage Act.
“Offering up
federal facilities and federal employees for same-sex marriage violates DOMA,
which is still the law of the land and is bound to the duties of our military,
including chaplains,” Steve Taylor, communications director for Akin, told
CNSNews.com.
“The
administration and various states may be operating as if DOMA doesn't exist,
but the Navy and Marine Corps and all the Armed Services are sworn to obey the
law, which this new instruction violates,” he added.
Tom McClusky, senior vice president of government relations at
the Family Research Council, agreed that the Navy is totally ignoring DOMA,
part of which defines marriage for federal government purposes
as being between one man and one woman.
“You’re talking
about government facilities and government employees, so it would seem to be a
direct violation of DOMA,” McClusky told CNSNews.com.
“I’m not seeing a lot of wiggle room there.”
He said conservatives
had warned months ago that the push to repeal the military ban on
homosexuality would lead to efforts to introduce same-sex marriage -- but were
dismissed at the time.
“This is what we
thought was going to happen, and unfortunately now it's happening,” McClusky said.
“Unfortunately,
the military is getting out in front on this issue and when you have a
president who doesn’t believe the Defense of Marriage Act is a law he needs to
follow, it’s no surprise that the military would follow his lead,” he added.
“The president may think he’s above the law, but he’s not. If he has a problem
with the Defense of Marriage Act, that’s something that he needs to address
legislatively, not just by ignoring it.”
Rep. Duncan Hunter
(R-Calif.), said the change in training was a “good
example of the type of uncertainty and confusion created in the rush to change
the previous policy.”
“Trying to
make sense of this issue, for example, is something that should have been
thought out beforehand – assuming the administration was even serious about
doing this efficiently, fairly and respectfully,” Hunter’s communications
director Joe Kasper told CNSNews.com.
Hunter plans on
offering an amendment to the annual defense bill to
require that all of the chiefs of the armed services – not just the chairman --
would have to submit certification that removing the military ban on
homosexuality wouldn’t harm unit cohesion and military order.
Four states
plus the