Pentagon: No Plan to End Military
Anti - Sodomy Law
By REUTERS, from the NYTimes on the Web, April 22, 2005
WASHINGTON, April 21 -- The Pentagon on Thursday said it did not plan to decriminalize consensual sodomy between members of the U.S. military, but had asked Congress to approve a technical change on sodomy in the military justice code.
"The fact is, it (consensual or forcible sodomy) will continue to be a crime in the United States
military," Defense Department spokesman Lawrence Di Rita told reporters.
Di Rita said the general counsel of the Pentagon had asked Congress in an April 7 draft proposal to update sodomy from simply defining it as a criminal act, and moving it to a section of the military justice code that covers violations of
"good order and discipline."
Under the current code, consensual sodomy by heterosexual or homosexual couples can be punished by up to five years in prison.
Both consensual and forcible sodomy, as well as sodomy with a child, would continue to be considered criminal acts under the proposed change, Di Rita said.
The U.S. military defines sodomy as oral or anal sex, said Army Lt. Col. Joe Richard, a Pentagon spokesman.
Groups that advocate gay rights in the military earlier praised what they had interpreted as a proposal to decriminalize consensual sodomy.
But Di Rita said he had discussed the matter with the general counsel's office and was told the shift was to make clear that sodomy was a violation of
"good order and discipline," an area where the civilian courts have traditionally supported military rules.
Di Rita said gays could still be drummed out of the military for openly discussing or acting on their sexual preferences under the department's
"don't ask, don't tell" rule toward homosexuals. Di Rita said of the 12-year-old
"don't ask, don't tell" policy: "It's not going to change. There's nobody here contemplating changing
it."
MISINTERPRETED, SAYS PENTAGON
The general counsel's office sent the draft memorandum to leaders of the Senate and House of Representatives Armed Services Committees. Defense officials said it had been misinterpreted by rights groups, who issued positive comments on the plan earlier on Thursday.
"The nation's troops should be protected by the same Constitution they give their lives to
defend," said Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese in a statement.
"Service members should not be expected to automatically check their constitutional rights at the barracks
door," added Sharra Greer, director of law and policy for the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network.
"Consensual sodomy prosecutions are both unwarranted and unconstitutional," Greer said.
The chairman of the military's Joint Chiefs of Staff last week defended the "don't ask, don't
tell" policy amid a new push by critics in Congress to repeal it. The military says that open homosexual behavior is detrimental to good order and discipline in the ranks.
"I know there is some interest in the subject, as there is almost continuously.
In the meantime, we try to implement the 'don't ask, don't tell' policy the best we
can," said Air Force Gen. Richard Myers, the top U.S. military officer.
Republican Reps. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Florida, Christopher Shays of Connecticut and Jim Kolbe of Arizona have joined about 70 Democrats in co-sponsoring a bill introduced in March in the House by Massachusetts Democratic Rep. Martin Meehan to prohibit discrimination against homosexuals in the military.
The bill's chances of passage in the Republican-controlled Congress appear to be remote.
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