Top U.S. General
Calls
Homosexuality
Immoral: Report
By REUTERS, from the
NYTimes on the Web, March 13, 2007
WASHINGTON -- The chairman of
the U.S. military Joint Chiefs of Staff said he backs the Pentagon's "don't ask,
don't tell" limits on gays serving in the military because he believes
homosexual acts are immoral, the Chicago Tribune reported in Tuesday's edition.
Marine Gen. Peter Pace told the newspaper he felt the immorality of homosexual
acts was comparable to a member of the armed forces having an adulterous affair
with the spouse of another service member.
"I believe homosexual acts between two individuals are immoral and that we
should not condone immoral acts," Pace said in an interview with the newspaper.
"I do not believe the United States is well served by a policy that says it is
okay to be immoral in any way."
Under the "don't ask, don't tell" policy -- a compromise signed into law in 1993
by then-President Bill Clinton -- commanders may not ask the sexual orientation
of service members, but gays and lesbians can serve only if they keep their
sexual orientation private and do not engage in homosexual acts.
That was intended to ease an outright ban on gays in the military.
Critics of the policy said it is discriminatory. As the Pentagon is
struggling to maintain sufficient forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, they also say
it is counterproductive.
But Pace told the newspaper "As an individual, I would not want (acceptance of
gay behavior) to be our policy, just like I would not want it to be our policy
that if we were to find out that so-and-so was sleeping with somebody else's
wife, that we would just look the other way, which we do not. We prosecute
that kind of immoral behavior."
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