Posted on 06/04/2011 9:07:57 AM PDT by darkwing104
With little fanfare and by a vote of 322 – 96, HR.1540: National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012 passed the House on May 26th. In this bill the House: added provisions which will require that “foreign terrorists” detained by the United States be considered enemy combatants and tried in military tribunals rather than the civilian court system and forbade the introduction of ground forces in Libya. It also eliminated the U.S. Institute of Peace, forbade military installations from hosting same-sex weddings and barred Defense Department chaplains or civilians from performing such ceremonies as part of their official duties.
Not so fast
In compliance with Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) the Government defines marriage as a legal union between one man and one woman. The military cannot ignore federal law. Despite all of the rhetoric of Attorney General Holder about DOMA being unconstitutional it is still the law. This Administration has a bad habit of ignoring laws it doesn’t approve of so that might not mean much.
Admiral Tidd’s Memo
Last month the Navy’s head chaplain Rear Adm. Mark Tidd, issued a memo stating same sex marriages could be performed on military installations upon the repeal of the “don’t ask, don’t tell” (DADT) policy. Less than 24 hours after issuing this memo the Admiral had to withdraw the directive. Gay groups decried Adm. Tidd’s retraction of the memo; the guidelines ignore the DOMA and state laws.
The repeal of DADT cannot compel states to acknowledge gay marriages and the Defense Department is not in a position to ignore or change state laws. The current Defense Authorization Act will forbid gay “marriages” on its installations and its chaplains from performing them. The bill reaffirms DOMA and prohibits the Defense Department from recognizing gay marriages.
(Excerpt) Read more at coachisright.com ...
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