Posted on 06/01/2011 3:32:19 PM PDT by jazusamo
(CNSNews.com) – Sen. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said he supports the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) but “hasn’t given any thought” yet to whether it should apply to the U.S. military across the board. And concerning a House amendment to the Defense reauthorization bill to prohibit military chaplains from performing same-sex marriage ceremonies, McConnell’s office said he “hasn’t had a chance to look at the details” of the bill.
The $690-billion Defense reauthorization bill passed in the House of Representatives (322-96) last Thursday. Sixteen days before that vote, the Office of the Chief of Navy Chaplains announced that homosexual Navy personnel would be able to get married in Navy chapels and that Navy chaplains could perform the ceremonies.
One day after that story was broken by CNSNews.com, the Navy reversed itself, saying the policy had been “suspended until further notice.” Lawmakers, concerned about the Navy’s apparent policy drift and the existing federal DOMA law on marriage between one man and one woman, introduced an amendment to the Defense bill to ensure that DOMA is applied to the military.
The amendment specifically prohibits same-sex marriages on Defense Department bases and property and also prohibits military chaplains from performing any marriages in an “official” military capacity that do not comply with DOMA.
Last Friday on Capitol Hill, CNSNews.com asked Sen. McConnell, “Do you believe the federal law the Defense of Marriage Act should apply to the U.S. military across the board?”
McConnell said, “I support The Defense of Marriage Act. I haven’t given any thought, frankly, to the question you asked and, therefore, I think I’ll probably not respond.”
The DOMA, Article 1, Section 7, U.S. Code, says, “’In determining the meaning of any Act of Congress, or of any ruling, regulation, or interpretation of the various administrative bureaus and agencies of the United States, the word `marriage' means only a legal union between one man and one woman as husband and wife, and the word ‘spouse’ refers only to a person of the opposite sex who is a husband or a wife.’”
The DOMA was passed by Congress and signed into law by President Bill Clinton in 1996. The Obama administration, specifically the Department of Justice, announced in April that it would no longer defend DOMA as constitutional, even though it is existing federal law.
For further clarification of McConnell’s view on the issue, CNSNews.com contacted his press office by e-mail on May 31 and asked the following: “House Armed Services Committee Chairman Todd Akin (R-Mo.) has introduced an amendment to the Defense authorization bill that says ‘a military installation or other property’ under the DOD may be used for a marriage ceremony ‘only if the marriage complies with the definition of marriage’ as defined by Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), and that military chaplains can only ‘officially’ perform marriages that comply with DOMA.
“Does Sen. McConnell agree with that amendment -- that Defense Department property may be used for marriage ceremonies only if the marriage is between a man and a woman, and that a military chaplain can only ‘officially’ perform marriage ceremonies that comply with DOMA?”
McConnell’s spokesman Michael Brumas answered, “Sen. McConnell was asked about the House DOD bill at his press conference this past Friday. While he said he supported DOMA, he also said he hasn’t had a chance to look at the details of the House-passed bill, nor has the Senate crafted its DOD bill yet. I don’t have anything beyond what he said on Friday but feel free to stay in touch on this.”
The amendment to ensure that DOMA is applied to the military was also introduced in part because of President Barack Obama’s repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell” in December 2010. The repeal allows openly homosexual soldiers to serve in the military. With the repeal, according to The Washington Post on May 27, the Navy “told their chaplains that that they could perform same-sex marriage ceremonies at military chapels in states that recognize gay marriage.”
As a result, in addition to the House amendment to the Defense bill, conservative organizations, such as the Alliance Defense Fund, have threatened to sue the federal government for the protection of religious freedom if the Senate does not pass the bill with the provision, according to The Post.
The House version of the Defense reauthorization must now be reconciled with a Senate version and then voted upon the Senate, which is expected to occur in the coming weeks. It is unclear at this point whether the DOMA-supporting amendment will pass in the Senate.
Unbelievable. The RINOism grows by the day like a brain tumor.
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