No 'coming out party' for gays in the military
By Marsha West
 
The radical Left's effort to repeal Don't Ask, Don't Tell (DADT), a law that bans homosexuals from serving openly in the military, has failed.  On September 21 the Senate Democrats were unable to achieve the 60 vote threshold to get cloture which was needed to advance a Defense Authorization bill.  Democrats included the repeal provision in the bill.  The bill authorizes $726 billion in military spending for next year and includes $159 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and a pay raise for the troops.
 
Stealthy Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D) included this and other partisan amendments to the bill that would have eventually become law.  One amendment allowed for abortions to be performed on military bases, another, the DREAM Act, would allow the children of immigrants who entered the country illegally to become U.S. citizens.   DREAM Act sponsor Sen. Dick Durbin (D) has sent a new version to the Senate floor so that the bill can be ready for a stand-alone vote or as an amendment to a future bill.
 
Sen. John McCain chided the Majority Leader for the "unfortunate and growing politicization of the National Defense Authorization Act."  He also told Harry, "I regret to see that the long-respected and revered Senate Armed Services Committee has evolved into a forum for a social agenda of the liberal left of the Senate."
 
Although this is a major victory for the military, the victory may be short-lived.  Sen. Joe Lieberman, who supports repeal despite the fact that there is ample evidence that allowing homosexuals to serve openly would heighten tension, erode morale, and have a negative impact or recruitment and retention, warned, "This ain't over."   
 
Sen. Reid will push for reconsideration of the legislation later this year.
 
Robert Knight, senior writer for Coral Ridge Ministries, raised the possibility that Reid did not intended to win the vote.  Knight thinks tacking on controversial provisions "is like asking for it to be rejected."  He intimated that the real reason Sen. Reid brought the bill to a vote was to appeal to Democrat abortion backers, homosexual groups and Latino voters before they vote in the November elections.
 
Penny Nance, CEO of Concerned Women for America doesn't believe it's over yet. She said, "I believe this issue will come up again. We are going to be cautious, but optimistic, and we will continue to be on guard."
 
Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council agrees.  He commented:
 
"When the issue does resurface the Marines will have a new face in the fray. With General James Conway's term almost up, Defense Secretary Robert Gates has tapped General James Amos to take over as Marine Commandant. Yesterday, Conway's successor-to-be was grilled by members of the Senate Armed Services Committee in a hearing where, for an entire hour, not a single issue was discussed except gays in the military. Proving just how misplaced the Left's priorities are, important questions on things like Marine warfare, Iraq strategy, and our role in Afghanistan all took a backseat to the General's opinion on homosexuals in the military. Instead of pressing the nominee on his experience or vision for the Corps, liberals seemed obsessed with his position on homosexuality."
 
General Amos told the Committee:
 
"In my personal view, the current law and associated policy have supported the unique requirements of the Marine Corps, and thus I do not recommend its repeal." He also said that changing the policy at this juncture would "serve as a distraction to Marines who are tightly focused at this point on combat operations in Afghanistan."
 
Not surprisingly, General Amos' expert opinion fell on deaf ears as 54 Senate liberals chose to ignore his advice and voted for cloture on the Defense Authorization bill.
 
In July Secretary of Defense Gates and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen urged service members to complete a survey on DADT.  The survey went out to 400,000 active and reserve troops and asks them to give their views on the policy and how they would feel if homosexuals are allowed to serve openly.  Gates said, "I think it is very important for us to understand from our men and women in uniform the challenges that they see." 
 
In 1992 President Bill Clinton sought to repeal the prohibition of homosexuals serving openly in the military but his plan did not have the support of the American people much less the military. The DADT policy was a compromise that has served relatively well over the last two decades.
 
In 2004 the Log Cabin Republicans, a group of homosexual RINOs (Republicans In Name Only), filed a lawsuit seeking an injunction to stop the U.S. military's ban. Recently a Federal judge in California declared from the bench that DADT is unconstitutional and that she will issue an order to stop the government from enforcing it.  What the Left fails to win in Congress they try to control from the courts. 
 
Radical "gay" activists, who are the ones pushing for the normalization of sodomy, view the military as a means to an end.  These people are fully aware that this sort of social experiment is likely to have unintended and unforeseen consequences, none of which are in the best interest of the military.
 
For those of us that are paying attention and care about this issue, now is a time to celebrate.  "Faced with a liberal supermajority, a White House doggedly determined to reinvent the military, and entertainers who used their platform to step on the troops, this is a huge victory for our military and all that they stand for. That doesn't mean the fight is over. It just means that the question will fade into the background until after the election, when Democrats, fueled by what may be monumental losses, will decide whether to use the lame-duck session to exact revenge or not." (Online source)
 
Meanwhile homosexuals are on the warpath against the Catholic Church.   Bill Donohue of the Catholic League released this statement:
 
"On June 1, Archbishop Broglio released an excellent statement recounting the Catholic Church's opposition to homosexuality. He called on Catholic chaplains in the armed forces to show respect for the dignity of homosexuals, but he also implored them to 'never condone--even silently--homosexual behavior.'
 
"On September 17, a new dissident group, Catholics for Equality, wrote a letter to the archbishop that was not only critical of his Catholic position, it reeked with smugness and arrogance: 'We are ready to help you and Catholic chaplains in the transition to full acceptance of gays and lesbians in the military and respectfully request a meeting with you….' So thoughtful of these malcontents to offer their help in transitioning the bishop to oppose the Catholic Church's teachings on sexuality."
 
Donohue went on to say:
 
"While any group can slap the label Catholic on itself, bona fide Catholics are under no obligation to acknowledge it. And by bona fide, I simply mean Catholics not in open rebellion against the teachings of the Magisterium." 
 
Here's a September 24 OneNewsNow.com headline:  Next page

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