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Anti-Gay Religious Group Denounces DoD Same-Sex Marriage Directive

Posted by: Lez Get Real on October 6, 2011.

Last week, the Department of Defense said that ;“A military chaplain may participate in or officiate any private ceremony, whether on or off a military installation, provided that the ceremony is not prohibited by applicable state and local law.”

That memo adds, that “a chaplain is not required to participate in or officiate a private ceremony if doing so would be in variance with the tenets of his or her religion.”

That same directive also said that all military families, including lesbian and gay military families, have equal access to military facilities and that base chapels could be used for those same-sex marriages.

Now some anti-gay religious groups are demanding they be able to trump the religious beliefs of those chaplains who have no problem with same-sex marriage and are demanding Congress declare no military personnel can participate in or any federal facility can be used for same-sex marriage ceremonies.

According to CBN News.com:

The Chaplain Alliance for Religious Liberty, one of the groups representing the chaplains, said allowing same-sex weddings on military bases ignores a federal law banning gay marriage.

“While the memorandum acknowledges a chaplain’s right to not participate in same-sex ‘marriage’ ceremonies — a right not given by the Pentagon, but rather given by the Creator and protected by the chaplain’s faith group — the new policy makes it clear that the Pentagon has placed the military in the midst of a deeply controversial issue during a time of ongoing war,” the organization said.

“By dishonestly sanctioning the use of federal facilities for ‘marriage counterfeits’ that federal law and the vast majority of Americans have rejected, the Pentagon has launched a direct assault on the fundamental unit of society — husband and wife,” explained Dr. Ron Crews, executive director of the alliance.

In May, the GOP controlled House of Representatives passed the National Defense Authorization Act carrying amendment addressing the the issue, but that amendment is not expected to make it past the Senate and into the final version of the DoD spending bill.