The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff declared that homosexuality, like adultery, is immoral and the Army shouldn’t allow any immoral behavior. I have a few questions left about that. First of all, immoral according to what standard in a secular state? The Bible? Even the Bible takes adultery to be the bigger issue: It made the top 10; biblical pronouncements on homosexuality are tucked away in odd places and not especially clear. “Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife” is pretty clear. And yet, there’s no word from the DoD that a “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy on adultery is forthcoming.
None of these obvious questions has been asked. The media has, however, tackled likely ’08 Democratic candidates Obama and Clinton and asked for their opinion on the morality of homosexuality. They hedged. (Clinton had asked for the gay vote just days before at an under-the-radar speech at the Human Rights Campaign.)
Finally, someone has gotten around to asking the Secretary of Defense what he thinks.
Robert Gates veritably brimmed with substance and insight when he said, “I think we should just move on at this point.” Asked whether he thought Pace should apologize, Gates said no. Gates went on to say that he was too busy to evaluate whether “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”—which less than half the nation supports and which costs a strapped military 4,000 soldiers a year—is an effective policy.
