House panel OKs allowing chaplains to oppose gays

WASHINGTON -- The House Armed Services Committee has voted to protect service members, especially chaplains, from persecution for opposing the presence of gays in the military.

Rep. Todd Akin, R-Mo., said the amendment to the 2013 defense authorization bill protects religious freedom of military chaplains and the conscience and moral principals of service members who are opposed to homosexuality but feel pressured since the 2011 repeal of the military's gay ban to hide their beliefs out of fear of recrimination.

It passed Wednesday in a 36-25 vote.

"This is trying to protect the ability of people to have their own opinion," Akin said. He said he has heard from many chaplains who feel their expression of opposition to homosexuals has or could harm to their careers by denying assignments, promotions, training or education.

On a 37-24 vote, the committee also passed a second amendment prohibiting same-sex marriages or a "marriage-like ceremony" that involves a same-sex couples at any military installation or on any property owned, rented or under the control of the Defense Department.

Chaplains already have the right under military policy to decline to be involved in same-sex marriage ceremonies.

Rep. Steve Palazzo, R-Miss., the chief sponsor of this amendment, said he is trying to reverse Defense Department policies that allow private same-sex marriages from occurring on bases and permit chaplains to perform the marriage.

Whether either provision becomes law is unclear. Akin was an opponent of lifting the gay ban. In 2010, just before the military's policy changed, he convinced the House Armed Services Committee to pass an amendment prohibiting same-sex marriages from occurring on military bases only to have the provision stricken from the final bill during negotiations with the White House and Senate. This is the same prohibition that Palazzo is now sponsoring.

Opponents of the legislation worry it "opens the door to allow harassment and discrimination without penalties," said a statement from the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network. They claim the bill could be seen as a "license to bully" gay men and lesbians.

Akin's amendment requires the Defense Department to "accommodate the conscience and sincerely held moral principles and religious beliefs of the members of the Armed Forces concerning the appropriate and inappropriate expression of human sexuality."

It prohibits opposition to gay lifestyles from being used as the basis for denial of promotion, assignment, training or adverse personnel action.

Rep. Susan Davis of California, ranking Democrat on the armed services subcommittee on military personnel, said the amendments seem to encourage discrimination in the ranks on the basis of sexual orientation.

"People could do whatever they want, and say it is because of their religion," she said.