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Yesterday, General Peter Pace, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, tapdanced around the public outrage over his earlier statement to the Chicago Tribune that "homosexual acts between individuals are immoral and that we should not condone immoral acts." Instead of apologizing, he simply said, "I should have focused more on my support of the policy and less on my personal moral views." [Read story.] Moral views? Moral views? Since when are bigotry and intolerance moral? I was quite impressed by the following statement from Joe Solmonese, President of the Human Rights Campaign (America's largest civil rights organization working to achieve gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender equality):"Chairman Pace should apologize immediately to the tens of thousands of gay and lesbian service members who are making huge sacrifices and risking their lives every day to protect our country. He has flatly refused to do so. "What is truly immoral is maligning these service members with his bigoted statements. "The chairman also is making matters worse by misrepresenting the failed military policy. He argues that the 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' policy allows individuals to serve the nation and that it does not make a moral judgment. He doesn't tell the truth on either account. What the chairman fails to admit in his latest statement is that the current policy requires people to hide, misrepresent and deny their basic identities. It also criminalizes gay relationships and is a constant source of stress and fear for our gay and lesbian troops."Good points. General Pace does not support our troops. At least not all of them. -----
