WASHINGTON — A Republican lawmaker from Kansas has introduced new legislation in the U.S. House aimed at prohibiting gay and lesbian service members from marrying on U.S. military bases, and would require new regulations related to chaplains and other military personnel.
Tim Huelskamp
U.S. Rep. Tim Huelskamp (R-Kan.) is sponsoring the bill, H.R. 3828, which stipulates that the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” cannot be used to permit gay weddings on military bases, or force chaplains to do anything against their beliefs, including marrying gay partners.
According to Huelskamp’s bill:
“A military chaplain shall not be directed, ordered, or required to perform any duty, rite, ritual, ceremony, service, or function that is contrary to the conscience, moral principles, or religious beliefs of the chaplain or contrary to the moral principles or religious beliefs of the chaplain’s faith group.”
[...]
“A military installation or other property owned, rented, or otherwise under the jurisdiction or control of the Department of Defense shall not be used to officiate, solemnize, or perform a marriage or marriage-like ceremony involving anything other than the union of one man with one woman.”
Huelskamp’s bill aims to override previous Defense Department guidance that permits, but does not obligate, military chaplains to perform same-sex ceremonies, including on military installations, where permitted under state law.
According to a memorandum issued Sept. 30, 2011, following the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness Clifford L. Stanley, said that military chaplains “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.”
“Further, 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 or personal beliefs,” Stanley wrote.
Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN) Executive Director, Army Veteran Aubrey Sarvis, blasted the bill, calling it “another round of resistance tactics that have already been rejected by Congress and the American people.”
“There is no need for the so-called ‘protections’ in this bill or the proposed regulations,” Sarvis said, in a statement. “No chaplain today is being required or pressured to marry anyone, straight or gay. Period.”
“The bill’s ban on use of military facilities and chaplains officiating at ceremonies for gay and lesbian service members is nothing more than plain, old-fashion discrimination. There is no place for that prejudice in our armed forces or in our country,” said Sarvis.
Huelskamp said his bill — the Military Religious Freedom Protection Act — will ensure military facilities “are not used in contravention to the federal Defense of Marriage Act, which states that marriage is between one man and one woman only.”
“Military installations exist to carry out the national defense of our nation, not to facilitate a narrow social agenda,” Huelskamp said.
The bill has been referred to the House Armed Services.
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Ass, no not just ass, smelly stinkin’ ass. Ass!
If straight people can get married on military bases, then so should gays. I personally believe there should be no weddings on military bases. But this doesn’t surprise me. Instead of our Congress trying to get rid of this deficit, they enjoy stripping us of our rights. :) Ron Paul 2012
but… they’re not in Kansas anymore
fucking idiot,lets be honest ok?
This shit is stupid!!! What happened to all people created equally?! Freedom?! QUIT TREATING GAY PEOPLE LIKE THEY ARE 2nd IN THIS WORLD AND THEY HAVE TO EARN THE RIGHT TO MARRY AND LIKE ITS A PRIVELEGE!!! EVERYBODY DESERVES A FUCKING CHANCE!!!
Oh hell no. Dislike!!!
why are people so fucking stupid?? ugh..plz die
This breaks my heart. When does discrimination stop and equality is shown across the board?
Not surprising
If that’s what they want, then they need to prohibit ALL service members from marrying on U.S. military bases.
do not LOVE this!!!
when will these pigs stop with their hate?????? and WHY????
Gimme a break, don’t they have more pressing issues to address? Like the economy? Balancing the budget? Bringing our troops home? HELLO??? There are more important things that we need to attend to as a country…
Time to vote every Republican out of the house who is up for reelection
So many bills and laws being created to stop any advancement for Gays that its starting to get ridiculous. They make it seem like if we have the chance to marry we’ll end the civilized world as we know it. They are treating us like we are less then anyone else. Funny if I wanted to get married to a convicted murderer who is serving a life sentence in prison I can but if I wanted to marry my boyfriend I get a “NOPE sorry that would tarnish marriage” Fuck off.
Fuck that!!?,
Whatever just whatever
What a stupid waste of time
Can’t believe that asshat is from my state :(
They really have nothing else to worry about?
Um, hey Arses… How about passing some legislation for Jobs, Ending the Tax Cuts for the wealthiest, Affordable Healthcare, Laws to Prohibit Insider Trading in Washington, Using Congress to Set you up for life financially… Just Sayin
I honestly don’t think the President will sign this bill. There are alot of asshats (Republicans and Followers) in both the Senate and House.
Im in the army and well i dont want to be married in the chaple i want to be married outdoors away from work away from the people i see 5 days out of the week.. I DONT CARE… But i just wanna know what else can they take from us…
f that shit
So the very people who swear to fight, and give their lives, to protect rights and freedoms aren’t allowed to exercise their own rights and freedoms.
Shameful :(
This is beyond stupid and when will they learn that we aren’t second class citizens. But first class citizens that deserves to be treated as such
I don’t see why LGBT members serve in the army anyway. Why fight for a country that considers you to be their scum?
Then you can’t use Gay money to support the military can you?
And, there’s the catch. Man, these people need to just let equality happen. Jews, blacks, Asians, Hispanics, women have all fought for their rights, and some still do. When will the rainbow community get their turn? I take this issue very personally and I’m straight. I do understand persecution and estrangement on some level being an atheist and a ginger. Stay strong, brothers and sisters, the war’s not over and its gonna be a long one.
And, there’s the catch. Man, these people need to just let equality happen. Jews, blacks, Asians, Hispanics, women have all fought for their rights, and some still do. When will the rainbow community get their turn? I take this issue very personally and I’m straight. I do understand persecution and estrangement on some level being an atheist and a ginger. Stay strong, brothers and sisters, the war’s not over and its gonna be a long one.
*proceeds to facepalm so hard it knocks me on my ass*
Just another way to discriminate. The time will come when every one is equal and all of the people who hate the LGBT community will look like jackasses.
To those of you who think Ron Paul is the answer, you should check out where he stands on giving the GLBT community equal rights!! He’s just another candidate who WON”T give a shit about you or rights.
or your rights.. (oops)
He is not an ass – This guy is a peri-rectal abcess.
Oh for f-u-c-k-s sake I’m SO sick of these inbreeds!!
Let’s ban marriage for heterosexuals on military bases and see how they like it!
This is really somewhat redundent…Because no matter where you are married if you are gay the federal government does not recognize it…so lets spend a bunch of money taking away a privledge that you as the fedeeral governmaent hasn’t even given us…
How about this: if he wants to tell those of us in uniform what can and cannot happen on a military post, why doesn’t he join us and put on one of these uniforms? Until then, he should shut the hell up.
Oh good Lord these people are ridiculous.
Ignorant Dumb Ass!
Hey LGBTQ Nation and fans show your support for your gay soldiers and please “Like” Soldiers for Equality now on facebook :)
VERY SAD~
This is RIDICULOUS!
Yet another anti-gay Re-Puke-lican..what else is new???
Where are the fucking jobs. Didn’t these degenerates got elected into office to create jobs???? Instead they’re stalking with retarded legislation which by the way costs us immense amounts of money
I concur with you Sloan, but you are awfully young, and this has been going on a long time…..
And yet the log cabin republicans and GOProud advocate for the election of republicans even when they are outwardly trying to hurt the gay community
What the F ever
“A military chaplain shall not be directed, ordered, or required to perform any duty, rite, ritual, ceremony, service, or function that is contrary to the conscience, moral principles, or religious beliefs of the chaplain or contrary to the moral principles or religious beliefs of the chaplain’s faith group.”
wow, so they are willingto give chaplains a blank check on refusing any military orders just to stop gay weddings? Do they even realize the language of the above statement would allow a chaplain to refuse any action that violates his personal morals or conscience- that includes a lot of things.
don’t agree with the proposed act and the lawmaker who wrote it should really carefully consider the impact of his language.
it’s just another uneducated self righteous hypocrite
great way to stand up for those who serve this country, douche
This crap stops when homophobia stops. It stops when self-righteous, immoral, evil, oppressive, abominable, sinful, fundamentalist “christians” are no longer able to legislate (dictate) using their interpretations of the Bible as a basis for American law. It seems that bigoted homophobes are yelling louder than ever against a group of Americans, many of whom have served in the U. S. military (I did), who work for civil rights equality. These homophobes are getting a very bad case of sore throat and hoarse. Eventually, their shouting will end. And then their homophobia will no longer dictate American policy, regulations, law, and social conscience.
Until we stop paying taxes they wont stop with this bullshit. Too many children and teenagers have suffered and lost thier lives thanks to this disgusting people. Why are we paying these idiots salaries when they are working against us? Remember they work for US, and they need to know that much of the tax money they waste comes from gay people. This is sick…
I’m a Canadian so I don’t have the same experience as you people down south, but who’s running your country?! Don’t they have anything better to do than devise laws to fight a “Boogey Man” they created to steer people away from real social issues? What about the capture of the American government by big business? Rampant spoiling of the environment and food system by big business? The war on and rape of the middle class (anyone with money other than the wealthy)? Etc…
I propose a new senate bill, 141, to prohibite all homophobic people of Kansas regardless of race, ethnicity, religious affiliation or gender, who are in the armed forces of the United States of America, to legally marry, or join in civil union on any military base, installation, aircraft, ship or land vehicle of said country. The marriage of aforementioned homophobic people of Kansas on military owned or leased property would tarnish the USA’s reputation, not to mention the bigoted offspring they may produce.