Military Chaplains: Protect Anti-Gay Speech

Don't punish troops after DADT is lifted for speaking minds: Letter
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted May 24, 2011 3:37 PM CDT
Military Chaplains: Protect Anti-Gay Speech
Marines attend a training session to familiarize them with the pending repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell on April 28 at Camp Pendleton, Calif.   (AP Photo/Lenny Ignelzi)

Military chaplains are concerned troops could be punished for expressing objections to homosexuality once the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy is lifted. Leaders of 21 religious groups that provide chaplains to the US military sent a letter yesterday to the chiefs of chaplains of the Navy, Army, and Air Force. They want Congress or the Pentagon to guarantee troops won't be punished if they openly discuss their objections to homosexuality.

"Service members should know that chaplains' ministry and their own rights of conscience remain protected everywhere military necessity has placed them," the letter states. Said an advocate of repealing DADT: "This is yet another example of people with traditional and, quite frankly, anti-gay views demanding protection for something that doesn't need protection." (More Don't Ask Don't Tell repeal stories.)

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