Burning Questions on DADT Repeal

The
repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell” doesn’t put to rest all issues and questions
related to serving openly. Gay service members won’t have the same access to
spousal benefits as their straight peers. And how effective leadership will be
in sexual orientation discrimination cases remains to be seen. But that’s not
all we’re wondering about on this historic day. Here’s the shortlist of what’s
been on our minds:

Are
military chaplains still barred from officiating at service member same-sex weddings
in their official capacities? 

Yes. And
a few members of Congress are trying to ensure it stays that way.

The
controversy began after President Obama signed “don’t ask, don’t tell” repeal
into law but before he formally certified repeal on the recommendation of
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm.
Mike Mullen. In April, the Navy’s chief of chaplains, Rear Adm. Mark L. Tidd,
wrote in a memo on DADT repeal training that base facilities are “sexual
orientation neutral” and that chaplains may perform marriages for same-sex
couples if they’re “conducted in accordance with the laws of a state which
permits same-sex marriage[.]” Of course, the ceremonies must also be
“consistent with the tenets of his or her religious organization.”

The
result? A predictable spate of social conservative aneurysms. "If the
administration keeps pounding its agenda through the military, we'll need the
Navy SEALs to rescue marriage,” the Family Research Council quipped on
its blog. The Navy reversed course, with Tidd suspending his guidance pending
“additional legal and policy review and inter-Departmental coordination.”

A
Pentagon spokeswoman told The Advocate on Monday that the guidance remains under legal
review, and sources say they don’t expect the issue to be revisited anytime
soon.

Meanwhile,
the House in June passed the annual Defense spending bill with amendments
seeking to “affirm” that the Defense of Marriage Act applies to the Defense
Department, and to prohibit use of military facilities for same-sex weddings,
as well as bar chaplains from performing such ceremonies in their official
capacities. The full Senate has yet to consider the bill, though mark-up of its
version, completed in June, does not contain such amendments. 

Capt.
John F. Gundlach, a former colleague of Tidd’s who has spoken out in support of
the rear admiral’s original guidance, said Monday, “I think that among the
troops, the end of DADT is not going to be a big problem. Where it’s going to
be a big problem is with the conservative religious groups who keep stirring
the pot with all their claims about their religious freedoms being threatened
and how are they going to preach against homosexuality.”

(Update: Defense Department general counsel Jeh Johnson addressed the topic following a Tuesday news conference at the Pentagon with Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen. “We are very, very close to having a resolution of that issue, it’s something I’ve been working on myself," he said. Of Tidd’s original guidance, Johnson said, “We pulled it back for further legal review and I think we’re pretty much done and there should be something issued to the chaplain community and others very soon on that.")