Is Washington Going To Make Homophobia Acceptable In The Military?

You know, there’s nothing that disgusts me more than discrimination. Using your beliefs, or those of your parents, your church, your boss, your political party, your ethnicity, whatever it is that makes you feel somehow superior to others, to discriminate against people in any way, in their jobs their homes, on the street; it’s wrong. It’s stupid. It needs to just stop. But, not any time soon, it seems, for those in the military.

John Fleming

Apparently the House Armed Services Committee [HASC] has adopted an amendment—put forth by Republican Representative John Fleming of Louisiana—to the National Defense Authorization Act that would protect, PROTECT, inappropriate, defamatory, and discriminatory speech and actions from one member of the armed forces to another. Simply put, service members will be allowed to use their religion to justify their bigotry.

Allyson Robinson, Army veteran, OutServe-SLDN Executive Director, and an ordained Baptist minister, says the Fleming measure is unwarranted:

“The military already has in place policies that adequately protect a service member’s personal beliefs while also protecting unit cohesion and good order and discipline. This amendment is nothing but a thinly veiled attempt to sabotage the climate of inclusion and respect for all that our Commander-in-Chief and Secretary of Defense have called for in our military, and would create a license to bully, harass, and discriminate against service members based on religion, gender, sexual orientation, or any number of other characteristics.”

When these so-called ‘conscience protections, were first added to the defense budget last year, Representative Adam Smith, a Democrat from Washington, said, “Basically, you can believe what you believe and not be punished for it, but if your actions based on those beliefs are counter to the Uniform Code of Military Justice or counter to what’s necessary, that can be held against you.”

See, no one is saying you can’t think what you want to think, and believe what you want to believe, but the Fleming Amendment allows you to take your beliefs one step further, and speak your bigotry, and act upon your bigotry.

Robinson also believes the measure would undermine the authority of military commanders to maintain order:

“This amendment takes an authority this nation has entrusted to commanders in the field since its founding—the authority to exercise appropriate control over their troops’ ‘actions or speech’ to maintain good order and discipline—and puts it in the hands of politicians in Washington. As someone who has led soldiers in the field, I can tell you that is an untenable situation.”

Makes one wonder how people like John Fleming might feel if, one day, it became acceptable for those folks who are atheist, agnostic, non-believers to think and speak and act upon their own beliefs? I mean, what’s good for the goose, no?

Allyson Robinson

Allyson Robinson:

“Religious liberty is a core American value, and we support the accommodation of all beliefs. What we can never support is legislation that sanctions one belief at the expense of others and places unit cohesion, the safety of our troops, and their ability to accomplish the mission in jeopardy, and that’s exactly what this bill would do.”

As I said, you cannot tell people what to think—yet—but you can tell people, especially those in the military that they cannot vocalize they’re intolerance, they cannot act on their homophobia, toward any other member of the armed services.

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