The morality of Gen. Peter Pace
You can give Gen. Peter Pace points for being honest.
People who'd like to see all homosexuals driven out of the U.S. military usually couch their desires in language about troop morale and unit cohesion. But when the Chicago Tribune asked Pace about "don't ask, don't tell" Monday, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff didn't hide behind words like those.
"I believe homosexual acts between two individuals are immoral and that we should not condone immoral acts," Pace said. "I do not believe the United States is well served by a policy that says it is OK to be immoral in any way. As an individual, I would not want [acceptance of gay behavior] to be our policy, just like I would not want it to be our policy that if we were to find out that so-and-so was sleeping with somebody else's wife, that we would just look the other way, which we do not. We prosecute that kind of immoral behavior."
We're all for prosecuting immoral behavior, just as long as we're the ones who get to decide what's immoral. And on that front, we'll associate ourselves with the words of the National Stonewall Democrats' Jo Wyrick: "It is immoral to send our service members into battle without the proper equipment or plan. It is immoral to deny them proper medical care upon their return, and it is immoral to revoke support for our troops based on this misguided policy reaffirmed by General Pace and the White House."
Oh, and ridding the military of desperately needed Arabic-speaking linguists just because they happen to be gay? That's at least a little bit immoral, too.
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