03/13/2007
General Pace Expresses Regret Over Anti-Gay Comments
Without going so far as to make an apology, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Peter Pace expressed regret Tuesday over his comments that homosexuals are immoral and should not be allowed to serve openly in the military.
According to the AP, "In a statement Tuesday, he said he should have focused more in the interview on the Defense Department policy about gays — and 'less on my personal moral views.'"
Pace's recent comments came after outrage from gay advocacy groups as well as statements from aides close to Pace, who said that the general would not apologize for his comments:
"Pace's senior staff members said Tuesday that the general was expressing his personal opinion and had no intention of apologizing. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not allowed to speak on the record."
Rep. Martin Meehan, who recently introduced legislation to repeal the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, criticized Pace, who is also the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Said Meehan: "General Pace's statements aren't in line with either the majority of the public or the military. He needs to recognize that support for overturning (the policy) is strong and growing (and that the military is) turning away good troops to enforce a costly policy of discrimination.''
Senator John Warner (R-VA) issued what ABC News called a "rare rebuke of the nation's top military officer," saying "I respectfully, but strongly disagree with the chairman's view that homosexuality is immoral."
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi expressed disappointment at Pace's remarks at a news conference today: "I was disappointed in the moral judgment that the chairman of the Joint Chiefs made this morning, or whenever it was, reported this morning, and I was more interested in the statement made by Gen. Shalikashvilii, a former chairman of the Joint Chiefs, when he said that, 'If America is ready for a military policy of nondiscrimination based on sexual orientation, the timing of the change should be carefully considered.' I think the military should carefully consider changing the policy. We need the most talented people, we need the language skills, we need patriotic Americans who exist across the board in our population. We don’t need moral judgment from the chairman of the Joint Chiefs." (video)
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This is astonishing, and it would be fascinating to know who actually was in a position to put pressure on him to pull a mea culpa. We guarantee you it wasn't SLDN's C. Dixon Osburn and his silly press release/paper airplane, though those glasses he wears that appear to have once belonged to his Aunt Zelda are pretty scary.
Nor, it's safe to say, was it Reichen.
Posted by: Leland | Mar 13, 2007 2:20:11 PM
Too funny. He's one face away from, "Honestly! For 5 years, I thought I was just getting a deep-tissue massage."
Posted by: Jeff | Mar 13, 2007 2:27:58 PM
Just for a second, let's go along with Pace's moral "logic." Let's imagine that the military wants to eject anyone who openly admits to being gay. If this morality is Bible based, my question is this: Would the military eject any unmarried soliders who openly admit to having had premarital sex? Would the military eject any solider who admits that they have in the past, or continue to masturbate? The list goes on and on, and I think we all know the answer: the "straight sins" are okay, the "gay sins" are abominations.
Posted by: Chesnut | Mar 13, 2007 2:31:15 PM
To Leland, regarding your comment above: Isn't there some other way that you could vent your disappointment with C. Dixon Osburn other than attacking his physical appearance? Your previous posts indicate a superior intelligence, and in my opinion, petty "schoolyard taunts" are better left to Ann Coulter.
Posted by: Chesnut | Mar 13, 2007 2:39:18 PM
I followed one of your links on your site (the mario vasquez story) and got a few trojans (svchst.exe, bl4ck.com etc.) put into my computer. Please check that your website hasn't been hijack.
Posted by: haz | Mar 13, 2007 2:40:43 PM
That was fast. I actually think it's a good sign that his childish comments stirred up such a shit storm that he was forced to try some damage control so quickly. Just a few years ago, his comments would have barely registered.
Posted by: sam | Mar 13, 2007 2:41:30 PM
I give him 48hrs before he breaks his word and apologizes alltogether
Posted by: MarkD | Mar 13, 2007 2:44:44 PM
Odd that Pelosi would call on the military to change its policy when she could support Meehan's legislation instead, and DADT is part of the UCMJ, so they can't change it as a matter of policy. It doesn't sound like she is too well informed on this issue.
Posted by: anon | Mar 13, 2007 2:47:23 PM
Homosexuality is against the Seven Noahide Laws and halakha, according to the new Sanhedrin in Jerusalem.
Posted by: Brad L. Burge | Mar 13, 2007 2:48:42 PM
Its hard to believe you can become a marine general and ignore the diversity training the troops receive. Any active-duty general, but especially a Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, should not publicly express their "personal moral views" on military matters...its so unprofessional and potentially, or actually as here, harmful to troop cohesion and overall morale. Gen. Pace should be step down or relieved of his duties, whichever is quicker.
Let's leave this man behind with his ancestors, the segregationists from last century.
My marine buddies who have same-sex lovers agree, but they are not allowed to speak on the record.
Posted by: John | Mar 13, 2007 2:51:55 PM
General Pace is a fairly typical General...a fundamentalist Christian who uses his certainty that God loves America in order to justify what he does to his troops and to the "enemy." Remember, this is the same man who said that Donald Rumsfeld led the military in a way that the Good Lord tells him to!
Don't forget Jesus Christ is President Bush's senior advisor, too.
Posted by: JT | Mar 13, 2007 2:52:47 PM
When did the Democrats take away our free speech? I must have missed that one.
Any man that would rather be with another man and not feel the softness and warmth of a beautiful woman, may not be immoral but sick.
Posted by: Charles | Mar 13, 2007 2:55:32 PM
Charles:
Your mother sucks cock, why can't I?
Posted by: Tagg | Mar 13, 2007 3:03:00 PM
Of course the military is concerned about personnel that are openly gay. Would it affect the military? YES! Would it affect unit cohesion? YES! Problem is that's what they were saying about blacks back in the 40's. It did affect the unit. The unit got over it. Now one of our greatest generals ever and former Chairman of the JCS is General Powell. And please stop with the Old Testament stuff. That's for a foreign country and a specific religion. Time to wise up and move on.
Posted by: John Gallagher | Mar 13, 2007 3:03:08 PM
Charles,
Let's not forget that the softness and warmth of women are largely conditioned. Try having a girlfriend stop shaving her legs and armpits, applying lotion, plucking eyebrows, and wearing feminine clothing. Softness and warmth are social features of femininity. At the level of anatomy, these are not the defining characteristics of a woman at all. The "sick"ness of your male/female choice distinction is both subjective and contingent, tossing aside all notions that homosexuality is not a "choice" per se.
_____________
Religious background aside, I'd just like to hear a rational general that doesn't refer to faith issues in military strategy.
Posted by: Oy | Mar 13, 2007 3:08:18 PM
Yeah, that's the guy I was talking about! Any chance he'll get in REAL trouble? Nope, probably not.
Posted by: FanGirlHater | Mar 13, 2007 3:09:00 PM
Everyone, "Charles" (who posted above) is not a man. Her AOL address is CCandy1@aol.com -- if you have AOL you can even look at her pictures. I guess she just wanted to rile up the gays with her comments.
Posted by: Chesnut | Mar 13, 2007 3:15:08 PM
OY: "...I'd just like to hear a rational general that doesn't refer to faith issues in military strategy."
Exactly. Well said.
God is on the side with the most cannon.
Posted by: Jeff | Mar 13, 2007 3:17:43 PM
I could swear I used to feed General Peter Pace through the glory holes at the now closed half and O street clubs
Posted by: SamS | Mar 13, 2007 3:29:57 PM
I'm thrilled that he's had to at least semi-backpedal after announcing his religious bigotry. It has no place in the military. Just do your job, soldier, and remember that your precious religion doesn't rule the roost here.
Posted by: adamblast | Mar 13, 2007 3:31:09 PM
Here we go again...some public figure spouting anti-gay nonsense and "regretting their comments" the following day. When will they ever learn? Who's next?
Posted by: atheist | Mar 13, 2007 4:13:13 PM
Since no one else has commented on it, I'll go ahead and say how surprised I am by Senator Warner's "rebuke." I always figured him for a conservative Republican - and maybe he is, except in the vein of Barry Goldwater.
Posted by: Jordan | Mar 13, 2007 4:26:55 PM
OY,
Please don't follow Charles' homophobia with uninformed rants about women's hairy legs, it borders on misogyny and fulfills the stereotype.
Women do in fact have softer skin, hence a tendency to wrinkle faster. And WHY they are using all that lotion. That's why trans MTF often are suprised at more tender skin after hormone therapy. And obviously, women have more body fat and find it more difficult to develop a "hard" body.
The list goes on.
End of today's The More You Know.
Posted by: CM | Mar 13, 2007 4:40:09 PM
I agree with Sam's comment before. Not so very long ago, this comment would have gone either completely unreported, or would have been vociferously supported by every politician. It's a sign of progress that when these asshats start spouting off their Biblically justifiable but no longer socially acceptable bigotry, more often than not they get their asses handed to them on a plate.
Posted by: Brian | Mar 13, 2007 4:48:59 PM
With all due respect to the general's career and accomplishments, let's not forget that this is a U.S. Army employee, paid for by all of us. He is in a leadership position. He is not a politician. He can and should be replaced. He must be held accountable for making prejudicial remarks to the media, especially as it pertains to the rest of the military and the citizenry at large. What's his next moral pronouncement? This guy should step down --- and reassigned to Iraq or Afghanistan. Let him spew his retarded social views there.
And, BRAVO! to John Warner, who demonstrated more grace and dignity than any of the rest of the Washington slime that I've read about to date. No doubt, he's a conservative, but he must have personal friends or relatives or co-workers who are gay and who have earned his respect. It is the only lasting way for gay Americans to sway public thinking, even on the far right.
Posted by: richard | Mar 13, 2007 5:11:57 PM
what's immoral is dropping bombs and torturing innocent people.
Posted by: BJ | Mar 13, 2007 5:39:01 PM
Warner must have friends or relatives who are gay? I figure after a six-year marriage to Elizabeth Taylor, that's a given.
Posted by: adamblast | Mar 13, 2007 5:40:39 PM
Right on, Richard.
Posted by: Brian | Mar 13, 2007 5:41:43 PM
Well I never thought I would EVER agree with anything Nancy Pelosi said, but she did say the right thing in response to Pace's comments! However wrong Pace was, Pelosi and I will probably never agree again.
Posted by: RB | Mar 13, 2007 6:08:08 PM
The media does not take any gay issue seriously. Whenever something like this occurs they never have a gay man or lesbian women talk about it. Instead you have a bunch of straight people deciding what is or is not anti-gay. Many of them can't even speak on these issues because A. they never experienced it or B. don't know what they are taking about. I want an inteligent gay person speaking about these issues.
Posted by: Jack! | Mar 13, 2007 6:31:16 PM
Well, I wouldn't exactly call my favorite gay fame whore, Reichen, intelligent. But he can speak very well on this subject on a superficial level and was interviewed on CNN about an hour ago. Likely to be recycled throughout the day and evening.
Posted by: Leland | Mar 13, 2007 6:49:54 PM
Jack!,
then get out and do something... don't simply complain that there aren't enough gay people representing to your satisfaction. Join a gay civil rights organization and make an effort to affect change.
It's easy to sit around and say what SHOULD be happening. It takes guts and integrity to actually MAKE something happen.
Posted by: mark m | Mar 13, 2007 7:17:45 PM
it's always disgusting to witness peoples' assumption that their chosen religious beliefs supercede all others' rights.
hopefully devil christians like Pace and Bush will end up in their own believed Hell.
Posted by: A.J. | Mar 13, 2007 7:20:22 PM
Warner surprised me in a very good way. I think some people are finally tired of the crypto-religio-inepto crap that has been going down in the White House.
I invite you to join me in thanking Senator John Wanrer for taking the time, and spending a little Virginia political capital in our defense.
He can be reached by e-mail at: http://www.senate.gov/~warner/contact/contactme.cfm
And by telephone at:
(202) 224-2023
Posted by: Becks07 | Mar 13, 2007 8:58:10 PM
USA Today Poll http://www.usatoday.com/news/quickquestion/2007/february/popup3915.htm
Posted by: M | Mar 13, 2007 11:58:48 PM
Member of HRC and Lambda Legal, mark m.
Posted by: Jack! | Mar 14, 2007 12:31:55 AM
Even Bill O'Reilly (misguided as he may be, in supporting 'Don'Ask, Don't Tell') thought the comments were inappropriate, completely uncalled for, and just plain wrong.
Posted by: k | Mar 14, 2007 12:56:08 AM
boys, this is progress...top military man is on the ropes for being a "hater." A real contrast to 1992, when Bill Clinton & Co stepped into this controversary.
Every time the word "gay" is mentioned in the news media, we are winning the long, winding battle for full citizenship. That combined with millions of gay people "coming out" to friends and family is changing things faster than you can say "Karl Rove."
Let's keep fighting...
Posted by: JoeInSF | Mar 14, 2007 3:29:51 AM
It think it's time the USMC admits reality --> It's time to get rid of the straight minority in the corps. They're causing way too many problems when compared to their lackluster contribution to the force.
By all metrics, a straight soldier is not nearly as good as their queer colleagues.
Remember Sparta !
Posted by: rob adams | Mar 17, 2007 12:07:00 PM
boys, this is progress...top military man is on the ropes for being a "hater."
Posted by: JoeInSF |
True, though he's hardly in trouble for the extent of his fault; and this goes way beyond whether or not one agrees with homosexuality or not:
General Pace chose to make his moral call while commenting a government and army policy (Don't Ask, Don't Tell), and that in sum shows a lack of restraint on his part -he overstepped his functions- ..And worse yet, he may have endengered the security of the troops because as a top person in the army, I assume he ought not to find himself embroidled in any type of controversy in the press as it may compromise his leadership with the soldiers..even those who are straight.
As it relates to LGBT, like Joe Solmonese pointed out in HRC's campaign:
-His statement is maligning gays & lesbians service members who risk their lives in combat daily; which is an unreal thing to do in the middle of a war..
-It adds additional stress to them.
-It puts their service in greater danger.
I can't think of anything less constructive to do in war time..and I can't imagine it would be acceptable had he said anything that more evidently compromised the well-being of the straight soldiers component.
You can read the campaign against General Pace's actions and participate here:
http://www.hrc.org
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