This reeks of Elaine Donnelly. Via Politico:
"The chaplains argue in a letter to the commander in chief and defense secretary, due to go out Wednesday, that allowing gays to serve openly in the military would discriminate against some Christian chaplains.
'We are deeply concerned that these changes would threaten the religious liberty of chaplains and service members,' the chaplains said in their letter, circulated Tuesday by the Family Research Council and the Alliance Defense Fund.
A change in the military policy would force chaplains into a moral conundrum, they said, 'whether they are to obey God or to obey men.'
They also cite the recent dis-invitation of Family Research Council President Tony Perkins from an Air Force prayer meeting as evidence that a crackdown on those who oppose repealing “don't ask don't tell” is already under way."
In related news, Servicemembers Legal Defense Network executive direct Aubrey Sarvis has a piece in Roll Call on how Obama can get himself out of the box he's put himself in regarding a repeal timeline.
"The House and Senate armed services committees are less than 30 days from voting on the defense bill. DADT originated in those two committees 17 years ago, and that is where the matter should be addressed now. The big votes on the defense bill are likely to come in late May and early summer, several months before those Pentagon recommendations are due on Capitol Hill. How does the president keep faith with Mullen and Gates on the very process he set up and, at the same time, ask key Senators and House Members to support him in repealing this discriminatory federal law? That is the president's moral and political dilemma.
The immediate challenge is reconciling the timeline to ensure that the findings and implementation recommendations of the Pentagon Working Group are received and considered in an expeditious manner by both committees. This should be spelled out in the repeal legislation now before the committees."
I posted before that there are six senators on the Senate Armed Services Committee that need to be lobbied and urged to include repeal in the Defense Authorization Bill this year. Their names and contact info are HERE.
