Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Monday that he supports the Pentagon's "don't ask, don't tell" ban on gays serving in the military because homosexual acts "are immoral," akin to a member of the armed forces conducting an adulterous affair with the spouse of another service member.
Responding to a question about a Clinton-era policy that is coming under renewed scrutiny amid fears of future U.S. troop shortages, Pace said the Pentagon should not "condone" immoral behavior by allowing gay soldiers to serve openly. He said his views were based on his personal "upbringing," in which he was taught that certain types of conduct are immoral.
"I believe homosexual acts between two individuals are immoral and that we should not condone immoral acts...," Pace said in a wide-ranging discussion with Tribune editors and reporters in Chicago. "I do not believe the United States is well served by a policy that says it is okay to be immoral in any way."
It's as someone once said about Phyllis Schlafly: "With her you're reduced to yelling 'liar! liar! liar!'"
It never ceases to amaze me when someone who's worldly and educated STILL is reduced to a 19th century view of people...people who have never done him any harm...people who gladly pay his salary...people who get up in the morning, go to work, love their friends and family, and don't cause harm to others. Yet still, this num-nuts is able to sit in front of a microphone and say that they're "immoral". And I'm sure by his "upbringing" he's talking about that 2000 year old tome, the bible. And I'm sure he believes every word of it is the literal truth...well except for those words about killing folks...and maybe those prescriptions about slaves and what kind of fabric to wear.
I gotta say that. to me, the spiritual axiom that describes his ilk is the one which would suggest that his problem with gay people is really a problem inside himself. General Pace: What are you trying to kill inside your own brain that allows to declare people who have NOT committed adultery, who have NOT broken any vows, who breathe and bleed just like you , and really just want to find someone to love, just like you, and - in many cases - raise beautiful and loving children just like you, what is it inside your brain that allows you to just whisk these human beings aside as "immoral"?
What are you trying to keep down inside of you? I can only imagine...ok, actually I gotta figure I know what it is, but it's up to you to admit it.
Oh and as for General Pace's actual ability to judge the world around him, let's go the tape please:
"{Donald Rumsfeld} leads in a way that the good Lord tells him is best for our country"
Yeah, you're the guy we wanna be listening to.
The thing that keeps me from just quitting this country is the knowledge that General Pace's ilk are on the wane. As more and more people get to know gay family-members, gay friends, gay co-workers, their bigotry wanes. I wonder how General Pace would react to his son being gay? Would he call him immoral and kick him out? Would he break contact with this immoral being? Would he try to change his son into something he's not? Would there be an ultimatum? Or would he finally accept that the son who trusted him with this part of himself is the same human being he'd loved up until that acknowledgement.
Only the most rigid bigots still hate gays after getting to know them. That's a spiritual axiom I can take to the bank.
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