This morning, President Obama signed into law a repeal of the statutory ban on homosexuals serving in the military. The statutory ban reflected the military’s prohibition on open homosexuals serving in the military beginning with George Washington’s Continental Army.
In fact, in approving the sentence of dismissal of an officer for attempted sodomy in 1778, Washington, as Commander-in-Chief, ordered the officer drummed out of the Camp never to return, calling homosexual sodomy an “Infamous Crime” deserving of “Abhorrence and Detestation.”
Service in the United States military is not a right. The fact that someone wants to serve in the military has never been the sole standard by which to allow service. The military has historically been selective about who can join, imposing restrictions based on age, weight, physical fitness, health, drug usage, and more.
Richard Thompson, President and Chief Counsel of the Thomas More Law Center, a national, Christian, public interest law firm based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, commented: “The Thomas More Law Center will review cases of discrimination against Christian service members as a result of this repeal, and where appropriate, defend at no charge those service members penalized for resisting this abhorrent new ‘morality’ being forced upon them.”
Continued Thompson: “Congress and the President enacted this repeal with nothing more in mind than to curry favor with homosexual groups. Allowing open homosexuals to serve in the military degrades the cohesion and effectiveness of our combat troops. It betrays our combat troops who overwhelming spoke out against it. And in time, it will destroy the religious foundations and the high moral standards that are characteristic of our military. It was those religious and moral standards, and not the sophistication of our military hardware, that made the American soldier the best in the world. ”
Thompson observed, “Most of our military are Christians. Despite this repeal, Christians still consider homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity, intrinsically disordered, and a sin. So, it remains to be seen how the military’s zero tolerance for anyone who disagrees with open homosexuality will impact military chaplains and other Christians who faithfully serve our Nation.”