WASHINGTON (AP) - "Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, caused a stir at a Senate hearing Wednesday when he repeated his view that gay sex is immoral and should not be condoned by the military.
Pace, who retires next week, said he was seeking to clarify similar remarks he made in spring, which he said were misreported.
"Are there wonderful Americans who happen to be homosexual serving in the military? Yes," he told the Senate Appropriations Committee during a hearing focused on the Pentagon's 2008 war spending request.
"We need to be very precise then, about what I said wearing my stars and being very conscious of it," he added. "And that is, very simply, that we should respect those who want to serve the nation but not through the law of the land, condone activity that, in my upbringing, is counter to God's law.
Anti-war protesters sitting behind Pace jeered the four-star general's remarks with some shouting, "Bigot!" That led Committee Chairman Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., to abruptly adjourn the hearing and seal off the doors. The hearing resumed about five minutes later in which Pace said he would be supportive of efforts to revisit the Pentagon's policy so long as it didn't violate his belief that sex should be restricted to a married heterosexual couple. "I would be very willing and able and supportive" to changes to the policy "to continue to allow the homosexual community to contribute to the nation without condoning what I believe to be activity - whether it to be heterosexual or homosexual - that in my upbringing is not right," Pace said. Pace's lengthy answer on gays was prodded by Sen. Tom Harkin, who said he found Pace's previous remarks as "very hurtful" and "very demoralizing" to homosexuals serving in the military. In March, the Chicago Tribune reported that Pace said in a wide-ranging interview: "I do not believe the United States is well served by a policy that says it is OK to be immoral in any way." Harkin, D-Iowa, said he wanted to give Pace a chance to amend his remarks in light of his retirement. "It's a matter of leadership, and we have to be careful what we say," Harkin said. Pace noted that the U.S. Military Code of Justice prohibits homosexual activity as well as adultery. Harkin said, "Well, then, maybe we should change that." Pace was one kick-ass 2nd Lieutenant in Viet Nam. His discipline and attention to detail were impeccable, so much so that a lot of seasoned veterans offered him the respect not usually granted a butterbar. He could lead men to places they couldn't be ordered into. But of course such a man would be at odds with someone as insignificant as a Senator from Iowa.And why shouldn't he repeat his view. It's his view. And as far as the Senator from Iowa changing the Uniform Code of Military Justice... Fat chance. Go watch the corn grow fella and leave the important stuff to men.
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