Windy City Media Group Frontpage News

THE VOICE OF CHICAGO'S GAY, LESBIAN, BI, TRANS AND QUEER COMMUNITY SINCE 1985

home search facebook twitter join
Gay News Sponsor Windy City Times 2023-02-22
DOWNLOAD ISSUE
Donate

Sponsor
Sponsor
Sponsor

  WINDY CITY TIMES

Senate bill includes watered-down chaplain amendment
News update posted Dec. 2, 2011
by Lisa Keen, Keen News Service
2011-12-07

This article shared 4332 times since Wed Dec 7, 2011
facebook twitter pin it google +1 reddit email


The U.S. Senate passed a defense spending bill on Thursday ( December 1 ) with only a much watered-down amendment seeking to enforce the Defense of Marriage Act against same-sex marriages.

The bill is the National Defense Authorization Act for 2012, an annual measure to authorize spending by the Department of Defense. Funding bills can, and often do, include language of a political nature, and the House, in May, passed its defense authorization bill with three anti-gay amendments.

One House amendment sought to delay repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell; but, the law repealing the ban on openly gay people in the military went into effect in September, as scheduled.

The other two House anti-gay amendments sought to prevent the military from allowing same-sex marriage ceremonies to take place on base facilities and from using military chaplains.

The Senate approved language concerning only military chaplains. The amendment, offered by Senator Roger Wicker ( R-Miss. ) , never mentions same-sex marriages specifically.

Entitled the "Freedom of Conscience of Military Chaplains With Respect to the Performance of Marriages" amendment, it simply states that a military chaplain, "who, as a matter of conscience or moral principle, does not wish to perform a marriage may not be required to do so."

"The Wicker amendment does nothing new as it relates to the rights of chaplains," said Aubrey Sarvis, head of Servicemembers Legal Defense Network ( SLDN ) . "Indeed, the new Senate language is a restatement of the protections and guarantees that have always been there."

On his Senate website, Wicker made clear his amendment was prompted by a decision by DOD in September to allow military chaplains to conduct marriage ceremonies for same-sex couples, in accordance with the relevant state law.

His co-sponsors, all Republicans, included James Inhofe of Oklahoma, Jeff Sessions of Alabama, Rand Paul of Kentucky, and Pat Roberts of Kansas.

Wicker introduced the amendment November 16, and on November 30, Senator Carl Levin ( D-Mich. ) , chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said that amendment and more than 30 others, were "cleared" by him and Senator John McCain ( R-Ariz. ) , the ranking Republican on the committee. The amendments were then agreed to by the Senate through unanimous consent, without debate.

A Senate-House conference committee must now agree upon one version of the defense authorization bill, and the Human Rights Campaign would like to see all the same-sex marriage language left out.

"We want to see the NDAA signed into law without any language that would harm LGBT service members or restrict the religious liberties of chaplains," said Michael Cole-Schwartz, HRC's director of communications. " We'll be working with our allies on the conference committee toward that outcome."

The most intense controversy facing that conference committee appears to be a dispute over whether American citizens suspected of supporting terrorist activities can be tried in military tribunals, instead of criminal courts.

The Senate bill authorizes the Defense Department to spend $662 billion in Fiscal Year 2012. The House version calls for $690 billion.

� 2011 Keen News Service. All rights reserved.


This article shared 4332 times since Wed Dec 7, 2011
facebook twitter pin it google +1 reddit email

  ARTICLES YOU MIGHT LIKE

Gay News

NATIONAL Under secretary leaving, gay man killed, anti-trans moves, SF gay bar 2023-02-19
- Under Secretary Gina Ortiz Jones—the Air Force's second-highest ranking civilian—is stepping down on March 6, after a year and a half in the position, according to military.com. Jones was appointed by President Joe Biden as the ...


Gay News

Rubio, Banks introduce bill that would ban some trans people from military 2023-02-17
- Republicans are introducing measures in both houses of Congress that, if passed, would ban some transgender people from serving in the military, The Hill reported. The Ensuring Military Readiness Act, sponsored by Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Florida), ...


Gay News

Lambda Legal challenges anti-HIV military policy 2022-11-13
- Lambda Legal filed a legal challenge to the U.S. military policy that prevents people living with HIV from enlisting in the U.S. Armed Forces, according to a press release. The current policy requires that applicants for ...


Gay News

Trans U.S. Army doctor, wife charged with helping Russia in war against Ukraine 2022-09-30
- A U.S. Army major doctor and their physician wife were arrested for an alleged criminal plot to give Russia confidential medical information about people connected to the U.S. military and government, CNBC reported. Federal prosecutors claim ...


Gay News

Palm Center to close permanently on Sept. 30 2022-09-26
- The Palm Center—an independent research institute that uses scholarship to inform the national conversation about military policy concerning LGBTQ+ service members—will close permanently on Sept. 30 after running for 24 ...


Gay News

Real-life-based gay military movie 'The Inspection' coming out Nov. 18 2022-08-23
Video below - The movie The Inspection—based on director Elegance Bratton's own life—will be out in theaters on Friday, Nov. 18. In Bratton's film inspired by his own story, a young, gay Black man—rejected by his mother and with ...


Gay News

VIEWS The gay general at Valley Forge 2022-06-18
- Friedrich Wilhelm Ludolf Gerhard Augustin von Steuben was born on Sept. 17, 1730, in Magdeburg, Germany. Son of a military father, Friedrich joined the Prussian army— considered the most advanced professional army in Europe at the ...


Gay News

New military policy keeps HIV-positive service members deployable 2022-06-09
- A new Defense Department policy allows HIV-positive service members with an undetectable viral load to not only stay in uniform but remain deployable, Military Times reported. ...


Gay News

NATIONAL Campus Pride, HIV and the military, IVF suit, Billie Jean King 2022-05-01
- Campus Pride—along with 36 other national/regional organizations such as GLSEN, PFLAG National and TransAthlete.com—requested that the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) incorporate non-binary students into ...


Gay News

WORLD Soldiers, Everywhere Is Queer, soccer items 2022-04-24
Video below - The South Korean Supreme Court ruled that soldiers of the same sex who have consensual sex in a private space cannot be charged with assault under the Military Criminal Act, The Hankyoreh reported. Previously, the court ...


Gay News

Federal court strikes down Pentagon's restrictions on military service of people Living with HIV as unconstitutional 2022-04-07
-- From a press release - "The court ruled that the Pentagon's policies regarding service members with HIV are not only outdated, but unlawful, arbitrary and capricious, and unconstitutional . . . one of the strongest judicial rulings in over two decades ...


Gay News

Leader in fight to repeal 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' to join virtual book club with LGBTQ veterans April 7 2022-04-07
- C. Dixon Osburn, co-founder and former CEO of the Servicmembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN), will join the Chicago chapter of the American Veterans for Equal Rights (AVER) April 7 at 7 p.m. for a virtual Book ...


Gay News

Gov. Pritzker lauds legislation to strengthen Illinois' response to military sexual violence 2022-04-01
-- From a press release - SPRINGFIELD — In a nation-leading effort to protect survivors of military sexual violence and hold perpetrators accountable, the Illinois National Guard worked closely with state Senate Assistant Majority Leader Tony ...


Gay News

NATIONAL Oregon ruling, bomb threat, military lawsuit, Tim Cook, Netflix 2022-01-30
- The Oregon Court of Appeals upheld a 2015 ruling by the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries (BOLI) that the owners of Gresham-based Sweetcakes By Melissa violated the state's nondiscrimination statutes when they refused to bake ...


Gay News

Veterans Day event features Col. Pritzker, Kinzinger and Duckworth 2021-11-12
- On Veterans Day, Nov. 11, the Pritzker Military Museum & Library (PMML), 104 S. Michigan Ave., hosted a free Veteran's Day program that was livestreamed live via YouTube. Transgender Col. (IL) Jennifer Pritzker, IL ARNG (Retired ...


 




Copyright © 2023 Windy City Media Group. All rights reserved.
Reprint by permission only. PDFs for back issues are downloadable from
our online archives. Single copies of back issues in print form are
available for $4 per issue, older than one month for $6 if available,
by check to the mailing address listed below.

Return postage must accompany all manuscripts, drawings, and
photographs submitted if they are to be returned, and no
responsibility may be assumed for unsolicited materials.
All rights to letters, art and photos sent to Nightspots
(Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago
Gay and Lesbian News and Feature Publication) will be treated
as unconditionally assigned for publication purposes and as such,
subject to editing and comment. The opinions expressed by the
columnists, cartoonists, letter writers, and commentators are
their own and do not necessarily reflect the position of Nightspots
(Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago Gay,
Lesbian, Bisexual and Transegender News and Feature Publication).

The appearance of a name, image or photo of a person or group in
Nightspots (Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times
(a Chicago Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender News and Feature
Publication) does not indicate the sexual orientation of such
individuals or groups. While we encourage readers to support the
advertisers who make this newspaper possible, Nightspots (Chicago
GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago Gay, Lesbian
News and Feature Publication) cannot accept responsibility for
any advertising claims or promotions.

 
 

TRENDINGBREAKINGPHOTOS






Donate


About WCMG      Contact Us      Online Front  Page      Windy City  Times      Nightspots
Identity      BLACKlines      En La Vida      Archives      Advanced Search     
Windy City Queercast      Queercast Archives     
Press  Releases      Join WCMG  Email List      Email Blast      Blogs     
Upcoming Events      Todays Events      Ongoing Events      Bar Guide      Community Groups      In Memoriam     
Privacy Policy     

Windy City Media Group publishes Windy City Times,
The Bi-Weekly Voice of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Trans Community.
5315 N. Clark St. #192, Chicago, IL 60640-2113 • PH (773) 871-7610 • FAX (773) 871-7609.