Posted on 03/13/2007 11:40:30 AM PDT by Sub-Driver
Pace expresses regret over gay remark
By PAULINE JELINEK -- Associated Press Writer (Published: March 12, 2007)
WASHINGTON (AP) The Pentagon's top general expressed regret Tuesday that he called homosexuality immoral, a remark that drew a harsh condemnation from members of Congress and gay advocacy groups.
In a newspaper interview Monday, Marine Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, had likened homosexual acts to adultery and said the military should not condone it by allowing gays to serve openly in the armed forces.
In a statement Tuesday, he said he should have focused more in the interview on the Defense Department policy about gays - and "less on my personal moral views."
He did not offer an apology, something that had been demanded by gay rights groups.
"General Pace's comments are outrageous, insensitive and disrespectful to the 65,000 lesbian and gay troops now serving in our armed forces," the advocacy group Servicemembers Legal Defense Network said in a statement on its Web site.
The group, which has represented some of the thousands dismissed from the military for their sexual orientation, demanded an apology.
Pace's senior staff members said earlier that the general was expressing his personal opinion and did not intend to apologize. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not allowed to speak on the record.
(Excerpt) Read more at pressofatlanticcity.com ...
...and here we go.
He didn't change his mind it was changed for him, a visit from Bauer.
Isn't this the third thread opened about this same news item in a little over an hour?
This is nutz...first he says he won't...now, a few hours later he does??
Lost my respect.
Orders is orders.
Thus does a great civilization slowly submerge itself.
Glad I've moved away from the urban centers.
Don't know. I've been gone for an hour. ;-)
Waah! Waah! Waah!
How did the homosexuals arrive at the number of troops being gay? 65,000?
That number is a helluva lot lower than they profess in the general population, isn't it?
Well, as far as I'm concerned, homosexuality is fifty city blocks from normal, and to propose that it is normal is the biggest piece of pretzel logic I've seen in a spell.
I'm also disappointed, but wasn't it an unnamed aide who said he wouldn't apologize?
I just wish he'd ask the professionally-offended, "Do you want me to apologize for what I think, or for saying what I think?"
NO!! Don't apologize, say it even louder!
He didn't really apologize, just said he should have not mentioned his personal views acting as an official military spokesman.
That isn't an apology, but a correction.
Forty years ago if he said this they would have laughed at him for stating the obvious, or said "what's homosexuality?"
Maybe he should change his name to Peter Puss.
We have had to endure the POTUS being called a murder...our troops called cold-blooded murderers...and torturers..
All in the name of "free speech"....
It needs to go both ways.
Well, yes. It was a lapse in professionalism.
If he had done this when homosexuality was allowed in the military (like it probably will be in a few years), it would have ended his career on the spot. As it is, he'll skate by on a technicality and an expression of regret.
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