You’re a Navy Chaplain. You’ve received a formal notification from the Office of the Chief of Navy Chaplains, instructing you that you have permission to perform the sacred ceremony of marriage for same sex couples, providing that homosexual marriage is legal in the state where the ceremony will be performed.  What do you do?

Far-fetched? Nope.

Per cnsnews.com, the notification was issued to all Navy Chaplains by the Chief of Navy Chaplains, Admiral Michael Tidd, on April 13th, 2011.

According to the advisory, the Chaplain Corps is bringing up-to-date its Tier I training manuals, which had previously ruled that same-sex marriages would not be authorized on federal property.

In the memo, Tidd inferred that chaplains need to be in lock-step with service-wide efforts underway to be more accepting of homosexuality and same-sex marriage as the end of the military policy on homosexuality nears.

Referencing “additional legal review” by Navy attorneys, the admiral said the Navy

…has concluded that, generally speaking, base facility use is sexual orientation neutral.

If the base is located in a state where same-sex marriage is legal, then the base facilities may be used to celebrate the marriage.

According to Admiral Tidd’s notification, chaplains now have permission to “marry” homosexual couples but the Navy will not force them to perform ceremonies:

Regarding chaplain participation, consistent with the tenets of his or her religious organization, a chaplain may officiate a same-sex, civil marriage: if it is conducted in accordance with the laws of the state which permits same-sex marriages or union; and if the chaplain is, according to applicable state and local laws, otherwise fully certified to officiate that state’s marriages.

Per Navy spokeswoman Alana Garas, the change was ordered, but then, she backtracked and told CNSNews.com that the document

…does not reflect a change in policy, but a change in Tier I training for Navy chaplains that looks forward to when Don’t Ask Don’t Tell is removed.

Which, according to her, will not happen until 60 days after the president, the secretary of defense and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff certify to Congress that repeal will not harm military readiness.

Rep. Todd Akin (R-Mo.), a member of the House Armed Services Committee, is concerned that, in its haste to “hustle-in homosexuality,” the Navy may be violating federal law – the Defense of Marriage Act.

According to Steve Taylor, communications director for Akin:

Offering up federal facilities and federal employees for same-sex marriage violates DOMA, which is still the law of the land and is bound to the duties of our military, including chaplains.

The administration and various states may be operating as if DOMA doesn’t exist, but the Navy and Marine Corps and all the Armed Services are sworn to obey the law, which this new instruction violates.

Is this a violation of the Defense of Marriage Act?

Even if it is, the President of the United States of America and his Attorney General decided, in their infinite wisdom, that DOMA was unconstitutional this past February.

Per nytimes.com:

Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. announced the decision in a letter to members of Congress. In it, he said the administration was taking the extraordinary step of refusing to defend the law, despite having done so during Mr. Obama’s first two years in the White House.

“The president and I have concluded that classifications based on sexual orientation” should be subjected to a strict legal test intended to block unfair discrimination, Mr. Holder wrote. As a result, he said, a crucial provision of the Defense of Marriage Act “is unconstitutional.”

Presidential Decree aside, Tom McClusky, senior vice president of government relations at the Family Research Council,still thinks that this is a violation of DOMA:

You’re talking about government facilities and government employees, so it would seem to be a direct violation of DOMA. I’m not seeing a lot of wiggle room there.

MCClusky reminds us that Conservatives had sounded the warning months ago that the push to repeal the military ban on homosexuality would lead to efforts to introduce same-sex marriage, but were made the subject of ridicule at the time:

This is what we thought was going to happen, and unfortunately now it’s happening.

Unfortunately, the military is getting out in front on this issue and when you have a president who doesn’t believe the Defense of Marriage Act is a law he needs to follow, it’s no surprise that the military would follow his lead.  The president may think he’s above the law, but he’s not. If he has a problem with the Defense of Marriage Act, that’s something that he needs to address legislatively, not just by ignoring it.

Homosexual Marriage is legal in only four of these United States, plus the District of Columbia, having been voted down by Americans in approximately 30 states.  The states that allow it are: Massachusetts, Connecticut, Iowa and New Hampshire. Vermont recognizes civil unions. Maryland, New York and Rhode Island recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states.

Liberal Ideology is famous for having a predilection for Social Engineering.

But , why do they have to use our Best and Brightest as their Lab Rats?

KJ Udpate 10/11/11 9:22 a.m. – Per mywaynews.com, under pressure from 63 House lawmakers, the Navy late Tuesday abruptly reversed its decision that would have allowed chaplains to perform same-sex unions if the Pentagon decides to recognize openly gay military service later this year.

It sounds like the Congressional switchboard melted down…again.