WASHINGTON — Under pressure from more than five dozen House lawmakers, the Navy late Tuesday abruptly reversed a decision that would have allowed chaplains to perform same-sex unions if the Pentagon decides to recognize openly gay military service members later this year.
In a one-sentence memo, Rear Adm. Mark Tidd, chief of Navy chaplains, said his earlier decision has been “suspended until further notice pending additional legal and policy review and interdepartmental coordination.”
The Navy said its lawyers wanted to do a more thorough review of the legal decision that allowed Navy chaplains to receive training to perform civil unions on military bases but only in states where same-sex marriage is legal.
Military training to apply the new law allowing gays to serve openly began earlier this year and is expected to be completed by midsummer.
House members wrote to Navy Secretary Ray Mabus to object to the Navy’s initial ruling, saying the service was violating the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act by appearing to recognize and support same-sex marriages.
That law defines marriage as only between a man and a woman, and it also says states don’t have to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states where they are legal.
“We find it unconscionable that the United States Navy, a federal entity sworn to preserve and protect the Constitution of the United States, believes it is their place alone to train and direct service members to violate federal law,” said the lawmakers’ letter, which was signed by 63 House members.
The Navy’s decision triggered an uproar, particularly because the Army and Air Force had not made similar decisions and there was no overall Defense Department guidance issued on the same-sex-union issue.
When first asked about the Navy’s decision to allow the training, the Pentagon said the federal Defense of Marriage Act does not restrict the types of ceremonies a chaplain may perform in a chapel on a military base. And officials have repeatedly stressed that the military would not compel chaplains to perform a same-sex union if it was against their religious beliefs.
The military dust-up comes against the backdrop of the Obama administration’s decision in February to no longer defend the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act. Attorney General Eric Holder said at the time that President Barack Obama concluded that the law was unconstitutional.
The Pentagon has been moving carefully to implement the repeal of the 17-year-old ban on openly gay troops. Under the law passed and signed by the president in December, final implementation would occur 60 days after the president and his senior defense advisers certify that lifting the ban won’t hurt troops’ ability to fight.
