The White House issued a statement on Tuesday verifying that the administration “strongly opposes” the provision, known as Section 536 that provides protection for the chaplains and Section 537 that says military facilities cannot be used to perform same-sex marriage ceremonies.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi blasted a Republican proposal that would protect military chaplains from performing same-sex marriages, saying the provision in unnecessary.
“Nobody is ordering them to do that,” Pelosi told reporters Thursday. “I’ve never seen any suggestion that we’re ordering chaplains to perform same-sex [marriages]. Where is that? I think that they can rest assured that if they don’t believe in that, they don’t have to perform those.”
The issue surfaced after military chaplains expressed concern they would be ordered to marry same-sex couples against their personal beliefs and/or the beliefs of their denomination. Following President Barack Obama‘s announcement last week that he backs gay marriage, Republicans immediately proposed an amendment to the 2013 defense authorization bill that would protect chaplains from violating their conscience, moral principles and religious beliefs.
When asked by a reporter at her Thursday press conference if she supported the provision, Pelosi said she sided with the White House in opposing it.
“I do not support that provision in the bill, that part of the bill,” she said. “I agree with the administration. And there’s nothing that says that chaplains act against their faith.”
Arguing that the issue was moot, she added, “Because it’s a fraud. It’s a – Welcome to the world of manufactured crises. Here’s one.”
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