ONE-MAN ARMY

KY Republican Can’t Get Over Don’t Ask Don’t Tell Repeal, Pushing Anti-Gay Military Bill

Rep. Tim Huelskamp Rep. Tim Huelskamp can’t seem to accept that Don’t Ask Don’t Tell has been repealed: The Tea Party lawmaker from Kansas has introduced a bill that would protect bigoted servicemembers and ban same-sex weddings on military bases.

The Military Religious Freedom Protection Act, or H.R. 914, maintains that members of the Armed Forces  would face no punishment for their religious beliefs regarding sexuality. In particular, chaplains would not be forced to perform ceremonies that were contrary to their doctrine.

Um, have they ever been forced to do that?

The second part of the bill states that marriages—or anything of the sort—cannot be performed on military installations unless they are the union of one man and one woman.

According to the Washington Blade, Huelskamp’s bill has six co-sponsors, “a rogue’s gallery of anti-gay House members”: Reps. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas), Rep. Vicky Hartzler (R-Mo.), Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), Steve King (R-Iowa), Doug LaMalfa (R-Calif.) and Tim Walberg (R-Mich.).

“This is just more of the same from a dwindling number of folks on Capitol Hill who wish to cling to the discrimination of the past, rather than embrace the journey toward full equality and fairness that we have embarked upon as a nation,” said Zeke Stokes of OutServe-SLDN. “Simply put, this bill seeks to address a problem that doesn’t exist.”

You know, it’s not even the vindictiveness and un-Americanness of the bill that gets us—we’ve come to expect that from House Republicans. Its the time and money spent drafting and discussing legislation that is essentially unnecessary and would only affect a handful of same-sex weddings a year.

You lost—let it go.

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