Senators Introduce Awful Legislation to Block Same-Sex Unions from Military Bases

Republican Senators Jim Inhofe (OK) and Roger Wicker (MS) introduced legislation on Tuesday that would prevent marriages or even “marriage-like ceremonies” of same-sex couples from taking place on military bases because, even though the repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell” has had no negative impact on force readiness or recruitment as the repeal’s opponents had earlier warned it would. The DADT repeal hasn’t even ripped giant hole in the universe of GOP lawmakers’ hetersexual realities, so it’s hard to see what the big kerfuffle is all about.

Except that, the GOP is riddled with bigoted lawmakers. According to NBC News, same-sex civil services have taken place since DADT was repealed September 2011 in states as seemingly disparate as Louisiana and New Jersey without anyone spontaneously combusting or imploding. This, however, has not stopped Inhofe and Wicker from arguing that, as per the Defense of Marriage Act, same-sex civil services on military bases should be banned. Said Inhofe,

President Obama and his administration are dismissing their responsibility to uphold the law of the land by unilaterally deeming DOMA (the Defense of Marriage Act, which bars federal recognition of same-sex marriage) unworthy of enforcement.

Though the Department of Defense doesn’t comment on proposed legislation, spokeswoman Eileen M. Lainez said that guidelines sent out last year make it clear that military chaplains can perform services — provided they don’t violate prevailing state law — on or off military bases at their own discretion. Meanwhile, Sue Fulton, communications director at OutServe, an organization of actively-serving LGBT military personnel, contends that the legislation proposed by the Inhofe and Wicker dynamic bigot duo would restrict service members’ religious freedom and, besides, chaplains do not have to perform any ceremony they haven’t warmed to.

In late July, the House approved an amendment to the 2013 defense spending bill that would prevent the military from spending money to violate DOMA. At the time, Rep. Steve King (IA) had argued that, no, he didn’t write The Dead Zone, but he did write an amendment that would make sure that DOMA wasn’t being violated by same-sex unions happening on military bases. Methinks the fine politicians on Capitol Hill have more important things to worry themselves with, but scoring cheap points with a shrinking base of homophobic voters is probably too tempting an opportunity to pass up.