The Navy Won't Perform Same-Sex Marriages After All

Thanks to a backlash from congressmen (and four congresswomen), the Navy is backing away from its officer’s memo saying that chaplains could perform gay marriages on bases as soon as Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’s repeal goes into effect.

For these freedom-loving folks, it’s bad enough that the gays aren’t going to be forced to hide their orientation. Now those cultural radicals in the Navy are trying to redefine marriage. Per the April 13 memo:

“Regarding the use of base facilities for same-sex marriages, legal counsel has concluded that, generally speaking, base facility use is sexual orientation-neutral,” Rear Adm. Mark Tidd, the Navy’s chief of chaplains, said in the memo. “This is a change to previous training that stated same-sex marriages are not authorized on federal property.”

Sixty-three congressional Republicans, who evidently have nothing better to do, signed a letter to the Secretary of the Navy protesting that this would violate the Defense of Marriage Act (which the House is currently defending at its own expense.) Tidd responded in a followup memo late yesterday, “My memorandum of 13 April 2011 is hereby suspended until further notice pending additional legal and policy review and inter-Departmental coordination.” Hey straights, does your marriage feel strengthened?