Wednesday, March 14, 2007

My - - - weeps for General Pace

Poor General Peter Pace.

He insults the gays and lesbians who are fighting to preserve the freedom that makes this country great and folks have the nerve to criticize him?

I mean really!

Well as you all probably already know, the anti-gay industry have grabbed onto this issue, making General Pace seem like yet another victim of the so-called Gay Mafia.

Their spokespersons have gone on record calling Pace courageous for his ridiculous comments.

On the other hand, the Center for Military Readiness said that his comments didn't go far enough.

The Center for Military Readiness seems to be yet another group sending up the anti-gay industry message behind an official sounding name (i. e. American College of Pediatricians).

Its web page says the following:

The Center for Military Readiness is an independent, non-partisan 501(c)(3) educational organization formed to take a leadership role in promoting sound military personnel policies in the armed forces. CMR is a unique alliance of civilian, active duty and retired military people in all 50 states, and is the only organization that concentrates on military personnel issues full-time.

Apparently the above definition doesn't include mentioning anything about the recent controversy at the Walter Reed Hospital.

And our friend Peter LaBarbera over at the Americans for Truth (in name only) web page is going off the chain (a saying I picked up from my younger brother) over the entire controversy:

Gay activists have adopted a ‘CSI’ tactic of ‘Censoring, Smearing and Intimidating’ moral critics like Gen. Peter Pace and Dr. James Dobson. By trying to silence critics and equating moral beliefs with hate, bigotry and “homophobia,” the homosexual movement is fueling a dangerous cultural clash between religious freedom and “gay rights.”

Peter goes on to name several people who have been supposedly intimidated over their anti-gay comments. Pardon me while I deliver a little truth:

James Dobson - Peter neglects to mention that Dobson had gotten into trouble because he distorted the work of two researchers (Drs. Carol Gilligan and Kyle Pruett) in his column in Time criticizing Mary Cheney for wanting to raise a child.

Matt Barber - Barber was fired from All-State for writing an anti-gay column. Peter claims that Barber wrote the column on his own time. He omits the fact that Barber involved the company by mentioning it in the bio after his column.

Ann Coulter - Now I'm not even going to touch that one. Peter must be running out of manufactured victims to even dare mention her recent controversy.

What Peter and everyone else defending Pace's comments seem to forget is that this is not entirely an issue of morality. It is also one of policy. Even Colin Powell, when defending the military's aversion to open gays and lesbians serving, made that clear. His reasonings were that open gays and lesbians would hurt military cohesion and not his personal moral feelings.

And that is the reason why Pace has stepped into a hornet's nest. Moral reasonings alone are usually not justification to make policy or laws.

The anti-gay industry should know this. In other issues, Focus on the Family, the Concerned Women for America, etc have manufactured reasons (i.e. the supposed short life span of gay men, linking homosexuality to pedophilia) to affect public policy as it pertains to the lgbt community.

No matter how they try to defend Pace's slip of the tongue, his comments can only hurt them. As long we talk about this issue as a matter of personal morality, it is difficult for them to create lies keeping openly gay and lesbians soldiers to serve their country.