Opponents of gay rights have denounced
repeal of “Don't Ask, Don't Tell” as an attack on religious
freedom.
“Our troops' religious liberties are
in unprecedented jeopardy because the government has caved in to
pressure from small groups of activists to impose homosexual and
bisexual behavior in our military,” Daniel Blomberg of the Alliance
Defense Fund said in a statement.
President Barack Obama and top Pentagon
leaders on Friday sent word to Congress that the military is ready to
end the policy, enacted in 1993 during the Clinton administration,
that bans gay and bisexual troops from serving openly.
After a meeting with Admiral Michael
Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Secretary of
Defense Leon Panetta on Friday, the president released their
certifications to the Armed Services committees of both houses of
Congress, initiating the final 60-day countdown to repeal.
“'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' will end,
once and for all, in 60 days – on September 20, 2011,” the
president said in a statement.
Repeal, Blomberg warned, would force
chaplains and service members to “abandon their religious beliefs,”
and he joined other opponents who have suggested that the military's
survey which concluded that a large majority (70%) of service members
are OK with open service was doctored.
Blomberg called the military's survey a
“charade that underhandedly obeyed activists demands to abandon the
moral standards that have served the U.S. Military for generations.”
Tony Perkins, president of the
Christian conservative group Family Research Council (FRC), also
suggested the report's conclusions had been orchestrated.
“The entire process by which the
Obama administration has orchestrated repeal of this law was
dishonest from the start,” Perkins said in a statement. “The
recent revelation of a Defense Department Inspector General's report
on unauthorized leaks to the media showed that the conclusions of the
Pentagon's report on repeal had already been written before the
troops were even asked their views.”