Elaine Donnelly, the president of the
Center for Military Readiness, has condemned Secretary of Defense
Leon's Panetta's promotion of the department's first-ever Gay Pride
celebration.
A poster announcing the June 26 event
scheduled to take place in the Pentagon auditorium includes a Panetta
quote: “Diversity is one of our greatest strengths. During Pride
month and every month, let us celebrate our rich diversity and renew
our enduring commitment to equality for all.”
According to gay weekly Metro
Weekly, Department of Defense General Counsel Jeh Johnson
will give the keynote address at the 1PM event.
During an appearance with Janet
Parshall, Donnelly, whose group supports a complete ban on gay
service members, called Panetta's message “entirely inappropriate.”
“What happened to the notion, 'We
just want to serve in the military, we just want to be quiet and
modest and discreet, just like everyone else?' What happened to
that? Well of course that was all phony because the LGBT activist
groups know exactly how to intimidate other people, make other people
feel they are not welcome, their views are not welcome, and name
calling occurs quite a bit. That's pretty much part of the pattern
and it's one of the reasons why the 1993 law regarding gays in the
military should have been retained.”
Listen to the entire segment at
RightWingWatch.org.