Washington: The chairman of the US military Joint Chiefs of Staff said he backs the Pentagon's ''don't ask, don't tell'' limits on gays serving in the military because he believes homosexual acts are immoral, the Chicago Tribune reported in Tuesday's edition.
Marine General Peter Pace told the newspaper he felt the immorality of homosexual acts was comparable to a member of the armed forces having an adulterous affair with the spouse of another service member.
''I believe homosexual acts between two individuals are immoral and that we should not condone immoral acts,'' Pace said in an interview with the newspaper. ''I do not believe the United States is well served by a policy that says it is okay to be immoral in any way.''
Under the ''don't ask, don't tell'' policy — a compromise signed into law in 1993 by then-President Bill Clinton — commanders may not ask the sexual orientation of service members, but gays and lesbians can serve only if they keep their sexual orientation private and do not engage in homosexual acts.
That was intended to ease an outright ban on gays in the military. Critics of the policy said it is discriminatory.
As the Pentagon is struggling to maintain sufficient forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, they also say it is counterproductive.
But Pace told the newspaper ''As an individual, I would not want (acceptance of gay behavior) to be our policy, just like I would not want it to be our policy that if we were to find out that so-and-so was sleeping with somebody else's wife, that we would just look the other way, which we do not. We prosecute that kind of immoral behavior.''
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