Sodomy Ban Remains In Military Code

The Washington Blade reports that the military ban on sodomy will not be repealed by an amendment attached to the National Defense Authorization Act. The Senate version of the bill included a repeal, but that item did not survive the reconciliation with the House version. Anti-gay hate groups had found themselves in an unusual alliance with PETA in opposing the repeal, which would have also repealed a ban on bestiality because both items were in the same original clause of the military's conduct code.

LGBT advocates had also been calling for a repeal of the provision. Sarvis expressed disappointment that conferees didn’t include the Senate language in the conference bill. “Dropping Article 125 has been recommended for more than a decade by SLDN and several groups, including the Cox Commission that includes distinguished legal scholars from the military and academia, as well as the Comprehensive Review Working Group,” Sarvis said. “The Senate was right to take this action, and it is unfortunate that their attempt to end Article 125 did not prevail.”

Stand by for celebratory press releases from the anti-gay industry and PETA.