GOP Introduces Senate Bill To Ban Same-Sex Weddings On Military Bases

Two GOP Senators yesterday introduced a bill than would ban military bases from hosting same-sex weddings.

U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe hasn't given up his resistance to the acceptance of gays and lesbians in the military or same-sex marriage. On Tuesday, Inhofe and fellow Republican Roger Wicker of Mississippi introduced a measure that would ban same-sex marriages on military bases and protect military chaplains from "pressure" to perform such ceremonies. The two senators described the Military Religious Freedom Act as an effort to enforce the Defense of Marriage Act, known as DOMA, on the Defense Department in the wake of the December 2010 repeal of the "don't ask, don't tell" policy, which ended the official ban on gay men and lesbians serving openly in the military. "President Obama and his administration are dismissing their responsibility to uphold the law of the land by unilaterally deeming DOMA unworthy of enforcement," Inhofe said.

Military chaplains, of course, are already completely free to refuse to perform any ceremony for any reason.