Family Research Council President Tony Perkins had his invitation to speak at Andrews Air Force Base rescinded, because he spoke out against a repeal of the ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ military policy.
Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell keeps homosexuals to serve openly in the military.
Perkins’ talk was scheduled for Thursday. He received a letter on Jan. 29 from the base chaplain’s office that his invitation was being rescinded, because his statements are “incompatible in our role as military members who serve our elected officials and Commander in Chief.”
Perkins, an ordained minister and a Marine Corps veteran, said his speech was going to discuss loving God and our neighbors.
“As one who took the oath to defend and protect our freedoms,” he said, “I am disappointed that I’ve been denied the opportunity to speak to members of the military, in a non political way, solely because I exercised my free-speech rights in a different forum. It’s ironic that this blacklisting should occur, because I called for the retention and enforcement of a valid federal statute.”
Perkins said this could be a foreshadowing of a threat to religious liberties.
“Military chaplains would bear the heaviest burden,” he added. “Would their sermons be censored to prevent them from preaching on biblical passages which describe homosexual conduct as a sin? Would they remain free to counsel soldiers troubled by same-sex attractions about the spiritual and psychological resources available to overcome those attractions? Any chaplain who holds to the millennia-old tradition of Judeo-Christian sexual morality could be denied promotion, or even be forced out of the military altogether.”
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