Pelosi Calls Chaplain 'Conscience Clause' a 'Fraud'
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi blasted a Republican proposal that would protect military chaplains from performing same-sex marriages, saying the provision in unnecessary.
"Nobody is ordering them to do that," Pelosi told reporters Thursday. "I've never seen any suggestion that we're ordering chaplains to perform same-sex [marriages]. Where is that? I think that they can rest assured that if they don't believe in that, they don't have to perform those."
The issue surfaced after military chaplains expressed concern they would be ordered to marry same-sex couples against their personal beliefs and/or the beliefs of their denomination. Following President Barack Obama's announcement last week that he backs gay marriage, Republicans immediately proposed an amendment to the 2013 defense authorization bill that would protect chaplains from violating their conscience, moral principles and religious...