Today while listening to the news, I heard that Obama's Press Secretary told a Youtube Q&A session that he would repeal the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy for the US Military. That made me think back to a conversation I had with an Active Duty Chaplain after the election in November.
First: I personally don't care about anyone's sexual orientation whom I serve with or have served with in the past. When I was on the boat, the only thing I cared about was if a certain individual would be able to back me up when needed and not do anything to endanger my life or the lives of the others on board. For me it was that simple. During qualification boards, the only question I asked to determine their worthiness to wear fish was, "Is this guy going to keep all of us safe in any situation no matter how dire?" If I felt he would, he got my vote. If not, back to studying.
Second: This post is not about discussing the pros and cons of the present policy or for the repeal of that policy. I am only discussing the ramifications for an already significant shortage of Navy Chaplains (other services have them too, but out of my lane).
After the election, I was discussing how I was certain that Obama would repeal the policy within the first 100 days of his administration. I never expected the announcement to come before the inauguration. I just assumed it would be buried in some obscure bill and would just happen overnight. When my fellow member of the Chaplain Corps and I were discussing this, we pondered the effect of repealing that policy and allowing openly gay individuals to serve would have on certain denominations. Many denominations still have issues with ordained women, something I witnessed at Chaplain School. Mostly they behave in a passive aggressive mode or just completely ignore the women. The women in my class were understandably frustrated at this kind of behavior.
So, we discussed some possibilities for Chaplains of denominations that are openly hostile to the idea of homosexuality, much less allowing gays to serve openly.
1) They just resign over the issue, or at least leave the military after their commitment is over.
2) Their denomination pulls all of their endorsements over the issue. This would result in losing a certain number of Chaplains overnight as when you lose your endorsement, you are done as a Chaplain. Doubt this would happen, but it is not unforeseeable.
3) They stay in the military and try to convert people back to being straight. The military does have policy in place to deal with this behavior, so if it happens would bring swift punishment.
4) They stay in and refuse to even minister to openly gay members. They would have policy behind them:
SECNAVINST 1730.7B
Chaplains shall not be assigned collateral duties which violate the religious practices of the chaplain’s faith group, require services as director, solicitor, or treasurer of funds other than administrator of a Religious Offering Fund, serve on a court-martial or stand watches other than that of duty chaplain.
OPNAVINST 1730.1D
Chaplains shall not be assigned duties that violate noncombatant status or the religious practices of the chaplain’s religious organization, undermine privileged communication, as defined in reference (m), or involve the management of funds other than the ROF.
or,
5) The best option in my opinion: They continue to do their jobs and minister to every individual in their care.
It is my prayer that #5 proves to be the option all individuals with a theological stance against gays utilize. This defines ministry and it is what all Chaplains are called to do.
The second interesting thing about all this is what happens to the force if a large number of Chaplains leave over this issue? The mainline denominations have done a good job keeping people out of military ministry through their explicit or implicit behavior towards the military on either theological, or more recently political views. The mainline denominations have let this important ministry opportunity pass them by and that has significantly changed the demographics of the military and the church. So, when a large number of Chaplains jump ship, there is no one around from other denominations ready to fill the gap because they misunderstand what military ministry is all about.
Just my thoughts. It should be interesting to watch it play out over the next few months.
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