He made a statement reflecting his values. Apparently, he doesn't have the right to speak freely or comment on morality.
The Left is demanding that he apologize. While he has expressed his regret for discussing his personal views, he has not apologized for his values.
WASHINGTON -- The Pentagon's top general expressed regret Tuesday that he called homosexuality immoral, a remark that drew a harsh condemnation from members of Congress and gay advocacy groups.
In a newspaper interview Monday, Marine Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, had likened homosexual acts to adultery and said the military should not condone it by allowing gays to serve openly in the armed forces.
In a statement Tuesday, he said he should have focused more in the interview on the Defense Department policy about gays — and "less on my personal moral views."
He did not offer an apology, something that had been demanded by gay rights groups.
"General Pace's comments are outrageous, insensitive and disrespectful to the 65,000 lesbian and gay troops now serving in our armed forces," the advocacy group Servicemembers Legal Defense Network said in a statement on its Web site.
The group, which has represented some of the thousands dismissed from the military for their sexual orientation, demanded an apology.
Pace's senior staff members said earlier that the general was expressing his personal opinion and did not intend to apologize. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not allowed to speak on the record.
...In an interview Monday with the Chicago Tribune, Pace was asked about the "don't ask, don't tell" policy that allows gays and lesbians to serve if they keep their sexual orientation private and don't engage in homosexual acts.
Pace said he supports the policy, which became law in 1994 and prohibits commanders from asking about a person's sexual orientation.
"I believe that homosexual acts between individuals are immoral and that we should not condone immoral acts," Pace said in the audio recording of the interview posted on the Tribune's Web site. "I do not believe that the armed forces of the United States are well served by a saying through our policies that it's OK to be immoral in any way."
Pace, a native of Brooklyn, N.Y., and a 1967 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, said he based his views on his upbringing.
"As an individual, I would not want (acceptance of gay behavior) to be our policy, just like I would not want it to be our policy that if we were to find out that so-and-so was sleeping with somebody else's wife, that we would just look the other way, which we do not. We prosecute that kind of immoral behavior," he said, according to the audio and a transcript released by his staff.
Right now, I'm not commenting on the merits of the "Don't ask, don't tell" policy. I'm not discussing the issue of gays in the military.
What I'm commenting on is this one-way street of tolerance.
This General Pace thing is an example.
Why is it that advocacy groups think they can demand that others accept their values?
Why should Pace have to apologize for his personal beliefs?
Has Pace demanded that gays apologize for offending his moral standards?
Live and let live isn't enough for these groups.
They are insisting that others not only tolerate, but fully accept and embrace their morals, in this case the morality of homosexuality.
I thought morality was not supposed to be pushed down others' throats.
What about being pro-choice?
Doesn't Pace have a right to choose his values?
The nation is supposed to accept the slaughter of 45 million babies through abortion. That's a "choice" that must be tolerated even though millions of Americans find it morally repugnant.
I think Pace's "choice" on homosexuality should be granted the same tolerance.
That seems fair, doesn't it?
Tolerance is a two-way street.
Correction: Tolerance should be a two-way street.
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