Top General's 'Immoral' Assessment of Gays Leads to Positive Fallout

As Wyoming's straight-shooters might say, "Hey, Gen. Pace, thanks for the insult!"

Without intending to, Peter Pace, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, helpfully restarted the national conversation about the treatment of gay Americans fighting for our country. He described those of us who're gay as "immoral" and likened us to adulterers.

Momentarily slipping out of the familiar camouflage of discredited rationales for Don't Ask, Don't Tell, Pace left absolutely zero doubt about the true reason uniformed gays continue to be forced to stay closeted, celibate and fearful of being hounded out of the military: ignorance.

In the uproar that followed, something wonderful happened: We got very public signals that even among Republicans who voted for the gay ban, there's a refreshing willingness to reconsider it.

Alan Simpson, a retired three-term Republican senator from Wyoming, eloquently explained in a Washington Post guest column why he no longer supports the ban. And Virginia Republican Sen. John Warner, a respected former chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, "strongly" disagreed with Pace's characterization of gays as immoral and announced he'll not comment on the ban until after new hearings are held.

Wanting some insight from inside the Republican foxhole, I caught up with Simpson.

"Everything has changed," Simpson said, walking me through his own remarkable evolution. "There are less homophobes in the world now. If you have someone close in your family or a dear friend who is gay, that stuff disappears," added Simpson, who has a gay cousin and many gay friends.

Having retired from the Senate in 1996 after chairing the Veterans' Affairs Committee, Simpson voted for Don't Ask in 1993 and for the anti-gay Defense of Marriage Act, yet he was one of only eight Republicans who voted to outlaw anti-gay job discrimination.

He says the brutal murder of Matthew Shepard in his home state in 1998 profoundly affected him.

And in 2001, he became a key player in the Republican Unity Coalition, which advocates a "big tent" party that welcomes gays and values tolerance and diversity.

Like many Americans, he's changed his views on gays serving openly in the military. And he's disturbed that 300 language experts are among the gays booted out.

"Is there a 'straight' way to translate Arabic? Is there a 'gay' Farsi? My God, we'd better start talking sense before it is too late. We need every able-bodied, smart patriot to help us win this war," Simpson wrote in the Post. He pointed out that Alan Turing, the British genius who cracked the Nazi communication code in World War II, was gay.

To Simpson, the uproar over Pace's "immoral" comment — even the Bush White House distanced itself from it — shows that a gay-friendly national consensus is forming on everything short of marriage.

"Other things are critical. The recognition of every right a person should have — association with their loves ones, civil unions and pensions," he says. "You get into (marriage), and you get into the Bible pounders. ... I say: 'Get these things done. And we'll deal with that other one later.'"

Sweetly gruff, Simpson growls that the trouncing that his party got in November shows the public is tired of the anti-gay drumbeat and wants lawmakers to focus instead on real problems.

Sooner or later, Uncle Sam will start talking sense about gays in the military and everywhere else. Why wait?

Deb Price of The Detroit News writes the first nationally syndicated column on gay issues. To find out more about Deb Price and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate web page at www.creators.com.

COPYRIGHT 2007 CREATORS SYNDICATE INC.