News Alert

http://www.abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=2946397, 3/13/2007:The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Peter Pace, is facing some tough questions this morning about controversial comments he made about homosexuality and gays serving in the military during a newspaper interview.

Pace was asked about his view on gays in the military by the Chicago Tribune. His answer was carefully worded, but his meaning was unmistakable.

“My upbringing is such that I believe there are certain things, certain types of conduct that are immoral,” Pace said during the tape-recorded interview.

“I believe that military members who sleep with other military members’ wives are immoral in their conduct, [and] that we should not tolerate that.”

“I believe that homosexual acts between individuals are immoral and that we should not condone immoral acts.”

Those comments are sure to provoke a firestorm today on Capitol Hill, where Democrats have been trying to overturn the Pentagon’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy on gays in the military.

Pace made it clear that he supported the policy because he believed homosexual acts were “immoral.”

The “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, which was instituted by President Clinton and written by then-Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Colin Powell, allows gays in the military only if they stay in the closet.

Pace says he supports the policy because it bans homosexual acts.

“I do not believe the armed forces of the U.S. are well served by saying through our policies that it is OK to be immoral in any way,” Pace said.

A spokesperson for Pace told ABC News that the general had been asked to give his personal opinion, and “he provided it.”