Navy: Never Mind, No Gay Marriages Yet

Well, that didn't last long: Just one day after announcing that its chaplains would soon be allowed to perform same-sex marriages, the Navy is backpedaling. More than five dozen House lawmakers challenged the decision, which would have permitted chaplains to officiate gay unions after Don't Ask, Don't Tell is officially repealed. The chief Navy chaplain says in a one-sentence memo obtained by the AP that the decision has been "suspended until further notice pending additional legal and policy review and interdepartmental coordination."

Even though same-sex ceremonies would only have been performed in states that recognize such unions, 63 House members complained in a letter that the new policy violated the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act and that chaplains would be violating federal law by performing gay marriages. The Defense Department's training guidelines for chaplains do not explicitly prohibit same-sex ceremonies, but the Army and Air Force have not made decisions similar to the Navy's. Click for the original story. (More Navy stories.)