Peter Pace called homosexual acts 'immoral' last week. It wasn't the first time he'd weighed in on the matter.

Peter Pace called homosexual acts 'immoral' last week. It wasn't the first time he'd weighed in on the matter.
By Dan Ephron
© 2007 Newsweek, Inc.


March 26, 2007 issue - Brian Fricke says he played the "pronoun game" for about three years. The Marine Corps sergeant substituted "she" for "he" when he told peers about his relationships, keeping the fact that he was gay from all but a small number in his unit. It wasn't until the day he left for Iraq in 2004 that the pretending got to be too much. Fricke, a Tennessean stationed at Miramar air base near San Diego, was being driven to the departure point by his boyfriend, Brad. The two had been together for several months, and it dawned on Fricke at the staging area that, with the bombings in Iraq, he might not see Brad again. Around them, Marines were taking leave of their own loved ones. Fricke felt the resentment rise. "I'm putting my life on the line like the others," he recalls feeling. "Damn it, if I'm not going to say goodbye to the person I love." Fricke kissed Brad hard on the lips. When he turned to face his unit, he realized no one cared. "People want to know that you'll be there for them in battle. Everything else just matters a lot less."

Not to everyone, it turns out. Gen. Peter Pace, another Marine who heads the Joint Chiefs of Staff, caused a storm last week when he called homosexual acts "immoral" in response to a question from the Chicago Tribune. He explained later he was expressing a personal view, but NEWSWEEK has learned it wasn't the first time he'd done so. At a 2005 Wharton School leadership seminar, Pace told grad students, also in response to a question: "The U.S. military mission fundamentally rests on the trust, confidence and cooperation amongst its members. And the homosexual lifestyle does not comport with that kind of trust and confidence." In both instances, Pace was arguing the merits of "don't ask, don't tell"—a 1993 law that says gays and lesbians can serve in the military only if they stay in the closet. But as the military establishment clings to the policy, the experiences of Fricke and others, buttressed by recent polls, suggest younger service members are more willing to accept gays in their ranks, even when they're out.

The shift mirrors a rising acceptance nationwide of homosexuals. The new NEWSWEEK Poll shows 63 percent of Americans believe gays and lesbians should be able to serve openly in the military. When members of the military were asked a similar question, 58 percent either agreed gays should serve openly or were neutral in a Zogby poll taken four months ago. Experts offer the Iraq war as one explanation. "When the bullets start flying, that's precisely when military people don't care about the [sexual] identity of people next to them," says Aaron Belkin, who researches sexuality and the armed forces at the University of California, Santa Barbara. And with the war impinging on recruitment and retention, the military seems to apply "don't ask, don't tell" selectively. Only about 600 gay and lesbian service members were kicked out of the military last year, compared with about 1,200 in 2001.

Still, Belkin and other congressional observers say the policy won't change any time soon. When Democrats swept Congress last November, Rep. Martin Meehan of Massachusetts drafted a bill to repeal "don't ask, don't tell." More than 100 House members have signed it. But with an election campaign underway, many Democrats believe it's the wrong time to be seen as catering to a liberal constituency.

Which leaves service members like Fricke feeling vulnerable. Though he came out to more members of his unit while in Iraq, Fricke remained worried that a less tolerant officer might find out and press for a dishonorable discharge, which would jeopardize his benefits. When Fricke returned home, he told Brad to stay away from the arrival hall, where the family reunions tend to get giddy and tearful. Greeting him there seemed too risky. Nine months later, Fricke turned down a fat re-enlistment bonus and left the military. "I was hiding less, but by then I didn't want to hide at all," he says. In his civilian life, the pronouns are all in order.