As President Obama prepares to address the Human Rights Campaign tomorrow evening, the group’s president is calling on the administration to address anti-marriage ballot initiatives in North Carolina and Minnesota:

JOE SOLMONESE: One thing that would be incredibly helpful would be for the president and the administration to look out across the electoral landscape next year, understand where it is that we’re engaged in marriage fights – whether overturning the ban in Oregon, or fighting a ban in Minnesota or North Carolina – and have something to say about that.

Advocates pressured Obama to condemn state initiatives during his 2009 address before the group, but he didn’t mention Maine’s Question 1 or Washington’s Referendum 71. Obama could have also weighed in on the recent marriage fights in New York and North Carolina, but refrained from commenting during his speeches there.

HRC’s Solmonese says he is “not particularly troubled” that the President has not endorsed full marriage equality, but by fully “evolving” on the issue, he could support the states with much greater credibility.

Rep. Todd Akin (R-MO)

Rep. Todd Akin (R-MO) — who successfully attached an amendment to the House defense authorization bill prohibiting federal property from being used for marriages that are inconsistant with DOMA — is speaking out against the Pentagon’s decision to allow chaplains to wed gay and lesbian couples on military bases.

“The Department of Defense has decided to put the White House’s liberal agenda ahead of following the law,” he said in a statement released on his website. “The Defense of Marriage Act makes it clear that for the purposes of the federal government, marriage is defined as between one man and one woman. The use of federal property or federal employees to perform gay marriage ceremonies is a clear contravention of the law.”

DOMA does define marriage as a union between a man and a woman, but it “does not limit the type of religious ceremonies a chaplain may perform in a chapel on a military installation,” nor does it prevent the government from extending certain privileges to same-sex couples — in this case, permitting gays and lesbians to use military facilities for wedding celebrations. Under DOMA, their marriages would still not be recognized by the Defense Department, nor would they entitle same-sex couples to all of the benefits afforded to their heterosexual counterparts.

Family Research Council’s Tony Perkins has also condemned DoD’s decision claiming that “It is outrageous that only ten days after repeal of the law against homosexuality in the Armed Forces, the Defense Department is already pushing the military further down the slippery slope.” “The Defense of Marriage Act remains the law in America, defining marriage as a union of one man and one woman for all purposes under federal law,” he said.

Jason Adkins, Executive Director of the Minnesota Catholic Conference

The Minnesota Catholic Conference (MCC) and the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis have condemned a group of Catholics resisting the proposed constitutional ban on same-sex marriage. MCC, an arm of the financial powerhouse coalition that has been pushing for the amendment, suggests Catholics for Marriage Equality MN is trying to mislead Catholics on Church doctrine:

A group calling itself “Catholics for Marriage Equality MN” seeks to confuse Catholics and the public about authentic Church teaching related to matters of marriage and sexuality. [...] The Archdiocese asks that Catholics avoid associating themselves with this group, and not be deceived by its messages, which are in conflict with the fundamental teachings of the Church. [...] “Catholics for Marriage Equality MN” attempts to convince Catholics that they can be in good standing with the Church and oppose Church teaching about human sexuality and marriage, which centers on the complementarity of the sexes and the mutual self-gift of loving spouses in marital union.

But the Catholic Church is not speaking on behalf of its membership. In fact, if supporters of marriage equality were truly not “in good standing” with the Church, the Church would lose over half its membership:

• March, 2011: 53 percent of white Catholics support marriage equality.
• March, 2011: 74 percent of Catholics favor legally recognizing same-sex relationships.
• July, 2011: 59 percent of Catholics support New York’s marriage equality law.
• August, 2010: 63 percent of Rhode Island Catholics support marriage equality.

Not only is the MCC alienating many of its own members, it is simultaneously demonstrating how anti-gay it is as well. In a separate statement, MCC spokesman Jason Adkins called for all Catholics to respect people “struggling with same-sex attraction” by calling on them to “exercise chastity.” In other words, the only way gays can redeem themselves is to completely abandon any sexual or romantic life. Now that is “loving support.”

Newt Gingrich told a soldier who complained about the recent repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell during a town hall in Ames, Iowa this afternoon that “you can certainly reverse the president’s position on social engineering in the military” and suggested that the Obama administration has “extraordinary anti-military prejudice”:

GINGRICH: I was underwhelmed when [Secretary of Defense] Leon Panetta proudly announced that 97 percent of the troops have now gone through sensitivity training. Somehow, that’s not why I thought we recruited people to be on active duty. [...] You have to start with the idea that this is an administration of extraordinary anti-military prejudice, that just hides it, okay? I mean, this president is not a commander in chief in any normal sense, he is a politician in chief.

Watch it:

Of course, if Obama’s opposition to Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell makes him anti-military, that means that the military is against itself. The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the service chiefs, the Secretary of Defense, and the overwhelming majority of servicemembers said that having gays and lesbians serve openly would not undermine unit cohesion or effectiveness.

GOP presidential candidate Newt Gingrich offered his views on same-sex marriage to an audience in Fort Dodge, Iowa today. “I believe that marriage is between a man and a woman,” Gingrich said, reiterating the cookie-cutter position of almost every candidate in the field. However, the Des Moines Register reports that he added this little tid-bit: “I think this is a temporary aberration that will dissipate”:

“I believe that marriage is between a man and woman,” Gingrich said. “It has been for all of recorded history and I think this is a temporary aberration that will dissipate. I think that it is just fundamentally goes against everything we know.”

Given his own marital history, Gingrich’s belief in the solvent nature of same-sex marriage is mildly amusing. But Gingrich is liable to lash out at marriage equality in anyway he can, including blaming it for the nation’s economic woes.

Unfortunately for Gingrich, this “aberration” is slowly becoming a mainstay in American society. This year marks the first time a majority of Americans actually favor legal gay marriage. But, perhaps the will of the American people is yet another “aberration” he need not concern himself with.

President Obama praised Adm. Mike Mullen — the outgoing chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff — for leading the charge to repeal Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, during a farewell ceremony this morning. “History will record that the tipping point towards this progress came when the 17th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff went before Congress and told the nation that it was the right thing to do,” Obama said. “Mike, your legacy will endure in a military that is stronger and also in a nation that is more just.” Watch it:

In February 2010, Mullen testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee and said: “Mr. Chairman, speaking for myself and myself only, it is my personal belief that allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly would be the right thing to do. No matter how I look at the issue, I cannot escape being troubled by the fact that we have in place a policy which forces young men and women to lie about who they are in order to defend their fellow citizens.” “For me, personally, it comes down to integrity — theirs as individuals and ours as an institution.”

The Pentagon will allow military chaplains to perform same-sex wedding ceremonies in states where gay marriage is legal, the Advocate Magazine’s Andrew Harmon is now reporting. The Pentagon also says “Defense Department property may be used for private functions, including religious and other ceremonies such as same-sex unions, as long as it’s not prohibited by state or local laws.” From the DoD memo, issued by Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness Clifford L. Stanley:

A military chaplain may participate in or officiate any private ceremony, whether on or off a military installation, provided that the ceremony is not prohibited by applicable state and local law. Further, a chaplain is not required to participate in or officiate a private ceremony if doing so would be in variance with the tenets of his or her religion or personal beliefs. Finally, a military chaplain’s participation does not constitute an endorsement of the ceremony by DoD.

In April, Chief of the Navy Chaplains Rear Admiral Mark Tidd issued a memorandum declaring that since the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, the Navy has made a preliminary decision to allow gay couples to marry on Navy bases in states that allow same-sex marriages and permit chaplains to take part in the ceremonies. The ruling sparked outrage from conservatives and far-right organizations, which immediately claimed that the policy undermined the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act and Tidd eventually announced that the Navy would be suspending its preliminary ruling until further notice “pending additional legal and policy review and interdepartmental coordination.”

The House Armed Services Committee added an amendment to the defense authorization bill introduced by Rep. Todd Akin (R-MO) prohibiting the practice.

Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mike Mullen — who is stepping down today — told NPR’s Steve Inskeep last night that he has not received any negative feedback following the official repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, saying, “There haven’t been any incidents. In fact, the -– you know, after the initial significant publicity associated with that change, it’s been pretty quiet.” “We need to move on,” he added.

Mullen said that while military was now working to extend benefits to gay and lesbian servicemembers, the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act is still a roadblock to full equality:

MULLEN: The question I get is about benefits. And there are some benefits, clearly, that are -– that accrue to the change which has already taken place, and there are other benefits which are brought up which are directly tied to DOMA, which is the Defense of Marriage Act, which is a law in the country -– and we follow the law. And until -– if and when that changes –- I mean, we’ll follow whatever law is out there. Right now -– so there are benefits that DOMA has tied up by virtue of what -– the details that it specifically lays out and so until that changes, there’s not going to be any change to the benefits.

Listen to the interview:

But the chairman — who in February 2010 told the Senate Armed Services Committee that repeal “comes down to integrity” — dodged a question about whether allowing gays and lesbians the right to marry is an issue of integrity. “From my perspective, the major issue with respect to integrity had to do with the need to cover up your life with -– lie about who you were, lie about your personal relationships, constantly –- as a way of life,” he said. “And to me, that’s fundamentally different from whether benefit A, B or C should be given to certain individuals.”