Military Religious Freedom Act of 2012 - Requires the Armed Forces to accommodate the conscience and sincerely held moral principles and religious beliefs of its members concerning the appropriate and inappropriate expression of human sexuality, and prohibits the Armed Forces from using such conscience, principles, or beliefs (beliefs) as the basis of any adverse personnel action, discrimination, or denial of promotion, schooling, training, or assignment. Prohibits any member from: (1) directing, ordering, or requiring a chaplain to perform any duty, rite, service, or function that is contrary to his or her beliefs; or (2) discriminating or taking any adverse personnel action against a chaplain for refusing to comply with a direction, order, or requirement that is against his or her beliefs.
Prohibits a military installation or other property owned, rented, or under the jurisdiction or control of the Department of Defense (DOD) from being used to officiate, solemnize, or perform a marriage or marriage-like ceremony involving anything other than the union of one man with one woman.
[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3526 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
112th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. 3526
To amend title 10, United States Code, to protect the rights of
conscience of members of the Armed Forces and chaplains of members of
the Armed Forces, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
September 11, 2012
Mr. Wicker (for himself and Mr. Inhofe) introduced the following bill;
which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Armed Services
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend title 10, United States Code, to protect the rights of
conscience of members of the Armed Forces and chaplains of members of
the Armed Forces, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Military Religious Freedom Act of
2012''.
SEC. 2. PROTECTION OF RIGHTS OF CONSCIENCE OF MEMBERS OF THE ARMED
FORCES AND CHAPLAINS OF SUCH MEMBERS.
(a) Protection.--Chapter 53 of title 10, United States Code, is
amended by inserting after section 1034 the following new section:
``Sec. 1034a. Protection of rights of conscience of members of the
armed forces and chaplains of such members
``(a) Protection of Rights of Conscience.--The armed forces shall
accommodate the conscience and sincerely held moral principles and
religious beliefs of the members of the armed forces concerning the
appropriate and inappropriate expression of human sexuality and may not
use such conscience, principles, or beliefs as the basis of any adverse
personnel action, discrimination, or denial of promotion, schooling,
training, or assignment. Nothing in this subsection precludes
disciplinary action for conduct that is proscribed by chapter 47 of
this title (the Uniform Code of Military Justice).
``(b) Protection of Chaplains.--(1) For purposes of this
subsection, a military chaplain is--
``(A) a certified religious leader or clergy of a faith
community who, after satisfying the professional and
educational requirements of the commissioning service, is
commissioned as an officer in the Chaplains Corps of one of the
branches of the armed forces; and
``(B) a representative of the faith group of the chaplain,
who remains accountable to the endorsing faith group for the
religious ministry involved to members of the armed forces,
to--
``(i) provide for the religious and spiritual needs
of members of the armed forces of that faith group; and
``(ii) facilitate the religious needs of members of
the armed forces of other faith groups.
``(2) No member of the armed forces may--
``(A) direct, order, or require a military chaplain to
perform any duty, rite, ritual, ceremony, service, or function
that is contrary to the conscience, moral principles, or
religious beliefs of the chaplain, or contrary to the moral
principles and religious beliefs of the endorsing faith group
of the chaplain; or
``(B) discriminate or take any adverse personnel action
against a military chaplain, including denial of promotion,
schooling, training, or assignment, on the basis of the refusal
by the chaplain to comply with a direction, order, or
requirement prohibited by subparagraph (A).
``(c) Regulations.--The Secretary of Defense shall issue
regulations implementing the protections afforded by this section.''.
(b) Clerical Amendment.--The table of sections at the beginning of
chapter 53 of such title is amended by inserting after the item
relating to section 1034 the following new item:
``1034a. Protection of rights of conscience of members of the armed
forces and chaplains of such members.''.
SEC. 3. USE OF MILITARY INSTALLATIONS AS SITES FOR MARRIAGE CEREMONIES
OR MARRIAGE-LIKE CEREMONIES.
A military installation or other property owned or rented by, or
otherwise under the jurisdiction or control of, the Department of
Defense may not be used to officiate, solemnize, or perform a marriage
or marriage-like ceremony involving anything other than the union of
one man with one woman.
<all>
Introduced in Senate
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Armed Services.
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