gay couple holding handsOnly a matter of hours after President Obama made his landmark announcement in support of same-sex marriage, a Republican led panel had their say. The House Armed Services Committee approved an amendment banning gay couples from getting hitched on U.S. military bases. The measure was part of a HUGE $642 billion defense bill (and we wonder why our government's broke -- guh!).

It won't be considered by the full House until later this month, but in the meantime, they also approved another measure, which "protects military personnel from reprisals for standing strong on their religious beliefs concerning homosexuality." Sounds like that'll give some a free pass to be bigots. Awesome!

For every few steps we take forward, seems like we can always count on the GOP to do their damndest to drag us kicking and screaming back into the dark ages.

Granted, we're probably not going to be able to see marriage equality on a full-scale, nation-wide level under an Obama presidency. He admitted in the ABC News interview that he thinks the decision to legalize gay marriage should be left up to the individual states, which are "arriving at different conclusions at different times."

While that's not ideal, it's fine. But sweeping legislation affecting same-sex relationships in the military is a whole different story. With the repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," we should be moving forward. Not taking major steps backward by throwing nasty qualifiers into the mix that could ultimately make conditions as uncomfortable as they were under DADT -- or at least no better.

I simply can't wrap my head around any realistic potential problem or threat from same-sex couples tying the knot on U.S. military bases! Pathetic. Sadly, I guess it just boils down to those who voted in favor of the ban being hateful and behind the times.

Does this potential ban make any sense to you?