The bottom line is that in order to be an effective leader in today’s military, your religious beliefs have to be compartmentalized. The colonel made a bad decision, because signing the certificate doesn’t have anything to do with recognizing their same sex marriage. The Air Force recognizes him as a spouse to the male MSG and that is what matters. His signature as a colonel is recognition of the MSG’s service and a ‘Thank you’ to the person who stood behind the MSG.

Hiding behind his religious beliefs only means he is unfit to lead troops in any capacity because having an issue with a gay spouse means you have a problem with gay troops in general given the way things are in the military now.