WASHINGTON—Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, caused a stir at a Senate hearing Sept. 26 when he repeated his view that gay sex is immoral and should not be condoned by the military.

Pace, who retires this week, said he was seeking to clarify similar remarks he made in spring, which he said were misreported.

“Are there wonderful Americans who happen to be homosexual serving in the military? Yes,” he told the Senate Appropriations Committee during a hearing focused on the Pentagon’s 2008 war spending request.

“We need to be very precise then, about what I said wearing my stars and being very conscious of it,” he added. “And that is, very simply, that we should respect those who want to serve the nation but not through the law of the land, condone activity that, in my upbringing, is counter to God’s law.”

Pace said he would be supportive of efforts to revisit the Pentagon’s policy so long as it didn’t violate his belief that sex should be restricted to a married heterosexual couple.

Pace’s lengthy answer on gays was prodded by Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), who said he found Pace’s previous remarks as “very hurtful” and “very demoralizing” to gays serving in the military.