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Yahoo
2 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Pete Hegseth removed Harvey Milk's name from a U.S. Navy ship to send a message
June is nationally recognized as Pride Month — a yearly celebration of the contributions of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals to the rich tapestry of American history. The Pentagon, however, under the leadership of Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, is marking Pride Month by offering a one-finger salute to the LGBTQ community. It's part of a larger effort to whitewash the accomplishments and, arguably, the humanity, of women and minorities in the U.S. military. Earlier this week, reported that Hegseth ordered the renaming of the USNS Harvey Milk. Milk was a gay rights trailblazer, the first openly gay man to win elected office in the United States. A year after winning a seat on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1977, Milk and the city's mayor, George Moscone, were murdered in City Hall by a disgruntled ex-supervisor. Milk had previously served in the U.S. Navy and was commissioned as an officer in 1951, before receiving a 'less than honorable' discharge in 1955 after questions were raised about his sexual orientation. The timing of the announcement, during Pride Month, reports was intentional — a punitive and mean-spirited slight at the estimated 80,000 LGBTQ+ service members in the U.S. military. While refusing to confirm the renaming, Department of Defense spokesperson Sean Parnell issued a statement saying, 'Secretary Hegseth is committed to ensuring that the names attached to all DOD installations and assets are reflective of the Commander-in-Chief's priorities, our nation's history, and the warrior ethos.' It's not hard to read between the lines here: 'Gay service members can't be warriors and aren't tough enough to serve in the military.' It's a broadside so juvenile and homophobic it's something one might expect to hear in a fraternity house rather than the halls of the nation's military. Hegseth's assaults on diversity are not limited to just the LGBTQ+ community. The USNS Harvey Milk is part of the Navy's John Lewis-class of oiler ships, which are named for civil rights leaders and activists (Lewis, a former member of Congress, was, of course, a prominent civil rights activist). According to CBS News, the Navy is also considering renaming other Lewis-class oilers — including the USNS Thurgood Marshall, USNS Ruth Bader Ginsburg and USNS Harriet Tubman. Marshall and Ginsburg were Supreme Court justices (Marshall was the first Black man to serve on the Supreme Court) and Tubman was a legendary Black abolitionist. There's no word on whether two other Lewis-class ships, the USNS Earl Warren and USNS Robert F. Kennedy, will be renamed. But both men are white, so it seems unlikely. Hegseth's move to erase the contributions of nonwhite, female members of the armed forces has been a recurrent theme since he took office. Before Trump nominated the former 'Fox & Friends Weekend' host to become the head of the Department of Defense, Hegseth waged rhetorical war against diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs and what he termed military 'wokeness.' In his 2024 book, 'The War on Warriors,' Hegseth railed against 'feminism, genderism, safetyism, climate worship, manufactured 'violent extremism,' straight-up weirdo s---, and a grab bag of social justice causes that infect today's fighting force.' They are, he argues, 'anathema to everything the American military stands for.' After taking office, Hegseth said, 'The single dumbest phrase in military history is our diversity is our strength.' Since then, he has reinstated a ban on transgender service members. He ended a program, signed into law by President Trump in 2017, to increase leadership roles for women in the military. He fired a host of female military leaders, including Admiral Linda Fagan, the first woman to lead the U.S. Coast Guard. His tenure also saw the dismissal of Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr., chairman of the joint chiefs of staff and the second Black man to hold the job. Considering Hegseth's criticisms of DEI, the implication of these firings is that women and minorities who rose up the ranks did so because of racial preferences, not because of their accomplishments or years of service. Another of Hegseth's first moves as secretary was an order to remove any mention of diversity from the Pentagon's website, which led to the embarrassing deletion of a webpage honoring former Army veteran Jackie Robinson, among others (the page was restored after a public backlash). In all, more than 26,000 images have been flagged for removal from the department's website, and the total could reach as high as 100,000. Not surprisingly, the vast majority of those removed detail the accomplishments of women and minorities. Hegseth has also ordered the nation's prestigious military academies to stop taking into account race, gender and ethnicity in their admissions practices, and has ordered the academies to purge educational materials focused on what he calls 'divisive concepts.' Unless one believes that only white men are capable of serving with distinction, it's difficult to see how any of this makes the military stronger or more lethal. In an era when America's military advantages lie in information technology and virtual control of the modern battlefield, America needs a broad array of individuals to make up the military of the 21st century, not just Hegseth's retrograde vision of interchangeable white male trigger-pullers. Hegseth's message to a generation of future military leaders is that if you're a woman (who make up 18% of active service members) or Black (also around 18% of the active force) or gay or a member of some other minority group, you are not welcome. Hegseth's moves, while strategically misguided, also run counter to the core values of the institution he runs. For the past 75 years, the military has been a catalyst for racial equality in American society. In 1948, President Harry Truman ordered the integration of the military, well before the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the discriminatory legal doctrine of 'separate but equal.' Parnell, the spokesperson, has said that Hegseth's goal is to create 'a colorblind, merit-based culture' at the Pentagon. But acknowledging only the accomplishments of white, male service members and removing the names of gay, women and Black civil rights activists suggests that the Pentagon under Hegseth's leadership only sees those who look like him. This article was originally published on
Yahoo
4 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Hegseth directs Navy to rename USNS Harvey Milk days into Pride Month
A Navy supply ship named for former Navy officer and 1970s civil rights icon Harvey Milk may soon be stripped of its name at the direction of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, a defense official confirmed to Task & Purpose. A plan to strip the USNS Harvey Milk of its name was first reported by Additional plans to erase the names of other key civil rights figures from the Milk's sister ships are also under consideration, though not imminent, the official confirmed to Task & Purpose. Those plans were first reported by CBS News. A plan to announce the renaming of the Milk, one of the best-known gay activists in U.S. history, was set for mid-June, which is widely celebrated as 'Pride Month.' The decision to announce the name change during Pride Month was intentional, the defense official said. Milk is one of five USNS John Lewis-class replenishment oilers, all of which are named for civil rights icons. The ships reported to be under consideration for name changes beyond the Milk are Lewis-class ships named for Thurgood Marshall, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Harriet Tubman, and four other civil rights figures. Some of those ships have, in Navy tradition, been named but not yet completed or launched. Navy ships formally receive their names from — and in rare cases, have been renamed by — the Secretary of the Navy, a legal requirement which would be the case with the Milk, according to the defense official and reporting by the two organizations. But the decision to strike the name of Milk, a former Navy lieutenant junior grade, gay activist, and elected official in the 1970s, originated with Hegseth, according to the defense official and reporting on the change. Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) called the decision a 'shameful, vindictive erasure of those who fought to break down barriers for all to chase the American Dream.' Several hours after the first reports of the renaming plan, Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell released a statement that did not address the USNS Milk, but said that one or more ships could be renamed after 'internal reviews.' 'Secretary Hegseth is committed to ensuring that the names attached to all DOD installations and assets are reflective of the Commander-in-Chief's priorities, our nation's history, and the warrior ethos. Any potential renaming(s) will be announced after internal reviews are complete.' Milk was a Navy officer before entering politics as a gay activist in the 1960s and 70s. He led fights against housing discrimination in San Francisco and was elected to the city board of supervisors in 1977 as the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in California. He was killed in 1978 when another member of the board shot and killed the mayor over a long-running political dispute and then killed Milk. Navy SEAL Team 6 operator will be the military's new top enlisted leader Veterans receiving disability payments might have been underpaid, IG finds Guam barracks conditions are 'baffling,' Navy admiral says in email Navy fires admiral in charge of unmanned systems office after investigation The Pentagon wants troops to change duty stations less often
