Latest news with #SeanPenn
Bloomberg
a day ago
- Politics
- Bloomberg
Anti-Woke Crusades Only Make Hegseth and Rubio Look Petty
The actor Sean Penn has summed up the problem with Pete Hegseth, and by extension the administration of President Donald Trump. 'I've never before seen a Secretary of Defense so aggressively demote himself to the rank of Chief PETTY Officer,' Penn said upon hearing that the Pentagon boss has ordered the Navy to rename an oiler called the USNS Harvey Milk. The naming of a ship (or a gulf, or anything) is often a bureaucratic gesture of forgettable symbolism. Not in this case and a slew of others that Hegseth is currently reviewing. The effort instead points to a worrisome obsession that causes division, distraction and the diversion of scarce energy from real foreign conflicts toward domestic culture wars.
Daily Mail
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Pete Hegseth's war on gay icon Harvey Milk backfires as even his fans call him 'idiotic'
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth 's attempt to erase LGBTQ + icon Harvey Milk's name from a US Navy ship has backfired spectacularly with widespread backlash, including from some of his own supporters. The controversy erupted after reports surfaced that Hegseth, 44, proposed renaming the USNS Harvey Milk - a vessel dedicated in 2021 to honor the slain gay rights pioneer and Navy veteran. Milk served four years during the Korean War before being discharged due to questions about his sexual orientation. He went on to become the first openly gay member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors and was assassinated in 1978. Hegseth and the broader Trump administration are now facing criticism from veterans' groups, high-profile public figures and former DoD Secretary fans, including Newsweek's political editor Carlo Versano, over the controversial renaming effort. 'I've never before seen a Secretary of Defense so aggressively demote himself to the rank of Chief PETTY Officer,' actor Sean Penn, 64, who portrayed Milk in the Oscar-winning 2008 biopic Milk, said in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter. Dustin Lance Black, the film's screenwriter, also criticized the move as politically divisive. 'This is yet another move to distract and to fuel the culture wars that create division,' Black, 50, told The Hollywood Reporter. 'It's meant to get us to react in ways that are self-centered so that we are further distanced from our brothers and sisters in equally important civil rights fights in this country. It's divide and conquer.' The progressive veterans' group VoteVets also condemned the move. 'At the start of Pride Month, Pete Hegseth ordered the Navy to strip Harvey Milk's name from a ship,' the group wrote on X, formerly Twitter. 'A man who served with honor - erased to send a message. This is a deliberate insult to LGBTQ troops and Americans that weakens our force and shreds the values we fight for.' Versano, who was once a cautious supporter of Hegseth's Pentagon appointment, has since turned sharply critical. In a column titled 'Now Boarding the USS Idiocracy,' the Newsweek's political editor wrote, 'I cannot believe I once wrote here that I was cautiously optimistic about Hegseth as someone who could shake up the Pentagon. Was I on drugs?' He added, 'This guy is such an embarrassment to be leading our military… this is what the Defense Department is sitting around worrying about right now?' Several public officials have also voiced their outrage. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer posted on X: 'Erasing Harvey Milk's name is disgusting, blatant discrimination - and during Pride Month to boot. He served the U.S. Navy and his country honorably... Hegseth should be ashamed of himself and reverse this immediately.' Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi added, 'The reported decision... is a shameful, vindictive erasure of those who fought to break down barriers for all to chase the American dream.' Former Pentagon official Alex Wagner, who helped lead the department's first Pride event in 2012, said the decision was 'disappointing, but no surprise.' Wagner noted, 'When I served... we prioritized building and resourcing a ready force capable of deterring, denying, and - if necessary - defeating the People's Liberation Army. We sought to harness one of our greatest strategic advantages - the diverse experiences and expertise of all Americans.' In defense of the renaming initiative, Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell stated, '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.' According to CBS News, an internal Navy memo cited the renaming as an effort to ensure 'alignment with president and SECDEF objectives and SECNAV priorities of reestablishing the warrior culture.' The document also indicated that other Navy ships - named after historical figures such as Thurgood Marshall, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Harriet Tubman, Cesar Chavez, and Medgar Evers - are also under review for potential renaming.
CNN
5 days ago
- Politics
- CNN
Gay rights icon Harvey Milk's legacy slighted by decision to rename Navy ship
American gay rights activist Harvey Milk was known for keeping his face and name on the front pages of San Francisco's newspapers. Now, as Pride Month begins, the Trump administration is set to take the almost unprecedented action of stripping his name from a Navy ship, a defense official told CNN. The order to rename the oiler ship USNS Harvey Milk – christened four years ago – is unusual but is in line with the White House mandate to reverse a number of military initiatives by Democratic presidents. The move also comes amid the administration's broader efforts to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in government and education, as well as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's promise to 'revive the warrior ethos' in the military. Milk was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2009. His legacy as one of the first openly gay politicians elected to office in the US – and the first openly gay official elected in California – was burnished in history with an Oscar-winning biopic performance from Sean Penn. Before Milk served as a supervisor in San Francisco, the politician followed in the footsteps of his parents and served in the Navy. His service as a stateside diving instructor during the Korean War was cut short after four years when his Navy supervisors caught him at a park popular for gay men and questioned him about his sexual orientation. Decades before the 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' policy prohibited the military from actively investigating its members' sexuality, Milk was outed and forced to resign with an 'other than honorable discharge' and the rank of lieutenant junior grade. Gay service members were not allowed to serve openly in the US until 2011. Milk later set up shop in the Castro neighborhood in San Francisco – the country's most famous 'gayborhood' – where he helped start the Castro Village Association, one of the first predominantly LGBTQ-owned business groups in the country. In 1977, he was elected to San Francisco's Board of Supervisors after years running his political operation from his camera store in the Castro, where stacks of campaign posters competed for space with stacks of 35mm film. While serving as a city supervisor, Milk introduced legislation to protect the gay community, including a gay rights ordinance in 1978 to ban discrimination against LGBTQ people in housing or employment. He and other activists also succeeded in striking down Proposition 6, which would have mandated the firing of gay or lesbian teachers in California. Milk was a popular figure in San Francisco, but his actions were also controversial at times. Milk fervently encouraged gay people not to be secretive about their lives, even with hostile or unsupportive family members. 'We are coming out to tell the truths about gays, for I am tired of the conspiracy of silence, so I'm going to talk about it,' he said at a 1978 gay pride march. 'And I want you to talk about it.' Milk is believed to have been one of the people behind the forced media outing of Oliver Sipple, a friend and fellow veteran who was credited with saving the life of President Gerald Ford when he grabbed the arm of would-be assassin Sara Jane Moore just as she was firing her second shot in 1975. Milk's biographer Randy Shilts told The Washington Post the politician 'wanted Sipple's homosexuality made public' because it was an opportunity for the gay community to be seen in a positive light. 'For once we can show that gays do heroic things,' he told Shilts. Sipple, who had not come out to his parents and didn't want his sexuality revealed, unsuccessfully sued media organizations that reported on it, according to The Washington Post. Less than a year after Milk became a city supervisor, he and San Francisco Mayor George Moscone were shot to death in the San Francisco City Hall by former fellow city supervisor Dan White over a job dispute. Investigators determined that White was motivated by a political dispute rather than anti-gay animus. But a jury's decision to convict White of manslaughter rather than murder shocked the gay community and prompted rioting at City Hall, the San Francisco Examiner reported. White argued in the trial that he was not fully responsible for the killings because he was depressed and acted in 'the heat of passion.' White was sentenced to seven years in prison. Milk's legacy has never faded in San Francisco, where his bust now sits in City Hall and a school in the Castro is named after him. Milk, who told friends and loved ones he knew he was in danger of being assassinated, according to the Harvey Milk Foundation, hoped his death would inspire the cause he worked for. 'If a bullet should enter my brain, let that bullet destroy every closet door,' Milk said in an audio message accompanying his will. The USNS Harvey Milk is part of a class of oilers that were designated to be named for 'people who fought for civil rights and human rights.' Some of those namesakes are people who never served in the military, including congressman and civil rights icon John Lewis and women's voting rights advocate Lucy Stone. The future of those other honors is unclear. A Navy webpage marking the beginning of construction on the USNS Thurgood Marshall has been deleted. Although much of the administration's LGBTQ rollback has been focused on the transgender community – the federal government even removed the 'T' from the abbreviation – it has also cracked down on affinity groups and barred the flying of the Pride flag at any US embassy or consulate. The administration also formally declined to recognize Pride Month, instead referring to June as 'Title IX Month,' referencing the civil rights law that prohibits sex-based discrimination in schools. The White House has cited the law in its ban on transgender women participating in women's sports. Despite the decision falling in line with White House policy, Rep. Nancy Pelosi – whose San Francisco district includes the Castro – said erasing Milk from the military is particularly insulting. 'Our military is the most powerful in the world – but this spiteful move does not strengthen our national security or the 'warrior' ethos,' Pelosi said in a statement.'Instead, it is a surrender of a fundamental American value: to honor the legacy of those who worked to build a better country.' CNN's Natasha Bertrand and Nicquel Terry Ellis contributed to this report.
New York Times
6 days ago
- Politics
- New York Times
In San Francisco, Harvey Milk's Name Isn't Going Anywhere
In San Francisco, children attend elementary school at Harvey Milk Civil Rights Academy. Travelers pass through the Harvey Milk Terminal at the airport. At Harvey Milk Plaza at Castro and Market streets, a giant rainbow flag dedicated to him can be seen for miles. Mr. Milk is the gay rights figure who won a seat on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1977, becoming California's first openly gay elected official. Just 11 months after taking office, he was assassinated in his City Hall office. Sean Penn played him in the 2008 movie 'Milk,' and California celebrates Harvey Milk Day every year on May 22, his birthday. Thousands of miles from San Francisco, in the body of water President Trump calls the Gulf of America, sits another tribute to Mr. Milk. For now, anyway. The United States Naval Ship Harvey Milk, a tanker currently moored in Mobile, Ala., may soon lose its name to, as the Pentagon put it, better reflect the country's 'warrior ethos.' One of the lesser-known chapters in Mr. Milk's biography was his four-year stint in the U.S. Navy. He served during the Korean War on a submarine rescue ship and later as a diving instructor. He was issued an 'other than honorable discharge' in 1955 after his superiors learned he was gay. In 2021, the Navy christened a tanker in the name of Mr. Milk, the first Navy ship to be named for an openly gay man. At the ceremony, Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro said he felt compelled to be there to make amends for the wrongful treatment of L.G.B.T.Q. people in the military 'and to tell them that we're committed to them in the future.' Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
The Guardian
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
‘These guys are idiots': Sean Penn calls out Hegseth's erasure of Harvey Milk from navy ship
Sean Penn, the Oscar-winning actor of the 2008 Harvey Milk biopic Milk and Milk writer Dustin Lance Black have spoken out against US defense secretary Pete Hegseth's decision to remove the gay rights icon's name from a navy ship. 'This is yet another move to distract and to fuel the culture wars that create division,' Black told the Hollywood Reporter in a phone call on Wednesday. 'It's meant to get us to react in ways that are self-centered so that we are further distanced from our brothers and sisters in equally important civil rights fights in this country. It's divide and conquer.' Penn, who won his second best actor Oscar for playing the former San Francisco supervisor, added in an email: 'I've never before seen a Secretary of Defense so aggressively demote himself to the rank of Chief PETTY Officer.' The order to rename the USNS Harvey Milk, christened in San Diego in 2021 for the prominent gay rights and navy veteran, was part of an internal memo that was leaked on Tuesday. The Pentagon's chief spokesperson confirmed that the ship's new name 'will be announced after internal reviews are complete'. The timing of the decision for mid-June, a month meant to celebrate the LGBTQ+ community, was reportedly intentional. The renaming is supposed to ensure 'alignment with president and SECDEF objectives and SECNAV priorities of reestablishing the warrior culture', referring to Donald Trump, Hegseth and navy secretary John Phelan, according to the memorandum. '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,' the Pentagon said in a statement. 'These guys are idiots,' Black told the Hollywood Reporter. 'Pete Hegseth does not seem like a smart man, a wise man, a knowledgeable man. He seems small and petty. I would love to introduce him to some LGBTQ folks who are warriors who have had to be warriors our entire life just to live our lives openly as who we are.' Milk, written by Black and directed by Gus Van Sant, depicted Milk's political ascendancy in San Francisco, where he became the first publicly gay man to be elected to public office when he won a seat on the city's board of supervisors. He was assassinated along with mayor George Moscone by former city supervisor Dan White in 1978. White was convicted on two counts of voluntary manslaughter and served just five years in prison. The USNS Harvey Milk was initially named in 2016 during the administration of Barack Obama. According to the leaked memo, Phelan is also considering new titles for vessels named after such civil rights icons as Thurgood Marshall, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Harriet Tubman and Cesar Chavez. 'Harvey Milk is an icon, a civil rights icon, and for good reason,' Black said. 'That's not going to change. Renaming a ship isn't going to change that. If people are pissed off, good, be pissed off – but take the appropriate action. Do what Harvey Milk had said we need to do, and it's about bringing back together the coalition of the 'us'-es that helps move the pendulum of progress forward. Stop the infighting and lock arms again. That's what Harvey would say.'
