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The Hill
a day ago
- Politics
- The Hill
White House dismisses Pride Month as WorldPride gathers in Washington
President Trump's administration has not formally recognized Pride Month this year, but has doubled down on LGBTQ-related actions some advocates deem hostile — even as one of the world's largest Pride celebrations takes place in the nation's capital. Speaking with reporters on Tuesday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump has 'no plans' to issue a proclamation recognizing June as Pride Month. Trump declined to issue Pride Month proclamations throughout his first term but briefly acknowledged Pride in a 2019 social media post touting his administration's efforts to decriminalize homosexuality globally and recognizing the'outstanding contributions LGBT people have made to our great nation.' This year, Trump has not acknowledged Pride Month publicly. But the Education Department on Monday said it would instead recognize June as 'Title IX Month' in a nod to the administration's efforts to use the 1972 civil rights law to bar transgender students from girls' and women's school sports, restrooms and locker rooms. 'This is going to come as maybe tough news for the Trump administration to stomach, but June is Pride Month, whether they choose to acknowledge that or not,' said Brandon Wolf, national press secretary for the Human Rights Campaign, the nation's largest LGBTQ advocacy group. 'And Pride is, and always has been, a protest, whether they choose to acknowledge that or not.' Pride Month marches and celebrations began in June 1970, one year after demonstrators demanded equal rights for LGBTQ Americans at the Stonewall riots in New York. Three decades later, former President Clinton issued the first presidential proclamation designating June 'Gay and Lesbian Pride Month,' the scope of which was expanded under former President Obama to include bisexual and transgender people. Former President Biden issued Pride Month proclamations each of his four years in office. This year's Pride festivities are not only being brushed off by the White House, however. On Tuesday, Rep. Mary Miller (R-Ill.), whom Trump endorsed as a 'champion of our America First agenda' in her most recent re-election bid, introduced a resolution declaring June 'Family Month' in a rebuke of Pride. 'By recognizing June as Family Month, we reject the lie of 'Pride' and instead honor God's timeless and perfect design,' she told the conservative news outlet The Daily Wire. A group of Republican lawmakers, including Miller, also railed this week against a post by the children's television show 'Sesame Street' that acknowledged Pride Month. They accused the nonprofit TV network PBS, on which 'Sesame Street' has long aired, of 'grooming' children, an accusation that opponents of LGBTQ rights have long used to associate LGBTQ identity with predatory behavior. 'This hostile rhetoric, the lengths to which they've gone to punish people for existing as LGBTQ, all of it is a testament to just how much our power scares them,' said Wolf, noting that Washington's pushback against Pride comes as the city hosts WorldPride, an international LGBTQ Pride event that's expected to draw millions to D.C. Within the administration, Trump's Defense Department's actions have made perhaps the biggest splash during the first week of Pride Month. On Tuesday, reported that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered Navy Secretary John Phelan to rename an oil tanker named for the assassinated gay rights activist Harvey Milk, with an official announcement expected next week and planned intentionally for Pride Month. Milk, a Navy lieutenant who served during the Korean War and in 1977 became the first openly gay man elected to public office in California, spearheaded an effort to mobilize California voters to oppose a 1978 ballot measure that would have banned gays and lesbians from teaching in public schools. The proposal to strip the ship of Milk's name drew widespread media attention and criticism. 'I don't agree with it,' Retired Adm. James Stavridis, once floated as a possible candidate for Secretary of State during the first Trump administration, said Friday on 'The Michael Smerconish Program.' He questioned why 'we need to rename this ship' at 'this moment' during Pride Month. The Navy is also considering renaming other ships named after prominent civil rights leaders, according to CBS News, including Harriet Tubman, Thurgood Marshall and Lucy Stone. This week, Senate Republicans blocked a Democrat-led resolution that would have expressed the upper chamber's belief 'that the Department of Defense should not seek to remove these names.' This week, the military also ordered transgender service members to self-identify and start a voluntary separation from the armed forces by Friday, also during Pride Month. In an email, Alex Wagner, an adjunct professor at Syracuse University's Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, said Hegseth's recent actions targeting Pride Month and LGBTQ people at the Pentagon 'have made him look petty and silly.' Wagner, who served as assistant secretary of the Air Force under former President Biden, helped organize the Defense Department's first Pride event in 2012 while serving in the Obama administration. 'There is absolutely no question, in my mind and in my experience, that the greatest engine for social justice and civil rights in American history is the U.S. military, and it's provided opportunity for everyone, no matter where they come from and no matter what they look like, to succeed,' Wagner said in an interview. 'To denigrate the service of those who sought a career serving the country … is evidence of someone who has not the right experience, not the right insight.' Hegseth, a frequent critic of efforts to promote diversity, equity and inclusion, has opposed recognizing or celebrating specific identities or differences in the military. 'I think the single dumbest phrase in military history is, 'our diversity is our strength,'' Hegseth said in a February address at the Pentagon. The former Fox News personality and Army veteran also ended the Defense Department's recognition of cultural and heritage months, including Pride Month, Black History Month and Women's History Month, shortly after his Senate confirmation. In guidance titled 'Identity Months Dead at DoD,' Hegseth stated, 'Efforts to divide the force – to put one group ahead of another – erode camaraderie and threaten mission execution.'
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
As Pride Month Kicks Off, Ted Cruz Leads Anti-Abortion Push To Make June 'Life Month'
Sens. Todd Young (Ind.) and Ted Cruz (Texas) are leading Republican efforts to brand June as 'Life Month' during the already celebrated Pride Month, which honors the achievements and culture of the LGBTQ+ community. 'Every human life is worthy of protection, and it is especially incumbent upon Americans and lawmakers to protect the most vulnerable among us,' Cruz said in a statement on X, formerly Twitter. According to Young's statementintroducing the resolution, 'Life Month' is meant to 'recognize the dignity of human life, commends those who promote life, and encourages policymakers to continue providing resources to empower women and families to choose life.' While the senators did have 11 other months they could designate as 'Life Month,' they said the resolution marks June as the anniversary of the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wadein June 2022. Cruz and Young's pitch rings similar to Illinois Congresswoman Mary Miller's resolution, which suggested fully replacing 'Pride Month' with 'Family Month.' 'By recognizing June as Family Month, we reject the lie of 'Pride' and instead honor God's timeless and perfect design,' Miller told right-wing news site The Daily Wire. Neither Cruz nor Young said they want to replace Pride Month, but their actions come at a time where the Trump administration has launched aggressive attacks against the LGBTQ+ community. Under his administration, President Donald Trump has erased or altered Centers for Disease Control and Prevention pages focused on the risks of suicide among LGBTQ children, school safety and health disparities. He has also signed executive orders that declared it official U.S. policy that there are only two sexes, male and female, and banned people with gender dysphoria from military service. Earlier this week, Trump's Department of Education also formally declared June as 'Title IX Month.'On Tuesday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered the Navy to rename the USNS Harvey Milk, which honors the slain LGBTQ+ rights icon. This move reportedly was intentionally made during Pride Month. A total of 26 Republican senators co-sponsored the resolution, including Alabama's Tommy Tuberville and South Carolina's Lindsey Graham. 'If we are going to dedicate entire months to recognizing every group under the sun, the least we can do is dedicate June to protecting unborn babies,' Tuberville said on X.
The Hill
6 days ago
- General
- The Hill
White House: ‘No plans' for Trump to issue Pride Month proclamation
President Trump has 'no plans' to issue a proclamation recognizing June as Pride Month, or dedicate it to any other group or cause, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Tuesday. 'There are no plans for a proclamation for the month of June,' Leavitt said during a media briefing at the White House, 'but I can tell you this president is very proud to be a president for all Americans, regardless of race, religion or creed.' Trump declined to issue proclamations recognizing Pride Month throughout his first term, though he briefly acknowledged it on social media in 2019 while touting his administration's efforts to decriminalize homosexuality worldwide, the first Republican president to do so. 'As we celebrate LGBT Pride Month and recognize the outstanding contributions LGBT people have made to our great Nation, let us also stand in solidarity with the many LGBT people who live in dozens of countries worldwide that punish, imprison, or even execute individuals on the basis of their sexual orientation,' Trump wrote on the social platform X, then Twitter, six years ago. 'My Administration has launched a global campaign to decriminalize homosexuality and invite all nations to join us in this effort!' Former President Bill Clinton, a Democrat, issued the first presidential proclamation designating June 'Gay and Lesbian Pride Month' in 1999. A declaration issued in 2011 by former President Barack Obama expanded the scope to include bisexual and transgender people. The White House's decision comes amid a broader backlash against Pride and a political climate that is increasingly hostile to the LGBTQ community, particularly transgender people. Opponents of LGBTQ rights this week criticized U.S. companies that publicly acknowledged Pride with social media posts or by temporarily changing the colors of their corporate logos. A group of congressional Republicans accused PBS of 'grooming' children after 'Sesame Street,' one of the nonprofit TV network's flagship programs, shared a post recognizing Pride Month on Sunday. Rep. Mary Miller (R-Ill.), one of the GOP House members to criticize PBS and 'Sesame Street,' introduced a resolution Tuesday declaring June 'Family Month,' which she said would 'reject the lie of 'Pride' and instead honor God's timeless and perfect design.' 'The American family is under relentless attack from a radical leftist agenda that seeks to erase truth, redefine marriage and confuse our children,' Miller told The Daily Wire, a conservative news outlet, in an interview published Tuesday. On Monday, the Education Department said it was declaring June 'Title IX Month,' after the 1972 law against sex discrimination that the Trump administration has argued prohibits transgender women and girls from competing on female school sports teams. Trump's decision not to formally recognize Pride Month also comes as WorldPride, the international LGBTQ Pride event, takes place this month in Washington.
Axios
23-05-2025
- Business
- Axios
FTC investigating liberal watchdog group Media Matters
The Federal Trade Commission is investigating the liberal group Media Matters over claims that it and other media advocacy groups coordinated advertising boycotts of Elon Musk's X, Media Matters president Angelo Carusone confirmed in a statement Thursday. Why it matters: Musk and conservatives have been targeting advertising groups for months as part of a broader effort to determine whether the ad market writ large is biased against them. X sued Media Matters for defamation in 2023 for a report it publicly released that showed ads on X running next to pro-Nazi content. X claimed the report contributed to an advertiser exodus. Last year, X filed a federal antitrust lawsuit against the World Federation of Advertisers, a major advertising trade group, and its industry coalition called the Global Alliance for Responsible Media. The lawsuit proved effective as WFA discontinued GARM a few months later. What they're saying:"The Trump administration has been defined by naming right-wing media figures to key posts and abusing the power of the federal government to bully political opponents and silence critics," said Carusone. "It's clear that's exactly what's happening here, given Media Matters' history of holding those same figures to account. These threats won't work; we remain steadfast to our mission." The FTC did not respond to a request for comment. Zoom out: The investigation, first reported by Reuters, signals an escalation of tensions between the advertising community and conservatives. Last year, The Daily Wire, a conservative media company, sent letters to major corporations asking them to "reject" GARM, arguing it colluded with agencies, brands and tech platforms "to demonetize conservative media outlets." The Daily Wire testified in a hearing about the matter last summer, after conservatives leading the House Judiciary Committee held a hearing about complaints GARM was colluding with ad-buying giant GroupM to discourage clients from buying ads in the Daily Wire because of its conservative politics. What to watch: X Corp. has a mixed record when it comes to lawsuits against research and advocacy groups.
Daily Mail
20-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Harvey Weinstein's explosive claim that he's secretly still working in Hollywood
Disgraced Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein claims he's still influencing the movie industry from behind bars. The 73-year-old convicted rapist, who long earned a reputation in the industry for bullying directors and demanding last-minute rewrites, now claims that filmmakers continue to seek his input in secret. 'I have friends who are still in the industry who slip me their screenplays and ask me for notes,' Weinstein told conservative commentator Candace Owens in a new jailhouse interview on her subscription-based platform The Daily Wire. Despite his criminal convictions and public disgrace, Weinstein insisted that he is still a behind-the-scenes influence in Hollywood 'You know, can I do something for it? Can I help? Can I improve it? And I just give them my honest thoughts,' he told Owens. 'So I'm not doing anything for me, but I'm doing things for others.' Weinstein is currently facing a retrial in New York after the state's highest court overturned his 2020 rape conviction, ruling that his trial had been tainted by testimony from women whose allegations weren't part of the actual charges. He has pleaded not guilty and maintains that he never raped or sexually assaulted anyone. The former movie mogul's downfall in 2017 marked a seismic shift in Hollywood. Investigative reports by The New York Times and The New Yorker exposed decades of sexual misconduct, leading to more than 60 women — including A-list actresses — coming forward with allegations of harassment, assault, and rape. 'I have friends who are still in the industry who slip me their screenplays and ask me for notes,' Weinstein told conservative commentator Candace Owens in a newly released interview on her subscription-based platform The Daily Wire The revelations helped spark the global #MeToo movement, a reckoning that challenged the culture of silence surrounding powerful men in media, politics, and beyond. Among Weinstein's accusers is Salma Hayek, who wrote a powerful 2017 op-ed for The New York Times titled 'Harvey Weinstein Is My Monster Too.' In it, Hayek described how Weinstein relentlessly pressured her for sex, berated her when she refused, and tried to sabotage her film Frida. He allegedly forced her into filming a nude scene under duress, causing her to suffer an emotional breakdown on set. Despite those traumatic circumstances, Frida was completed and went on to earn six Oscar nominations, including Best Actress for Hayek. Owens, who has expressed support for Weinstein's efforts to overturn his convictions in New York, said reviewing his case 'made [her] lose faith in the judicial system.' 'I don't think Harvey is a moral man,' she said. 'I just also do not believe that he is a rapist.' Weinstein became emotional during the interview, claiming his legal battles had destroyed him. 'They broke me,' he said. 'They broke me in half.' He also insisted he still has allies in Hollywood - but said they're too afraid to defend him. 'They are frightened to death that they're going to be canceled,' he said. 'I've asked to have lie detectors brought into the prison. I know they're not admissible, but I want the world to know.' Despite his denials, Weinstein made a partial admission regarding Gwyneth Paltrow, who has said he sexually harassed her in a hotel suite when she was 22 - shortly after he cast her in the 1996 film Emma. 'I definitely made a pass,' Weinstein told Owens before quickly backpedaling. 'It's a complete fabrication about my relationship with Gwyneth. I didn't put my hands on her. I didn't touch her.' Paltrow told The New York Times in 2017: 'It was weird. I was alone in a room with him. It was out of the blue. I was blindsided. I was shocked.' Weinstein also spoke about actress Rose McGowan, who alleged that he raped her in a hotel room at the 1997 Sundance Film Festival after casting her in the film Scream. 'I settled with Rose McGowan,' he said. 'I gave her $100,000. Don't tell my wife, don't get me into trouble. It's all conflated, and it's all led to the idea that I'm going to be the one they persecute.' McGowan publicly revealed the settlement in 2017 and said she had signed a nondisclosure agreement. Weinstein, who was married to fashion designer Georgina Chapman from 2003 to 2021, also dismissed allegations from actress Ashley Judd that he sexually harassed her. 'Ashley Judd's claims are ridiculous,' he told Owens. More than six years after the floodgates opened and Weinstein became the face of the #MeToo movement, he remains defiant. Now awaiting retrial in New York, he claims he's innocent - and insists Hollywood hasn't completely turned its back on him.
