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Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Hegseth Orders Navy To Remove Harvey Milk's Name From Ship
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has ordered the removal of gay rights activist Harvey Milk's name from a U.S. Navy oiler ship. A defense official told that the timing of the order from Hegseth, announced during what many in the LGBTQ community consider Pride Month (June), was intentional. According to a memo from the Office of the Secretary of the Navy, the ship will be renamed to better align with 'President and SECDEF objectives and SECNV priorities of reestablishing the warrior culture,' evidently referring to President Donald Trump, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, and Secretary of the Navy John Phelan. The rules for naming U.S. Navy vessels vary according to the type of ship, but there are occasional exceptions to the rules. The final decision on naming a U.S. Navy ship rests with the Secretary of the Navy, Business Insider reported. However, the order to rename the ship came from Hegseth, according to John Lewis-class oilers, including the USNS Harvey Milk, are intended to be named after civil rights leaders. The first oiler ship of this class was named after civil rights leader and U.S. Rep. John Lewis. It was christened on July 17, 2021, one year to the day after the congressman's death. The second in this class of replenishment oilers, the USNS Harvey Milk, was christened nearly four months later, on November 6, 2021. Harvey Milk served in the Navy for four years during the Korean War before being forced to resign in 1955, in an era in which gay, lesbian, and bisexual service members were banned. He chose to accept an 'other than honorable discharge' as an alternative to being court-martialed because of his homosexuality, The Washington Post reported in 2019. Milk later became the first openly gay candidate elected to public office in California, establishing himself in the 1970s as a prominent local figure in the early fight for gay civil rights. He was assassinated at City Hall while serving as a member of San Francisco's Board of Supervisors in November of 1978, after serving only 11 months on the Board. By the time the Navy christened the USNS Harvey Milk in 2021, military officials under the Biden administration had taken a decidedly different stance on gays serving in the armed forces. The then-Secretary of the Navy, Carlos Del Toro, said that it was important for him to attend the christening, 'not just to amend the wrongs of the past, but to give inspiration to all of our LGBTQ community leaders who served in the Navy, in uniform today and in the civilian workforce as well too, and to tell them that we're committed to them in the future.' 'For far too long, sailors like Lt. Milk were forced into the shadows or, worse yet, forced out of our beloved Navy,' Del Toro said. 'That injustice is part of our Navy history, but so is the perseverance of all who continue to serve in the face of injustice.' Del Toro also noted, 'Ship names are important because they express what we value as a Navy and as a nation and communicate those values around the globe in every port of call.' The recent order to rename the USNS Harvey Milk appears to be an expression of the values of the Trump administration. The decision was made to reflect the President's 'priorities, our nation's history and the warrior ethos,' according to Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell. His comment echoes that of Hegseth, who remarked in April that the administration's objectives from day one has focused on 'restoring the warrior ethos, rebuilding our military and reestablishing deterrence. … We are leaving wokeness and weakness behind. And refocusing on lethality, meritocracy, accountability, standards and readiness.' Names are important in the Trump administration, as the President has set about renaming other long-standing institutions to his liking: Denali has once again become Mt. McKinley, Fort Liberty is now Fort Bragg again, and the Gulf of Mexico is now the Gulf of America, according to a Presidential proclamation. U.S. Naval ships honoring other prominent leaders are also under consideration for renaming, according to CBS News. Ships on the Navy's recommended renaming list include the USNS Thurgood Marshall, USNS Ruth Bader Ginsburg, USNS Harriet Tubman, USNS Delores Huerta, USNS Lucy Stone, USNS Cesar Chavez, and USNS Medgar Evers. Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi told CBS News that the reported decision to rename these ships is 'a shameful, vindictive erasure of those who fought to break down barriers for all to chase the American Dream.' 'Our military is the most powerful in the world – but this spiteful move does not strengthen our national security or the 'warrior' ethos. Instead, it is a surrender of a fundamental American value: to honor the legacy of those who worked to build a better country,' she added. The Navy has not yet announced a new name for the oiler ship USNS Harvey Milk.
Time of India
3 days ago
- Politics
- Time of India
‘Too gay for Hegseth': Rep. Becca Balint slams Trump's Defense Secy for renaming Harvey Milk ship
During Pride Month, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth orders the renaming of the USNS Harvey Milk, sparking outrage. LGBTQ+ leaders, including Rep. Becca Balint, condemn the move as a direct attack on equality and inclusion amid rising anti-trans policies in the military. Show more Show less
Los Angeles Times
4 days ago
- Politics
- Los Angeles Times
Hegseth's move on USNS Harvey Milk is a stain on military's ‘warrior ethos'
Of course, Trump's Secretary of Defense wants the name of Harvey Milk, the murdered gay rights pioneer, stripped from a ship. Never mind that Milk served in the Korean War as a diving instructor, eventually discharged because of his sexual orientation. Or that he had exhibited courage in facing down haters as the nation's first publicly out elected official. After all, when Pete Hegseth's not sending confidential war plans via Signal to people who shouldn't be privy to them, he's busy bloviating about the 'warrior ethos.' Hegseth is a military veteran, a National Guardsman who did tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. But he's also someone who has made a career out of telling Americans he, above everyone else, knows what our veterans need and what our armed forces need to defend the U.S. in an increasingly volatile world. So Hegseth may know something about warriors and fighting. So did Milk. But Hegseth is too busy playing Rambo to recognize it. Instead, he's weaponizing bigotry to remake the U.S. military as a scorched-earth, hetero-Christian outfit ready to stamp out liberal heretics here and abroad. That's not befitting anyone who calls themselves a warrior, no matter how many pseudo-patriotic tattoos and American flag items of clothing Hegseth loves to sport. A true warrior follows a code of honor that allows respect to those they disagree with and sometimes even combat. For Hegseth to specifically ask that the USNS Harvey Milk have its name changed during Pride Month — the same month that he's requiring all trans service people to out themselves and voluntarily leave their positions or be discharged against their will — does not represent the 'reestablishing [of] the warrior culture' that the Navy is citing as the reason for the moves. Instead, it reveals Hegseth's Achilles heel, one he shares with Trump: a fundamental insecurity about their place in a country that diversified long ago. CBS News is also reporting the Navy is recommending the renaming of ships named after civil rights icons Medgar Evers, Cesar Chavez, Sojourner Truth and Lucy Stone along with ships that haven't yet been built but are scheduled to bear the names of Dolores Huerta, Thurgood Marshall, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Harriet Tubman. Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell gave my colleague Kevin Rector the same malarkey he's giving the rest of the media when asked for comment about this matter: That Hegseth is 'committed' to making sure all named military assets 'are reflective of the Commander-in-Chief's priorities, our nation's history, and the warrior ethos.' I can understand the argument can be made that naval ships should be named only after those who served, which would eliminate people like Huerta, Ginsburg and Truth. But there was a beauty in the idea of having the names of civil rights heroes adorn ships in the so-called John Lewis class, oilers named after the late congressman. It was a reminder that wars don't just happen on the front lines but also on the home front. That those who serve to defend our democracy don't just do it through the military. That winning doesn't just happen with bullets and bombs. That sometimes, the biggest threat to our nation hasn't been the enemy abroad, but the enemy within. It's not just my wokoso opinion, either — the oath that all Navy newcomers and newly minted officers must take have them swear to 'support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.' You might not associate Huerta, Truth, and Marshall with the military — indeed, I was surprised the Navy had honored them, period. But I and millions of Americans do remember them for fierceness in their respective battlegrounds, a steeliness any sailor should aspire to. For anyone in Hegseth's world to even think about erasing their name is a disgrace to the Stars and Stripes — but what else should we expect from a department whose boss evaded military service by claiming to have debilitating bone spurs? The striking of Milk's name from an oiler, and proposed renaming of dry cargo ships named for Evers and Chavez, is particularly vile. Milk joined the Navy in the footsteps of his parents. He was so proud of his military background that he was wearing a belt buckle with his Navy diver's insignia the night he was assassinated. Evers was inspired to fight Jim Crow after serving in a segregated Army unit during World War II. Chavez, meanwhile, was stationed in the western Pacific shortly after the Good War during his two-year Navy stint. I called up Andres Chavez, executive director of the National Chavez Center and grandson of Cesar, to hear how he was feeling about this mess. Andres was there in 2012 when the USNS Cesar Chavez was launched in San Diego, christened with a champagne bottle by Helen Chavez, Cesar's widow and Andres' grandmother. He said 'it was probably the second-most memorable commemoration I've seen of my Tata after Obama' dedicated the Cesar E. Chavez National Monument in the Central Valley that year. The USNS Cesar Chavez was the last of the Navy's Lewis and Clark class of boats, all named after pioneers and explorers. Andres said his family was initially 'hesitant' to have a naval ship named in honor of their patriarch 'because so much of Cesar's identity is wrapped up in nonviolence' but accepted when they found out the push came from shipyard workers from San Diego's Barrio Logan. 'And there's been so many Latinos who have served in the military in this country, so we accepted on behalf of them as well,' he said. The Chavez family found out about the possibility of the USNS Cesar Chavez losing its name from reporters. 'We're just gonna wait and see what's next, but we're not surprised by this administration anymore,' Andres said. 'It's just not an affront to Cesar; it's an affront to all the Latino veterans of this country.' He pushed back on Hegseth's definition of what a warrior is by bringing up the work of his grandfather and Milk. The two supported each other's causes in the 1970s and met 'numerous' times, according to Andres. 'They served by creating more opportunities for other people and fighting for their respect,' he concluded. 'That's the definition of a warrior.'
Yahoo
5 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
6 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Veteran Blasts Pete Hegseth Over Pride Month 'Troll' Job And 'Warrior Ethos'
Former Missouri Secretary of State Jason Kander (D) on Wednesday dragged Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's 'pretty immature' order for the U.S. Navy to rename the USNS Harvey Milk, a vessel named after a late LGBTQ+ rights icon. Kander — a U.S. Army veteran — spoke to MSNBC about Hegseth's '80s 'action movie'-like talk of 'trying to restore a warrior culture' in the military, arguing that his move to rename the ship sends the wrong message to gay service members who will believe they can't be part of such an 'ethos.' 'That's a real problem in a military that rightfully got rid of the law that forced Harvey Milk out of the military,' said Kander of Milk, who served in the Navy in the Korean War before being forcibly discharged due to his sexual orientation. In 1978, Milk was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, becoming the first openly gay person to be elected to public office in California. He was assassinated later that year. The timing of the move to rename the ship — which is set to be announced next week in the heart of Pride Month — was reportedly intentional and reflects wider efforts to reimaginehistory under President Donald Trump. Hegseth's plan to strip the vessel of Milk's name has sparked outrage among leaders in San Franciscoand led to criticism from actor Sean Penn, who played Milk in the 2008 Oscar-winning movie named after the politician. Kander stressed that it's not a 'bad thing' to remind service members about 'what they're serving for.' 'And you want to talk about a 'warrior ethos,' I mean, how about somebody who joins the military during a war as an officer, gets kicked out over their own objections and then goes on to fight for civil rights and gives their life for the cause,' he said of Milk. 'That's probably the kind of thing that we want to remind our service members that America is about and what we're fighting for in the first place.' Moments earlier, Kander said the move by Hegseth — who once walked back controversial comments attacking gay service members — reflects what happens when you put a Fox News host in charge of the Pentagon, as 'everything looks like a tweet.' 'This is like a tweet to troll gay people during Pride Month,' Kander said. Trump Administration Begins Process Of Revoking Columbia's Accreditation 24-Year-Old Democrat Wins Sweeping Election Victory In Lindsey Graham's State Karine Jean-Pierre Leaves Democratic Party Ahead Of Her Book About 'Broken' WH
