Pete Hegseth wants to rename baptized ship after gay activist

Pete Hegseth is not a subtle man. Before Donald Trump made him his defense minister, what he thinks of queer soldiers. That gays in the US military do not have to come their sexuality-for him part of a “Marxist agenda”, a “gateway” for cultural changes that threaten the effectiveness of the troop.

Now, less than four months in office, he takes a symbolic blow against the hated woken.

Like the magazine, Hegseth instructed the US navy to reduce the tanker “Usns Harvey Milk”. According to an internal memo, the measure is used to “reconcile the goals of the President and the Minister of Defense as well as the priorities of the Minister of Navy to restore war culture”. A new name has not yet been determined. The consultations continued, but the preparations were already underway. A final decision should be made in the coming days – of all things in the middle of Pride Month.

Milk is one of the most famous gay and lesbian law activists of the past decades. The former marine soldier went to US history as one of the first openly gay politicians and was murdered in 1978 at the age of 48. In Germany, most of them are likely to think of Hollywood icon Sean Penn. He had received the Oscar as the best leading actor for his portrayal of the famous civil rights activist in 2009.

The “Usns Harvey Milk” was named in 2016 in the last year of Barack Obama’s presidency by his then Minister Ray Mabus. All ships in this class were christened by prominent civil rights activists, for example to the former Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy. Even then, Republicans complained to the names as politically motivated.

Could this renam only be the first of a whole series. Among other things, a tanker named after the late democratic judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg would be discussed.

Hegseth’s spokesman confirmed that such a review is currently taking place. His boss is “determined to ensure that the names of all institutions and resources of the Ministry of Defense reflect the priorities of the commander -in -chief, the history of our country and the spirit of the soldiers” from the explanation.

Hegseth has been rigorously against diversity programs in the US military since taking office, had corresponding references, photos, websites remove and dismissed numerous high-ranking managers (including disproportionately many women) with reference to their inclusion efforts.

Hegseth considers the motto “Our diversity is our strength” to be “the stupidest sentence in military history”. The pentagon boss, the newspaper quotes the former head of the Staff of Obama’s Minister Minister, “seems to be on a killing spree” in order to remove all people from US history who are not heterosexual white men.