Pete Hegseth orders Navy to strip name of gay rights icon Harvey Milk from ship
www.independent.co.uk
Defense secretary’s memo says stripping the name of the Navy veteran is part of an effort to reestablish ‘warrior culture’

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.zip/post/40120300

Defense secretary’s memo says stripping the name of the Navy veteran is part of an effort to reestablish ‘warrior culture’

    • Tiger666@lemmy.ca
      0·
      3 months ago

      Because he was shot in the face while doing his democratically elected duty for being gay. He has become an icon and a hero and deserves recognition and honoring.

    • atzanteol@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      0·
      3 months ago

      From Wikipedia

      In July 2016, Ray Mabus, then United States Secretary of the Navy, advised Congress that he intended to name the John Lewis-class oilers after prominent civil rights leaders, with this ship to be named in honor of gay rights activist Harvey Milk.[5] It was officially named at a ceremony in San Francisco on 16 August 2016.[6][7] This was not the first US Navy ship named for an openly gay person, as the WWI troopship USS Von Steuben (ID-3017) was commissioned in 1917 and named for Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben, an American Revolutionary War hero.[8]

  • tal@lemmy.todayEnglish
    0·
    3 months ago

    The memo seen by Military.com stated that the name change was done for there to be “alignment with president and SECDEF objectives and SECNAV priorities of reestablishing the warrior culture,” in a seeming reference to President Donald Trump, Hegseth, and Phelan.

    Milk became the first openly gay man elected to public office in California when he became a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1978 after winning an election the previous year.

    I’m not really convinced that homosexuality and “warrior culture” are at odds with one another.

    Hercules

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Male_lovers_of_Heracles

    Pages in category “Male lovers of Heracles”

    • Abderus
    • Adonis
    • Admetus of Pherae
    • Argus
    • Corythus
    • Eurystheus
    • Hylas
    • Iolaus
    • Iphitus
    • Nireus
    • Philoctetes
    • Polystratus
    • Sostratus of Dyme

    Sacred Band of Thebes

    The Sacred Band of Thebes (Ancient Greek: Ἱερός Λόχος, Hierós Lóchos) was an elite heavy infantry of select soldiers, allegedly consisting of 150 pairs of male couples which formed the elite force of the Theban army in the 4th century BC, ending Spartan domination.

    According to Plutarch, the 300 hand-picked men were chosen by Gorgidas purely for ability and merit, regardless of social class.[18] It was composed of 150 male couples,[15] each pair consisting of an older erastês (ἐραστής, “lover”) and a younger erômenos (ἐρώμενος, “beloved”).[19] Athenaeus of Naucratis also records the Sacred Band as being composed of “lovers and their favorites, thus indicating the dignity of the god Eros in that they embrace a glorious death in preference to a dishonorable and reprehensible life”,[9] while Polyaenus describes the Sacred Band as being composed of men “devoted to each other by mutual obligations of love”.

    Samurai

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homosexuality_in_Japan#Samurai_shudō

    Samurai shudō

    In contrast to the norms in religious circles, in the warrior (samurai) class it was customary for a boy in the wakashū age category to undergo training in the martial arts by apprenticing to a more experienced adult man. According to Furukawa, the relationship was based on the model of a typically older nenja, paired with a typically younger chigo.[1] The man was permitted, if the boy agreed, to take the boy as his lover until he came of age; this relationship, often formalized in a “brotherhood contract”,[12] was expected to be exclusive, with both partners swearing to take no other (male) lovers.

    This practice, along with clerical pederasty, developed into the codified system of age-structured homosexuality known as shudō, abbreviated from wakashūdō, the “way (Tao) of wakashū”.[14] The older partner, in the role of nenja, would teach the chigo martial skills, warrior etiquette, and the samurai code of honor, while his desire to be a good role model for his chigo would lead him to behave more honorably himself; thus a shudō relationship was considered to have a “mutually ennobling effect”.

  • Gates9@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    0·
    3 months ago

    Naming military equipment after citizens who have contributed to the good of democracy reminds us that the military is controlled by the citizens, and reminds us of the values we ostensibly fight for. That’s a good thing.

    • floofloof@lemmy.caOP
      0·
      3 months ago

      The current administration is motivated by greed and spite. It has no interest in doing good things for the country. It considers its business to be mainly hurting people, when it’s not stealing wealth.

    • Cocodapuf@lemmy.world
      0·
      3 months ago

      Harvey milk isn’t just a citizen though, he’s a military veteran.

      The US regularly names vessels after politicians who are also military vets. Presidents often get something big, like an aircraft carrier named after them, lower level public servants tend to get smaller ships.

      All that is to say, this isn’t just some special case, this is just how we do things. This wasn’t DEI, it was the normal state of affairs. So with that in mind, to go out of your way to change this name is so disrespectful… I have trouble describing it.

      • atzanteol@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        0·
        3 months ago

        No . Because ships do need designations. It’s part of the normal course of things to name ships. It takes extra effort to go back and rename an existing thing though. And when it’s done for no good reason it’s just silly.

  • PorradaVFR@lemmy.world
    0·
    3 months ago

    Hey, remember when he used insecure Signal to communicate highly classified information? Whatever happened with that?

    No, really, why did that story fade?

    • imrighthere@lemmy.caEnglish
      0·
      3 months ago

      Because they’re nazis and waving signs and tacos at them doesn’t make them stop ?

    • DarkFuture@lemmy.worldEnglish
      0·
      3 months ago

      No, really, why did that story fade?

      Because Americans have brains roughly the size of hamsters so they can’t fit much else beyond Dancing With The Stars and Real Wives of Whatever in there at any given time.

      Also, we wake up to some new embarrassment from this administration every. single. day. So our timeline is pretty extreme right now.

    • floofloof@lemmy.caOP
      0·
      3 months ago

      To clarify: Signal is secure as far as we know, but these fools used a Signal knockoff that is basically a very insecure wrapper around Signal that totally undermines it.

      • anomnom@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        0·
        3 months ago

        I was actually surprised they were using it, because it keeps a record of communication (which the government officials are required to keep).

        So it was a weird mix of irresponsible and responsible behavior.

  • CharlesDarwin@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    3 months ago

    Oh thank goodness these asshats are doing some performative bullshit to distract from their destruction of so many other things. I am still paying $4 a gallon for gas, but at least I can say that donvict is “owning the libs” or whatever the fuck.