Free Republic

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has ordered the Navy to take the rare step of renaming a ship, one that bears the name of a gay rights icon, documents and sources show. Military.com reviewed a memorandum from the Office of the Secretary of the Navy -- the official who holds the power to name Navy ships -- that showed the sea service had come up with rollout plans for the renaming of the oiler ship USNS Harvey Milk. A defense official confirmed that the Navy was making preparations to strip the ship of its name but noted that Navy Secretary John...

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has ordered the Navy to take the rare step of renaming a ship, one that bears the name of a gay rights icon, documents and sources show. Military.com reviewed a memorandum from the Office of the Secretary of the Navy -- the official who holds the power to name Navy ships -- that showed the sea service had come up with rollout plans for the renaming of the oiler ship USNS Harvey Milk. A defense official confirmed that the Navy was making preparations to strip the ship of its name but noted that Navy Secretary John...

BOISE, Idaho — The Pride Season Kickoff, initially scheduled for June 6, has been canceled due to insufficient attendance, despite strong online enthusiasm. The event was intended to enhance LGBTQ+ visibility and community connection in June, serving as a precursor to the main Boise Pride celebration in September. Organizers expressed their commitment to expanding Pride in Boise, emphasizing the need for active community participation to bring new events to life. "We know the desire for more Pride programming is real—we hear it constantly," they said. However, they noted that early community buy-in is crucial for the success of events outside...

When corporations got rid of their diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, many also axed their commitments to LGBTQ+ Pride Month. Even before Donald Trump's executive orders terminating all DEI positions in the federal government, dozens of major companies had already abandoned their practices. Many made their decisions after conservatives online specifically targeted them for their policies and threatened boycotts, with failed filmmaker turned failed congressional candidate Robby Starbuck taking credit for spearheading the movement. This withdrawal didn't just encompass inclusive work environments and hiring practices, or participation in the Human Rights Campaign's Corporate Equality Index — in abandoning DEI, companies...

Around 1,000 people gathered Saturday morning at Santa Cruz Main Beach to spell out the word “Resist!” The event, organized by Indivisible Santa Cruz County, aimed to protest the Trump administration and celebrate Santa Cruz Pride’s 50th anniversary.

Pride month celebrations at the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) will not be permitted this June, leadership told agents and directors Thursday. “I’ve received several questions about the FBI’s stance on Pride Month and what related activities FBI divisions and employees should or should not participate in,” FBI Assistant Director for Public Affairs Ben Williamson said in an email to assistant directors in charge and special agents in charge on Thursday morning. “So, I want to take the opportunity to make FBI leadership’s expectations clear: There should be no official FBI actions, events, or messaging regarding Pride Month.” The email...

CV NEWS FEED // A day after CatholicVote reported that The Hill had published a column identifying a flag of the Sacred Heart of Jesus as “a symbol associated with the Christian right wing, specifically used to protest Pride,” the publication erased that claim from the column without noting the change. The practice of editing out controversial passages without acknowledging the correction in an editorial note is commonly known as “stealth-editing.”Nick Robertson originally wrote in his column: “The Sacred Heart of Jesus flag is a symbol associated with the Christian right wing, specifically used to protest Pride.”As of mid-afternoon the...

By all accounts, LGBT Pride Month 2025 will be conspicuously low-key. Appalled by Trump’s electoral victory and alarmed by the signal voters (a.k.a. consumers) sent, major corporations that once supported Pride events have scrambled for the exits as quickly as if someone had pulled the fire alarm. These developments bring relief to normal Americans, who feel as if the playground bully astride their chests finally dismounted and fled. But, for a cadre of die-hard activists, such public retreat from progressivism’s excesses represents an existential threat that must be thwarted.

The Seventh-day Adventist Church has released the advance edition of its 2025 Annual Statistical Report, detailing 2024 membership reports. Published by the General Conference’s (GC) Office of Archives, Statistics, and Research, the report presents division-level data on baptisms, attendance, and overall membership. As of December 31, 2024, global church membership reached 23,684,237—an increase from 22,785,195 in 2023, representing a net gain of 899,042 members. The East-Central Africa Division reported the greatest increase with over 446,000 baptisms and professions of faith, pushing its membership to more than 5.7 million. The Southern Asia Division and Inter-American Division also posted strong numbers, with...

She can finally have some pride in her job! Former President Joe Biden’s press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre has landed a new gig out of the White House as a grand marshal of NYC Pride Parade. Jean-Pierre, who became the first openly gay spokesperson to hold press briefings for a US president, will be among those to head the Big Apple’s famed annual parade in June, CBS reported. “It goes back to that trail-blazing career that she’s had in politics and representing the community at the highest microphone that exists,” NYC Pride spokesperson Chris Piedmont said of Jean-Pierre. Jean-Pierre, 50 —...

Idaho’s chief lawyer has asked the city of Boise to comply with a new law that limits what flags may be flown by government buildings and warned that the state may try to withhold sales tax revenues if the city refuses. Idaho Attorney General Raúl Labrador wrote a letter to Boise Mayor Lauren McLean on Tuesday requesting that she take down the prohibited flags outside city hall — as of Wednesday morning, the city displayed a Pride flag and a flag honoring organ and tissue donors, along with an American flag, city of Boise flag, state of Idaho flag and...

Why You Can No Longer Rely on LGBTQ+ Best Lists to Find an LGBTQ-Friendly College – And What You Can Do Instead ________________________ Over the past several years, we've seen a devastating rollback of protections and resources for LGBTQ+ people across the United States—currently under the Trump administration and previously in states actively pushing anti-LGBTQ+ legislation. These actions haven't just been symbolic. They've led to real consequences: the defunding, silencing, or outright closure of LGBTQ+ resource centers, the censorship of inclusive curricula, and the gutting of DEI offices on college campuses.

A lawmaker in Washington on Thursday likened legislation aimed at banning transgender athletes from girls’ and women’s sports in the state to racial segregation in the United States, arguing that those across the aisle are "making a lot of the same arguments today." Washington Democratic state Rep. Kristine Reeves spoke during an executive session of the House Education Committee on Thursday morning where members of the committee introduced SB 5123, a bill that aimed to expand protections for students, including gender expression and gender identity. "I recall a time in our country’s history not that long ago … where people...

Transgender track and field athlete Sadie Schreiner took first place at the USA Track and Field (USATF) Open Masters Championships in the women's 400-meter dash in New York Saturday The other participants in the event, Anna Vidolova and Amaris Hiatt, have no recorded times and are listed as DNS, did not start. Schreiner is 21 years old, while Vidolova is just 17, and Hiatt is 16. . . After the 400-meter race, Schreiner competed in the women's 200-meter dash and also won first place. Schreiner defeated 14-year-old runner-up Zwange Edwards, 16-year-old third-place finisher Zariah Hargrove, 15-year-old Leah Walker and 18-year-old...

The premier of Ontario, Doug Ford, has threatened the U.S. over Donald Trump’s plans to impose tariffs on Canadian exports. After initially putting a hold on his planned tariffs against Canada and Mexico, Trump confirmed this week that he would move forward with plans to 25 percent tariffs on both countries until both countries agreed to his demands surrounding border security. In an interview on NBC News, Ford said he had never met a single American who supported the idea of tariffs, despite the fact that the majority of Americans voted for Donald Trump. Ford ranted: We are the largest...

You know, sometimes I scroll right past things that are too bizarre because I think, "There's no way this isn't a parody." This was almost one of those times: There's no earthly way that the Episcopal Church, as woke as they are, would have created a "Pride" shield. Is there? So I Googled it. And I found it. If you showed this to an Episcopalian 150 years ago they'd say, "What the heck is that?" And then after you explained to them what the "pride" movement was, they'd probably laugh in your face and not believe you. But it's 2024,...

Everything you suspected might be going on in the Federal Government these past four years is turning out to be true. For instance, if you thought radical transgenderism was being pushed on agencies and employees to the detriment of the government's core mission, it looks like you can take off the tin foil hat. One whistleblower says it's all true, and it's probably worse than you imagined. ... National Security Agency's Interlink messaging program was used by federal employees to engage in debauched conversations about transgender fetishes and transitioning. ... While the mainstream press screams bloody murder over the Trump...

The Orbán administration has said that the country 'should not tolerate' the public event this year. NGOs and human rights activists in Hungary have condemned the government's proposed clampdown on this year's Pride march in Budapest. In a speech last week, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán hinted that his administration would crack down on the event, saying it would be "a waste of time and money" for its organisers to make their usual preparations. Then on Thursday, Gergely Gullyás, the Hungarian minister who runs Orbán's office, spoke more explicitly. “There will be no Pride in the public form in which...

A man accused of multiple child sex offences allegedly raped a 12-year-old boy and smoked a bong with him at his flat, a trial has heard. Stephen Ireland, 40, who co-founded Pride in Surrey in 2018, is facing 35 charges while his flatmate David Sutton, 27, a volunteer with the organisation, is accused of 20 offences. The pair targeted "children for their sexual proclivities", Guildford Crown Court was told. The defendants have denied all the charges and jurors were told they would argue the allegations were ill-founded and untrue. Mr Ireland is alleged to have met a 12-year-old boy at...

Military leaders at the highest levels of the California National Guard pledged loyalty to the LGBT community during an official ceremony led by the general whom Gov. Gavin Newsom (D.) later appointed to lead the force in 2022. One attendee told the Washington Free Beacon that members felt pressured to appear at the ceremony, which felt "culty." . . A former senior leader of the California National Guard told the Free Beacon the ceremony was the brainchild of Major General Matthew Beevers, who at the time served as deputy head of the guard and was pictured onstage during the event....