The Trump administration announced last week that the Department of Defense ‘will no longer use official resources, to include man-hours, to host celebrations or events related to cultural awareness months,’ including LGBT ‘pride.’
WASHINGTON, D.C. (LifeSiteNews) -- The U.S. Armed Forces will no longer recognize LGBT “pride” month or any other identity-based cultural celebrations, Trump administration Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announced on January 31.
“Going forward, DoD Components and Military Departments will not use official resources, to include man-hours, to host celebrations or events related to cultural awareness months, including National African American/Black History Month, Women’s History Month, Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, Pride Month, National Hispanic Heritage Month, National Disability Employment Awareness Month, and National American Indian Heritage Month,” Hegseth ordered in a Pentagon memo. “Service members and civilians remain permitted to attend these events in an unofficial capacity outside of duty hours.”
The secretary said that such events divide and dilute the unity that is vital to military effectiveness and that instead valor and success should be celebrated in those of all races, sexes, and backgrounds. “We are proud of our warriors and their history, but we will focus on the character of their service instead of their immutable characteristics,” he said.
The move is part of a broader ongoing effort by the Trump administration to root identity politics out of the federal government, the military’s role in which Hegseth has been particularly vocal about, in a stark reversal of current trends.
The steady rise of woke ideology within the military, which has persisted and grown since the Clinton years despite the presidencies of Republicans George W. Bush and Trump’s first administration, were intensified by former President Joe Biden, who upon taking office quickly moved to open the military to recruits suffering from gender dysphoria in a reversal of Trump policy, then had his Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin launch a review of supposed “domestic extremism” within the military that many saw as a pretext to purge conservative views from the ranks.
Under Biden, the U.S. Air Force, Marine Corps, Space Force, Secret Service, State Department, Justice Department, Department of Homeland Security, FBI, National Security Agency, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Customs and Border Protection, Citizenship and Immigration Services, Transportation Security Administration, FEMA, and more all celebrated "Pride Month" with social media posts, official messages, rainbow flags, videos, and more.
In March 2023, the Center for Military Readiness (CMR) published an update on the administration’s work to infuse the armed forces with left-wing gender ideology, ranging from enforcement of preferred pronouns, to allowing cross-dressing and the use of opposite-sex showers and restrooms on military bases, to making it harder to access information on the negative consequences of such policies. Last November, the Pentagon requested an additional $114.7 million for diversity programs in the upcoming fiscal year, representing a total of $269.2 million in taxpayer dollars just on military diversity since Biden took office.
Until December 2022, Biden’s Pentagon leaders also enforced COVID-19 shot mandates on American military members, provoking lawsuits and threatening soldier and pilot shortages in the tens of thousands that only added to broader problems of force strength, troop morale, and public confidence.
Such priorities have taken their toll. During a Pentagon press briefing in April 2022 on the Army’s budget for Fiscal Year 2023, Under Secretary of the Army Gabe Camarillo announced the Army had “proactively made a decision to temporarily reduce our end strength from 485,000 Soldiers to 476,000 in FY ’22, and 473,000 in FY ’23.” The Military Times reported at the time that this “could leave the service at its smallest size since 1940, when it had just over 269,000 troops.”
In his first month back in office, President Donald Trump began the process of “de-woking” the military by reinstating soldiers who had been discharged over COVID shots with their former ranks, back pay, and benefits; and by ordering the elimination of “diversity, equity, and inclusion” (DEI) programs from the military and discharge of service members afflicted with gender confusion. The new administration also banned LGBT and “Black Lives Matter” (BLM) flags from being flown at U.S. embassies and other State Department facilities.
