Pride Month came to an end this week. We have been planning today's post for several weeks, which is why some of the news items date back to the early weeks of June. We wish we could have run this during Pride Month, but it worked better as a Friday post, and it wasn't completely ready to go by last Friday. If it helps, you can pretend we are still on the Julian calendar, and that today is therefore June 20, 2026.

"Macho Man" Hegseth Doing Everything He Can to Create a Christian Nationalist Military...

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is obsessed with the Crusades. He has multiple Crusade-themed tattoos, most obviously a Jerusalem Cross on his right pectoral:

He regularly makes reference to the Crusades in his speeches and press conferences. And he book he wrote, about how the military can be used to Make America Great Again? The title of the book is: American Crusade: Our Fight to Stay Free.

Since he took office, and in particular in the last couple of months or so, Hegseth has been working hard to re-fashion the armed forces of the United States into the armed forces of the Crusades. Those armed forces were made up of soldiers who were white, male, Christian and, as far as Hegseth is aware, straight (though he might not want to read TOO much about Richard the Lionheart or Baldwin I of Jerusalem).

Here is a quick rundown of some of the recent steps Hegseth has taken to "adjust" the armed forces to his liking:

• White Makes Might: Hegseth began his reign by getting rid of a few "woke" generals (his term), including the Black chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Charles Q. Brown, and the first woman to be the Navy's top officer, Adm. Lisa Franchetti. The Secretary then took a look at the list of 31 officers slated to be promoted to rear admiral, lower half (1 star), and noticed there were 24 white men, four Black men and three women on it. He got rid of four of the white men, two of the Black men and all of the women, resulting in a final list that was 91% white and male. Note that Hegseth's decision will leave nine billets unfilled, and will also shape the group of people who make rear admiral, upper half (2 stars) in a few years, and vice admiral (3 stars) a few years after that, and admiral (4 stars) a few years after that.
  
  
• Tis So Sweet To Trust In Jesus, Part I: When Hegseth took over his department, it recognized 211 different faiths for purposes of personnel records, headstones, etc. And you can be sure that for each of those 211, there was at least one soldier who came along and was a member of that faith. Hegseth ordered the list to be trimmed to 31. Here is the full list, in its original incarnation:
  
  
  1. Agnostic (AN)
  2. Baha'i faith (BH)
  3. Buddhism (BU)
  4. Christian - Assemblies of God (AG)
  5. Christian - Baptist (BA)
  6. Christian - Brethren (BR)
  7. Christian - Catholic (CA)
  8. Christian - Church of Christ (CC)
  9. Christian - Church of God (CG)
  10. Christian - Church of the Nazarene (CN)
  11. Christian - Episcopal/Anglican (EA)
  12. Christian - Evangelical (EV)
  13. Christian - Jehovah's Witnesses (JW)
  14. Christian - Lutheran (LU)
  15. Christian - Methodist (ME)
  16. Christian - Non Denominational (ND)
  17. Christian - Orthodox (OX)
  18. Christian - Other (CO)
  19. Christian - Pentecostal (PE)
  20. Christian - Presbyterian (PR)
  21. Christian - Quaker (QU)
  22. Christian - Reformed (RE)
  23. Christian - Scientist (SC)
  24. Christian - Seventh Day Adventist (SA)
  25. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (CJ)
  26. Hindu (HI)
  27. Islam (Muslim) (IS)
  28. Judaism (Jewish) (JU)
  29. No Religion (NR)
  30. Other Religions (OR)
  31. Sikh (SI)
  
  Awfully Christian-heavy, isn't it? And undoubtedly it would be even more Christian-heavy if Hegseth thought he could get away with removing Islam (and probably Sikhism) from the list. That said, the Secretary and his people could not resist a bit of editorializing, which got him in a little bit of hot water. If you don't know already, do you see what it is?
  
  The answer is that, reflecting a common evangelical cheap shot, the LDS Church is NOT identified as "Christian." Numerous LDS members of Congress took exception to that, and the list was updated so that LDS soldiers now get to be Christians, too. It also does not hurt, as Andrew Egger at The Bulwark pointed out, that LDS voters tend to show up on Election Day and to vote Republican.
  
  
• Tis So Sweet To Trust In Jesus, Part II: Hegseth also ordered that military chaplains should no longer wear rank insignia, because their religious role is divine, whereas their civilian role is comparatively unimportant.
  
  
• Tis So Sweet To Trust In Jesus, Part III: Of course, some Christian ministers are preferable to others, and Hegseth is particularly close allies with notable Christian nationalists, like pastor Doug Wilson. Wilson, who once wrote an essay about the "blessings" of Southern slavery, entitled "Southern Slavery As It Was," recently organized a conference for Christian nationalists. And Wilson and the other organizers were apparently legitimately surprised when a Nazi bookseller showed up and did a brisk business in what it calls "Third Reich bundles"—three different collections of "greatest hits" of key Nazis, each of them comprised of six books, each collection selling for between $120 and $180. You know who wasn't shocked at this development? Everyone else who read this story.
  
  
• Biden: Joe Biden is not currently in the military, and so is beyond the reach of Hegseth. However. someone who IS still in the military is Gen. Christopher Donahue, who was the commander who oversaw the Biden-era withdrawal from Afghanistan. Or at least, he was in the military until yesterday. Donahue is white and male, and apparently Christian, so he checks all the "correct" boxes. However, he is the best Biden proxy within Hegseth's reach. So, the Secretary pushed Donahue out, with the General's retirement commencing today. Peers agree that the Army lost a top-notch officer for no good reason.

All of this said, Hegseth's biggest bugaboo is LGBTQ soldiers. He can't do anything about most of those letters, at least not yet, but he's been at work on the T through virtually his entire tenure. Thus far, the Secretary and his boss in the Oval Office, are having only moderate success. Hegseth's order to stop enlisting trans soldiers is the rule of the land, at least for now. However, his order to boot existing trans soldiers out of the service is on hold, thanks to a case brought by several trans soldiers, Talbott v. United States. The administration lost in court in May, and then lost again on June 1, when a three-judge panel from the Court of Appeals for Washington, DC, sustained an injuction keeping the trans soldiers in place while the legal case plays out. Judge Robert Wilkins, writing for the 2-1 majority, also hinted that the DoD is not likely to triumph in the end, observing that the policy appears to be "both arbitrary, and based on animus."

There was another setback for Donald Trump and Hegseth just this week. On Tuesday, at the instigation of G.L.A.D Law and the National Center for LGBTQ Rights, the Court of Appeals for Washington, DC, certified trans soldiers as a class. So, any decisions made in Talbott now apply to all trans solders in uniform, not just the ones who originally brought the case.

There is simply no question that Hegseth's exclusionary, hostile-to-many policies are making the U.S. military weaker, not stronger. There is no shortage of op-eds from former officers making that case. It's also basic logic. The fewer people who are "worthy" of service, the fewer soldiers you'll have, and the smaller the talent pool you'll be drawing from when choosing people for high-ranking jobs, for highly specialized technical/intelligence roles, etc. Will this rebound on the Republicans, politically? It's hard to say, because Hegseth's shenanigans haven't gotten as much attention as, say, Trump's grift. Plus, active-duty military are not supposed to share their political views openly. That said, active-duty military do talk to each other, and to their friends and family. The race in SC-01, where Vice Admiral Nancy Lacore (ret.), who was fired by Hegseth, and who is running as a Democrat in a district that is both heavy on Republicans (R+6) and heavy on current and former military personnel, could be instructive. (Z)

...While Many Republicans Want to Do the Same with America...

It is hardly a secret that the Republican Party is going to ride anti-trans sentiment for all it's worth in 2026 and in 2028. The great majority of Republican voters are anti-trans, either because they think it's somehow sinful, or perverse, or harmful to children, or "weird." A whole lot of non-Republicans are on board, too, at least in part. There aren't too many GOP issues these days that work like that.

In the last month or so, the "fight" against trans Americans has flared up in several ways. To start with, red states love to sue anyone they can think of who might be encouraging trans acceptance. For example, Florida tried to sue the American Academy of Pediatrics because that organization decreed that gender-affirming care for minors, when handled properly, is safe and effective. The Floridians have not gotten far, however. U.S. District Judge Matthew Kennelly granted an injuction early last month, noting the "objective weakness" of the case, and said the facts involved support an "inference of bad faith." Florida AG James Uthmeier appealed to the U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, and there a three-judge panel reached the same conclusion by a 2-1 vote.

Meanwhile, the fanatically conservative FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr is busy trying to do his part. He has taken steps toward codifying a policy stating that any programs "with transgender and gender non-binary programming" that are broadcast over public airwaves must have a "trans content" label affixed. Free speech advocates, and there are a lot of them, have observed that this is clearly a violation of the First Amendment and a gross overreach by the FCC. They might also have added that it's a rather impractical policy to enforce or to police. Do old episodes of Texaco Star Theater, featuring Uncle Miltie in drag, get the warning? How about the roughly 70% of episodes of I Love Lucy where Lucy dresses like a man to fool Ricky? Airings of Tootsie, Some Like It Hot or Mrs. Doubtfire? Reruns of Monty Python, Baroness von Sketch Show or Kids in the Hall?

And, as many readers know by now, the culture-wars aspect of anti-trans sentiment showed itself at the White House UFC event, which was attended almost exclusively by Republicans, including Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC):

There are some people on social media who feel that photo sent a different message than the one the Senator intended to send (a comment we saw, more than once, was "You go, girl!"). In any event, the anti-trans moment came when UFC Fighter Josh Hokit dusted off an old chesnut and declared that Michelle Obama is secretly a man. Nobody in the White House objected to or apologized for this slur, though some members of the administration did whine a week later, when Donald Trump somehow did not score an invite to the opening of the Obama presidential library. Hard to imagine why. On a somewhat similar culture-wars note, quite a few Republican officeholders tried to drown out Pride Month a little bit by rebranding it as Strong Families Month (Alabama), Nuclear Family Month (Indiana and Tennessee), or Fidelity Month (Utah and Arkansas).

And that brings us to the more news-y element of this item. Again, it's no secret that in this election cycle, and for as many election cycles where it seems to be working, Republicans are going to go after the T in LGBTQ for all it's worth. However, the attempts to rename Pride Month are also part of "reclaiming the culture," per conservative activist Lakie Derrick. The basic argument, which is surely familiar by now, is that nobody ever praises "traditional" families, and that it's "difficult to celebrate traditional marriage," per president of the conservative Heritage Foundation Kevin Roberts. The upshot here is that in addition to going after T, quite a few Republicans and right-wing activists have decided it's also time to start pushing back again at the L, G and B again, as well.

At the start of Pride Month, for example, well-known bigot Rep. Andy Ogles (R-TN) posted a message to eX-Twitter: "Homosexuality has no place in America. Happy Nuclear Family Month." He has posted similar messages in the past about other groups, most obviously immigrants and Muslims, though this time he got enough blowback that he deleted the tweet.

Still, Ogles was expressing sentiments that at least some of his colleagues sympathize with. Rep. Mary Miller (R-IA) is a veritable machine when it comes to legislation targeting LGBTQ Americans; just this term she has introduced the "Keep Our Girls Safe Act of 2025" (restroom bill), "Safety and Opportunity for Girls Act of 2025" (Ibid.), "Defining Male and Female Act of 2025" (legally defining "male" and "female" based on sex assigned at birth), "Supporting the Designation of June as Family Month" (Rename Pride Month), "Supporting the Recognition of 'Detransition Awareness Day'" (create a national day dedicated to people who transition and then change their mind), and the "Stopping Indoctrination and Protecting Kids Act" (schools can't use a child's preferred name or gender markers without parental consent). There are other members who have introduced such legislation, including Reps. Josh Brecheen (R-OK), Mike Collins (R-GA), Paul Gosar (R-AZ), Glenn Grothman (R-WI) and Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL), but Miller is leading the pack.

Anti-gay sentiment has also taken the field, once again, in the culture wars. There was, for example, a bizarro story last month, wherein someone (identity still unknown) paid a bunch of MAGA influencers to trash a well-known American product for being "DEI" and "gay." And that product is... Harley-Davidson motorcycles which, frankly, we never expected to ever see in the same sentence with either "DEI" or "gay."

That said, whoever instigated this particular effort did their job well. MAGA influencer Priya Patel announced that Harley-Davidson is "fundamentally anti-American," and said that if she ever buys a motorcycle (something she has never done), it will be an Indian. Former actor and current MAGA mouthpiece Kevin Sorbo promised that he and his friends are off Harleys forever. MAGA memer "Prison Mitch" slurred Harley motorcycles as "woke and gay." He also posted a not-quite-safe-for-work image that we won't share, but that you can view here, if you really wish. And UFC fighter (this is something of a recurring motif) Sean Strickland announced that he too has switched to Indian motorcycles, because "Everytime I got on my harley I was indirectly supporting radical idealogy that actually pushing radical idealogy on children." Undoubtedly, we can all agree that the first question that should be asked of any motorcycle manufacturer is "What is their idealogy?"

The highest profile culture-wars battle of Pride Month, meanwhile, involved the San Francisco Giants. In short, the Giants (and Dodgers) were doing Pride nights well before it was cool. In both cases, it is because the teams have a large LGBTQ fanbase, inasmuch as both cities have a large LGBTQ community. This year, the Giants' event included caps where the usually orange SF was, instead rainbow-colored:

As many readers will know by now, several Giants players rebelled against the cap, choosing to write Biblical verses on them in protest. The league warned them not to do that, and many right-wingers made a stink about how the players' religious liberty and First Amendment rights were being trampled upon. That includes J.D. Vance—who, as you may have heard, is pondering a run for president in 2028. He tweeted: "Trump won we don't have to do this anymore."

The facts here do not support the victimhood narrative that Vance and others are peddling, however. First, this is not a First Amendment issue, as the San Francisco Giants are not the federal government. They are a private business that made a decision meant to promote their business interests. If the players don't like the choices the team made, they are free to find another line of work or to take the night off and lose out on that pay. And, in truth, the players were not actually required to participate; they were given the choice to wear the regular cap. The trio who wrote on their caps were just looking to make a statement. Finally, the players were merely warned, which happens whenever any player makes any change to their uniform (note the meaning of the word "uniform"). They were not sanctioned in any way. MLB knows it has many LGBTQ fans and many LGBTQ-ally fans, but it also has plenty of anti-LGBTQ fans, and doesn't particularly want to antagonize anyone. The politics are different, but this is also why Colin Kaepernick was not sanctioned by the NFL.

Anyhow, the overall point here is that the anti-trans stuff is coming, and it looks like the anti-gay stuff might be coming too. As a pure matter of political strategy, the former is rational, albeit not admirable. As to the latter, we are considerably more skeptical of its efficacy. The great majority of Americans now believe it's OK to be gay, and if Republicans try to relitigate that, they risk affirming perceptions that the party is retrograde and in the thrall of the religious right. They might even cause some people to think, "I've heard this before, and I suspect the anti-trans stuff is coming from the same place as the anti-gay stuff, and that's no good."

Incidentally, since we are on the general subject of Republicans, we'll mention a story that is not LGBTQ-related, but that could develop rapidly over the next couple of days, before we have the chance to do news again. On June 14, paramedics responded to a "cardiac arrest" at an address belonging to Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY). Since that day, McConnell has not been present in the Senate, and so is not casting votes. His staff has remained close-lipped about why he is absent, or when he might return to work, though they did finally concede he's been hospitalized.

As we are not physicians, we don't particularly like connecting the dots here. However, other folks online have begun to do so, so we think we should probably offer a heads up. The percentage of people who survive at at-home cardiac arrest is 6%. An even smaller percentage survive without long-term consequences, such as brain damage. At the same time, if someone on-scene commences CPR immediately, the odds of survival improve to 15-18%. Needless to say, we don't know for sure if it was really a cardiac arrest, or if there was CPR. But don't be terribly surprised if the news breaks over the weekend that McConnell is permanently incapacitated and won't return to work, or that he has passed away. (Z)

...But Some Democrats Are Pushing Back Against That Sort of Sodom and Gomorrah Thinking

Needless to say, when it comes to trans issues, the Democrats are in a tough place. If they lean too much in one direction, they alienate one group of voters. If they lean too much in the other, they alienate a different group.

Let's actually start here with an interview done by Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D-WA), who might be the Blue Doggiest Democrat left in Congress once Rep. Jared Golden (D-ME) retires. After the Supreme Court's Title IX decision was announced, she sat for an interview with CNN, and said that in the "rush to moralize," many Democrats are losing the "nuance" in the debate over transgender athletes in girls' sports. Gluesenkamp Perez observed that a lot of parents think that sports is the best chance that their assigned-female-at-birth children have of getting a college scholarship, and if their child is pushed aside by a trans girl, then that won't happen. In other words, this isn't necessarily about about hate, it's also about economic opportunity.

We would take the view that it's actually the Representative who is missing the nuance here (which, admittedly, may be deliberate because she has to keep voters in her R+2 district happy). First, there are very few trans-girl athletes, and certainly no team with more than one or two of them. If they are pushing an AFAB out, it's not the best player on the team, it's the weakest. And if you are the tenth- or twelfth- or twentieth-best player (or, really, anything other than the first or maybe second-best player), you weren't gonna get a scholarship anyhow. Sorry, mom and dad.

Now, it is a fact of sports that artificial lines are drawn to keep competition fair and safe. Heavyweight boxers can't fight bantamweights. 19-year-olds can't play in the NFL. Biological males can't play in the WNBA. Reasonable people can debate exactly where those lines should be drawn, including in circumstances where gender is involved (the Olympics has been wrestling with this for years). The actual problem, which most Democrats (including possibly Gluesenkamp Perez) realize, is that girls sports rules/rulings become slippery slopes that end up being extended to much more important things, like restrooms and rules about disclosing to parents. We don't even have to guess about this; the Kavanaugh ruling is not only going to make it legal for schools to ban trans girls/women from girls'/women's sports, but also to ban them from girls'/women's restrooms.

In any event, there were some interesting developments this week that suggest that at least some prominent Democrats have decided neutrality does not work here, and who have made a decision as to how they will play their hands. First up is Gov. Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ), who has said she will sign Bill S2260, which passed the New Jersey legislature the same day as the Kavanaugh decision came down. The law makes clear that, in New Jersey, both abortion and transgender-affirming treatment are "legally protected" reproductive care. This means that the Garden State has now joined every other state with a blue trifecta in passing such a law.

Even more interesting is what happened in Illinois with Gov. JB Pritzker (D-IL)—who, as you may have heard, is pondering a run for president in 2028. On Sunday, he signed three pro-trans bills into law. The first allows trans people to update the gender on their state IDs. The second requires insurance companies cover up to a 6-month supply of prescribed hormone therapy. And the third removes testosterone (and prohibits the addition of estrogen, mifepristone, and misoprostol) from the list maintained by the Illinois Prescription Monitoring Program. Some folks were abusing this list to prevent trans people from getting prescribed medications.

Once Pritzker had signed the three bills, he took the rest of the day off work, and headed over to Northalsted (Chicago's gay enclave), where he marched in that city's gay pride parade. It is, of course, one thing for someone who answers only to blue-state voters to hug LGBTQ, and especially T, citizens closer. It is another thing for someone with national aspirations to do it.

One other bit of news. Early last week, New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani (D) announced that the city has set aside $15 million to help subsidize providers of youth gender-affirming care. The money will also be used to fund a hotline for New Yorkers who need information about gender-affirming care, and also to fund research in areas currently being underserved by the Trump administration.

We recognize, of course, that Mamdani is very lefty. However, recent election results suggest that Democratic Socialist voters, and young voters (groups that obviously overlap a lot), may be ascendant right now. And Mamdani's maneuver reminds us that both of those groups are not only pro-LGBTQ, but that it's an important issue for them. It could be that keeping them happy could make up for the loss of trans-skeptical voters. We would not presume to draw firm conclusions from just a few news stories, but the events in New Jersey and Illinois are, at very least... interesting.

Incidentally, we would not propose that a Democrat cannot have some nuance when it comes to trans issues, and that they cannot at least partially meet (some) voters where they are. It is possible to say, "I understand the concerns in [AREA X] and [AREA Y], but I also believe it's important to take [STEP Z] and [STEP A] when it comes to trans people/trans kids." That would almost certainly better than the Kamala Harris approach, which was to avoid the issue like it was the plague, thus allowing the Trump campaign to define her "position" for her. (Z)

Never Forget: Dave Lara and "The Group," in the Navy

Today's "Never Forget" is courtesy of C.S. in Los Angeles, CA (and, on some level, D.L. in Los Angeles, CA, too).

You might say that Dave Lara was born under a bad sign. From a very early age, he knew he was gay, and in a time and place where gay was not OK (early 1950s southern California). His very traditionally Latino father put the pieces together, decreed "I know what you are," and nearly killed young Dave with a blow to the head when he was 10. His mother eventually left the marriage, taking Dave with her, but then died in 1965, when he was 17.

Left with few options, Lara was emancipated, and then enlisted in the U.S. Navy, just as the Vietnam War was really heating up. He was trained as a corpsman and assigned to the hospital ship U.S.S. Repose.

The good news about hospital-ship duty, broadly speaking, is that you're generally not getting shot at while doing your work. The good news for Lara, in particular, is that the work gave him not only a salary and a billet, but also a sense of purpose.

The bad news is that anyone who works in a military hospital of any sort gets to see some of the worst parts of war, and on a daily basis. For example, Lara and several of his colleagues were tasked with helping to gather and identify the bodies from the infamous 1967 Forrestal disaster, which was triggered by an accidental misfire from one on-deck plane, which struck the fuel tank of a second on-deck plane, leading to a massive fire. There were 134 sailors killed, another 161 injured (among the survivors was a young lieutenant named John McCain). Lara tells of helping to identify the charred bodies; sometimes jaws had to be pried open, other times faces had to be sliced open from ear to ear, so that teeth could be compared to dental records. "It has to be done," explained Lara's superior. "We have to get these boys home."

Further, Lara and his Navy corpsman comrades had dual-service status, which meant that sometimes they were land troops, sometimes they were shipboard troops, sometimes they were Navy and sometimes they were de facto Marines. So while he did not come under fire as often as some grunts did, that is not to say he did not come under fire at all. This was especially true when he and the other corpsmen were sent to try to retrieve the living and/or dead bodies of soldiers after an engagement.

It was, of course, a federal offense to be gay in the military at that time, and so Lara had to keep his orientation under wraps. That said, in such contexts, there is pretty much always a language of subtle verbal and non-verbal cues that develops. And so, even though Lara—as he himself observes—was extremely careful to keep his wrists firm (i.e., not limp) at all times, and to "stiffen" his walk, he eventually made the acquaintance of a number of other closeted sailors on the ship.

Lara and his comrades were right in the middle of two dangerous situations, one the result of the ongoing war, the other the result of federal law, and they were also doing difficult and important work where lives were on the line. So, restraint and discretion were both paramount. Still, Lara and a half-dozen closeted friends did form a close-knit circle that they called "The Group":

They took the name from the Mary McCarthy book The Group, which follows a group of friends and Vassar graduates from different backgrounds. The members of "The Group" (Navy version) even adopted the individual names of "The Group" (Vassar version) as a sort of alter ego. As was the fashion at the time, the Navy fellows had matching Zippo lighters made:

If any readers have ever seen any of the (ubiquitous) Vietnam-era combat-soldiers' Zippo lighters, they will know that "The Group" is definitely on the tame side.

Lara's Vietnam story ended in a lamentable, but predictable, fashion. Eventually, despite the great care he took to hide his secret, his superiors began to suspect the truth. Lara indulged in some trickery meant to muddy the waters (specifically, to create the impression that he might be mentally unstable), and through that was able to secure a discharge under lass than honorable circumstances. That's better than a dishonorable discharge, but still means forfeiting rank, medals and all military benefits.

After being ejected from the Navy, Lara struggled to overcome PTSD, and was eventually able to do so, with the help of a doctor who was also gay. He tried to create a stable life for himself, which he was also able to do, eventually. And he became an activist for LGBTQ causes, particularly LGBTQ military causes, working in particular to get his discharge decision, and those of other veterans discharged for being gay, overturned.

A few years back, Lara decided that telling his story might be useful in advancing the larger cause. And so, he published a book based on his experiences, the historical and autobiographical Zippo Boys. Filmmaker Christopher Sanders read the book, thought there might be a movie there, and wrote a screenplay. That screenplay is being "shopped around town" right now, but in the interim, Sanders and a team of creatives produced the 1-hour documentary Corps Man, which premiered in both L.A. and on PBS this week. It can be streamed here.

If you want to know what happened with Lara's discharge, you'll have to read the book or watch the documentary (Z saw it, and can recommend it).

Thanks, C.S. and D.L. It is serendipitous, in a perverse way, that the film just so happened to be released when Pete Hegseth is working hard to remake the military in his Christian nationalist image. (Z)

I Read the News Today, Oh Boy: Did the Women in Uniform Make Victoria Cross?

Women started playing a significant role in warfare in the mid-nineteenth century. Not as soldiers back then, of course, but as nurses and in other supporting roles, with the Crimean War of the 1850s giving us Florence Nightingale and the International Red Cross. It is not entirely clear how Queen Victoria, who was already leading the British Empire at that time, felt about this. On one hand, she was a very traditional lady who believed in very traditional gender roles. On the other hand, the only woman to receive a Victoria Cross, the U.K.'s highest award for gallantry, was Elizabeth Webber Harris, who got a (replica) VC on the direct orders of the Queen, for her efforts fighting a cholera outbreak in India.

In case you were wondering, there is also only one female Medal of Honor recipient in U.S. history; that's Dr. Mary Edwards Walker, who was recognized for her work ministering to the wounded soldiers of the Civil War. Before the War, Walker attended and graduated from medical school, which was certainly outside the norm for that time, but otherwise led a conventional Victorian woman's lifestyle, including marrying a man. After the war, she divorced the man and started dressing like this:

Some argue that she was merely rebelling against the restrictive gender norms of her day. Others say she was a lesbian, and still others suspect Walker was likely trans. Other than the photos above, there is virtually no evidence available to help settle this question. What is known is that her MoH was revoked in 1916, because it was deemed "undesirable," and then was restored again in 1977, well after Walker had passed away.

And after that brief foray into 19th century military history, let's move on to the hints we gave for last week's theme. First was "we really wanted to mention Darwin and Twain in a headline," and second was "you'vE GOT to concentrate." And here is the solution, courtesy of reader M.C. in Newton, MA:

This week's headlines all contain the names of awards:

• In Congress: Once Again, Mike Johnson Shows He's Mr. Irrelevant
• Democratic Presidential Candidate of the Week, #24: Gov. Tony Evers (D-WI)
• 250 Candles: It's Time to Determine the People's Choice
• I Read the News Today, Oh Boy: Bruce Almighty Is Jim Carrey's Biggest Blockbuster
• This Week in Schadenfreude: Next's Year's Pulitzer for Non-Fiction Is Already Locked Up
• This Week in Freudenfreude: Clearly, Harald zur Hausen Deserved His Nobel

The Darwin Awards "recognize" people who improve the human gene pool by dying (or becoming sterile) as a result of their own stupidity. The Mark Twain Prize recognizes American humorists; good timing, as this year's ceremony is scheduled for Sunday.

Entirely correct. The Saturday hint has EGOT hidden in it—a famous acronym for "Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Tony." And this item's headline adds the Victoria Cross to the mix.

Here are the first 60 readers to get it right:

M.B. in Albany, NY R.D. in Cheshire, CT S.K. in Ardmore, PA N.H. in London, England, UK J.N. in Zionsville, IN B.M. in Chico, CA R.S. in Landing, NJ T.F. in Craftsbury Common, VT P.A. in Redwood City, CA M.Z. in Sharon, MA D.G. in Lac-Brome, QC, Canada D.E. in High Springs, FL K.H. in Albuquerque, NM J.F. in Fayetteville, NC K.F. in Berea, KY T.K. in Half Moon Bay, St. Kitts P.R. in Havertown, PA J.M. in Eagle Mills, NY M.K. in Seattle, WA J.S. in Huntington Station, NY A.B.W. in New Haven, CT A.F. in Minneapolis, MN J.H. in Lake Forest, CA M.T. in Wheat Ridge, CO A.C. in Kingston, MA H.M. in Portland, ME Z.K. in Albany, NY M.M. in Dunellen, NJ M.K. in Long Branch, NJ E.S. in Providence, RI

R.G. in Washington, DC T.K. in Manchester, MO D.P. in Mt. Rainier, MD D.E. in Ann Arbor, MI M.A. in Soquel, CA R.M. in Summerville, SC D.M. in Oakland, CA J.W. in Victoria, BC, Canada R.N. in Cleveland, OH D.S. in Layton, UT R.E. in Birmingham, AL A.D. in Vass, NC S.R. in Robbinsville, NJ M.W. in Altea, Spain G.H. in Acton, ME J.C. in Johns Creek, GA J.C.B. in Seattle, WA B.F. in Nashville, TN D.H. in Portland, OR A.L.C in Portland, OR M.H. in Ottawa, ON, Canada D.B. in Pittsboro, NC S.D. in Wolfforth, TX G.M. in Arlington, VA D.D. in Bucks County, PA B.R. in Arlington, MA M.T. in Simpsonville, SC J.S. in Los Angeles, CA E.J. in Homewood, AL D.B. in Glendale, CA

The 60th correct response was received at 9:26 a.m. PT on Friday.

For this week's theme, it relies on one word in some headlines, multiple words in others and it's in the category Music. For a hint, we'll suggest you re-read the note at the very top of the page today.

If you have a guess, send it to comments@electoral-vote.com with subject line July 3 Headlines. (Z)

This Week in Schadenfreude: The Onion Has Achieved Complete Success in Its (Info)Wars against Alex Jones

We actually wrote a schadenfreude on this subject a couple of years ago. Right-wing conspiracist Alex Jones was forced into bankruptcy, and the satirical newspaper The Onion bought the rights to the name InfoWars. Not long after we wrote that item, legal complications developed. and it took a long time for them to get straightened out.

However, the legal wrangling is over, and the brand-new InfoWars launched yesterday (the URL isn't updated globally yet, so that link is to the alternate domain name the Onion has owned for years). The creative who is taking the lead at the new InfoWars, at least for now, is Tim Heidecker, best known as one of the two stars of Adult Swim's surreal comedy Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!.

The highlight of the launch was the first edition of a show that is scheduled to be posted weekly, and hosted, in part, by Heidecker:

It is not easy to describe. It is definitely part Colbert Report, and part Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!. If you know Phil Hendrie, who would adopt fake voices and have outlandish arguments on radio with himself, it's got some of that, too. For example, the launch episode featured an interview with a supposed CIA agent named Neil Riker, who wanted to indulge in some conspiratorial thinking. "Riker" said that he's looked carefully at the death of JFK, and concluded that Kennedy did not kill himself, and that he was, in fact, assassinated. He also opined that the 9/11 attacks were not an inside job, and instead appear to be the work of terrorists.

Much of the first episode was given over to Alex Jones, in various ways, since without him it would not have been possible. There was an obituary, occasioned by his having eaten too many Whataburgers, and having exploded in his SUV. There were also a bunch of "advertisements" for Jones-like products, like cross-shaped Band-Aids called "Demon Guard" that guarantee "24-hour holy protection from all dark entities" and Pure-O Oxygen Capsules, which will ensure that you get all the oxygen you need.

Heidecker also has a longer-term vision for the site. He wants it to become a hub for streaming comedy from up-and-coming young comics. And, in particular, taking note of Jones' long history of anti-LGBTQ speech, Heidecker says he wants to highlight trans comics in particular. If you suspect that may be tongue-in-cheek, take note of the new InfoWars logo, which is rainbow-colored:

We don't think they're joking about this, especially since goal #1 is to poke Alex Jones in the eye. And if it helps, (Z) has seen some up-and-coming trans comics live, and some of them are very good.

Anyhow, that is some Grade A schadenfreude right there. If only Jones had laid off the Whataburgers, and had lived to see it. (Z)

This Week in Freudenfreude: For Many Marchers, It's the Happiest Day of the Year

The signature event of pride month is, of course the many and varied pride marches. We mention one of them above (see the item on J.B. Pritzker), and we thought we'd highlight a few other pride marches from the last month that may be of interest.

To start with, anti-LGBTQ sentiment is, of course, not limited to American conservatives. It's a conservative phenomenon around much of the world, and has been for a very long time. A bunch of the authoritarians who have achieved power in the last decade made homophobia a key plank in their platforms. That includes friend-of-Trump Viktor Orbán, who tried mightily to ban pride parades altogether. He's out of office now, of course, and so, despite 100-degree temperatures, this year's Budapest Pride attracted tens of thousands of marchers. There's been no official count released yet, but despite the Orbán regime's efforts, the last Budapest Pride march of that administration's tenure attracted 350,000 people. This one was, by all accounts, larger. And, by all accounts, freer.

Of course, there are also folks in the U.S. that would like to put a lid on Pride events. We note above that Utah (specifically, Gov. Spencer Cox, R-UT) tried to turn Pride Month into "Fidelity Month." In the pretty lefty Salt Lake City, it seems they did not get the message. Actually, it's probably more correct to say they got the message all too well, because that Pride event was also enormous.

Our third exemplar is not exactly a Pride event, but is certainly adjacent. Pittsburgh does not exactly have am LGBTQ enclave the way San Francisco or Los Angeles or Chicago do, but Greenfield and Squirrel Hill are close. And located right on the edge of those neighborhoods is P Town Bar, which is probably the city's best-known gay bar. A few weeks back, the bar was hosting one of its semi-regular drag shows, when the bar was raided by 20 bulletproof-vest-wearing police, who forced all the performers and audience members to vacate the premises.

Shades of Stonewall there, and it's still not entirely clear why the police showed up. In any event, the audience and the performers just took the show on the road (well, on the sidewalk), and the entire event unfolded right outside the bar. Drag artist Indica and trans model Amanda Lepore danced and sang, and the crowd joined in on renditions of various songs, like Chappell Roan's "Pink Pony Club." Whoever called in the po-pos, this was probably not the outcome they were hoping for.

And finally, reader P.W. in Valley Village, CA, is a regular participant in L.A. Pride, and has been kind enough to send in reports, on occasion. Here's this year's report, with aan accounting of events on the ground (and a few other insights). ake it away, P.W.:

Official Electoral-Vote LGBTQ+ Pride correspondent checking in with a report from Pride 2026 to finish off this year's Pride month.

My previous two reports, in 2023 and 2025, leaned heavily into the history of the Pride movement. This year's report, instead, will focus on what I believe the future holds, doing so from my perspective of the Pride movement here in the City of Los Angeles. And while what happens in Los Angeles differs greatly from the doings in Bakersfield and Birmingham, the Los Angeles perspective can also serve as a leading indicator of what's to come. This year's L.A. Pride parade on Hollywood Boulevard lived up to its potential yet again.

Every Pride event is both a reflection of the LGBTQ+ community as well as a reflection of the community within which it resides. If it's in New Orleans, the Pride parade will be a rainbow-infused Mardi Gras. If the parade is in Bakersfield, don't be surprised if one of the floats is sporting a rainbow-festooned gun rack. Here in my home of Los Angeles, this reflection of the community at large is on full display.

Los Angeles itself is a microcosm of the entire planet. Have a revolution somewhere, and the population of Los Angeles increases by 30,000. The city is constantly reinventing itself. With whatever is happening anywhere in the world becoming evident on the streets of L.A.—if you take the time to look carefully to see it. I did look. And I did see. This year's Pride parade has evolved perceptibly in ways from the one that took place just 1 year ago.

Historically, Pride parades in general, and the one in Los Angeles in particular, has been the province of white boys. And while there are longstanding exceptions to this—dykes on bikes leading the parade as the most obvious example—parade contingent after parade contingent have been overwhelmingly populated with white boys. Not this year. Accelerating a trend that has been underway for quite some time, if people of color did not represent the majority of those marching down Hollywood Boulevard, it was darn close thereto. Aztec dancers, API Pride, Pride at the Beach (L.A. Black Pride), Bienestar—one parade contingent after another filled with POC faces. And while the white boys were still there, in 2026 they were clearly one of the colors of the tapestry, rather than the entirety of the tapestry itself. This is Los Angeles, with the L.A. Pride parade fully reflecting this evolution to a broader, far more diverse celebration of who we are, and -- more importantly -- who we intend to be. A little bit of everything. All celebrating both the uniqueness of who we are as well as the totality of who we are. My expectation is that this trend will continue, with the Pride events in other communities similarly experiencing the diversification akin to what was evident on the streets of L.A.

Corporate participation remains unchanged. Sony, Delta, Disney ("We are the magic!"), Starbucks, the NFL, and more. The only obvious absence from previous years was Miller and Budweiser. A bad move, as this has given Corona an opportunity to step up. The gay community has a long, long memory. No doubt Corona will reap the benefits of their support for many years to come at the expense of Miller and Bud. The protest element, that is an ever-present element of pride, was on full display as well. A difference, however, is that the "We're with trans!" and "ICE Out!" messaging remained present, but somewhat less intense than in previous years. As always, public officials were on deck with their "We're with you!" messaging. But this year, with far more convertibles and far fewer over-the-top floats. All in all, all the elements that have been present remain so. Albeit with the unmistakable shift in the faces signifying who's represented. Everyone remains in for the long haul. We've survived what's come before and will do so again. With the benefit of the LGBTQ+ movement being young enough that some of the LGBTQ+ equivalents to George Washington and Alexander Hamilton are still with us. We can ask, "How did you do it?" of the very people that did it.

The June 20 Electoral-Vote.com posting finished with a paragraph that read, in part, "We (Black Americans) have been through this type of treatment before..." And to this list of injustices, I will add one more, "You don't exist." A sentiment that the LG portion of LGBTQ+ fortunately no longer has to contend with. While our Trans brethren, sadly, are getting the full brunt of thereof.

We'll survive. We will do so by celebrating and protesting all at the same time. This year's L.A. Pride parade was a little more celebration and little less protest than the previous year. Hopefully, in 2027, there will be even more for us to celebrate.

Thanks, P.W.! The clear recurrent theme in this item is that the government can try to silence voices it does not like, but that generally just makes people speak louder.

Before we go, let us say: Please do keep in mind that we just produced nearly 10,000 words today on a general subject that is trickier than most, and has the potential to offend in multiple directions. We are happy to have feedback, but do keep in mind the magnitude of the challenge, and the timeline on which we operate.

And with that said, have a good weekend all! (Z)

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