Happy Pride, everybody! I have my Pride flags hanging on my porch (one rainbow, one white, pink and blue) and have noticed a couple of neighbors with Pride flags. It’s a happy time of year.
Well, it should be.
But, well, the people with the most power in this country really, really, really hate us. All of us, LGBTQIA+ and then some. Not an exaggeration to say that he hates the majority of the country.
You may recall that in January 2025 there was a deadly crash between a commercial airline and a helicopter in Washington D.C. Everyone on both vehicles died.
You may also recall that during a press conference Donald Trump blamed DEI for the crash. Not the fact that he and “DOGE” had just fired a shitload of people from the FAA for no reason, and during an air traffic controller shortage no less. “We have to have our smartest people” as ATC, he said. “They have to be talented, naturally talented. Geniuses.”
Note that to Trump, anyone hired under a DEI program (a.k.a. anyone who isn’t cis, white, rich, heterosexual and able bodied) can’t possibly be smart or capable.
He then signed an executive order to review hiring practices at the FAA.
At another press conference, he blamed the crash on the Obama and Biden Administrations for hiring people “with severe mental disabilities, psychiatric problems and other mental and physical conditions under a diversity and inclusion hiring initiative,” Trump read. “They include hearing, vision, missing extremities, partial paralysis, complete paralysis, epilepsy and dwarfism. All qualified for the position of a controller. Of airplanes.”
Trump said of Biden’s Secretary of Transportation, Pete Buttigieg (who is gay), “He’s run it right into the ground with his diversity,” which Trump said was “a bunch of bullshit.”
(Side note: I’ve met Pete Buttigieg. He seems nice. I’ve never met Trump. He does not seem nice.)
Anyway, that was way back in January and the Trump Administration has been churning out so much garbage they probably don’t even remember it, right?
Oh, but they do.
According to The New Civil Rights Movement, “The Trump administration’s Department of Transportation, under Secretary Sean Duffy, is spending over $2 million to investigate whether DEI causes plane crashes.”
That’s a lot of money to spend on a problem absolutely invented by bigots. Especially since we apparently couldn’t even afford all of the air traffic controllers we had, let alone hire new ones who are “geniuses.”
And just in case diversity might also cause boat crashes, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, who I recently read described as “a homophobic slab of tattooed meat in a suit advocating for toxic masculinity,” celebrated Pride Month by renaming the USNS Harvey Milk, which had been given the name in honor of the gay rights leader and politician assassinated in San Francisco who served in the Navy when he was younger.
According to NCRM, a story on Military.com verified that this was happening under Hegseth’s order and that “the timing of the announcement — occurring during Pride month — was intentional.”
And they’re not even done! CBS News reports that Hegseth is also thinking of renaming other boats named after civil rights leaders Thurgood Marshall, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Harriet Tubman, Dolores Huerta, Lucy Stone, Cesar Chavez and Medgar Evers.
Can’t wait for USNS Nick Fuentes and USNS Kid Rock. Which will, of course, run on liberal tears. Though, honestly, that doesn’t seem like a fuel source an alpha like Hegseth would use. I mean, it’s sustainable, for one. But also, conservatives want us to believe that liberals are but a tiny fringe element in the U.S. Is it possible to drill, baby, drill the amount of liberal tears necessary to run the Navy’s fleet?
Anyway, my point in all of this is that the Trump Administration is petty as hell. But they’re also fascist as hell. Pettiness thrives in fascism where even the smallest of grievances by those in power can transform into acts of hatred and violence.
Under fascism, plane crashes get blamed on DEI. Navy ships get renamed to “protect” the military from a widely respected gay man.
Under fascism, America will not be free until all Pride flags are banned, transgender people are forced out of public life, only cis straight white men have any power and eggs cost $100 a dozen.
In other words, freedom under fascism actually sucks, because it’s not intended for you or me.
The good news? Celebrating Pride is a fabulous way to fight against fascism.
