Hegseth, Trump Prove Their Anti-LGBT Stance With USNS Harvey Milk Decision; an IVF Clinic Bombing Arrest–Coachella Valley Independent’s Indy Digest: June 5, 2025

Indy Digest: June 5, 2025

You’ve probably heard of a political advocacy group called the Log Cabin Republicans. If you’re unfamiliar, it’s a group of LGBTQ+ individuals who are “loyal Republicans,” despite the fact that many Republican platforms and actions are decidedly anti-LGBTQ+.

I’ve never understood why anyone would want to be in this group. “We believe in limited government, strong national defense, free markets, low taxes, personal responsibility, and individual liberty,” the “about” page of the group’s website reads. “Log Cabin Republicans represent an important part of the American family—taxpaying, hard-working people who proudly believe in this nation’s greatness.”

That’s all well and good … but why would anyone want to remain part of a group that actively fights a part of who you fundamentally are?

The first pic that comes up when you go to the group’s webpage: an image of Donald J. Trump.

Trump, of course, is the person who picked Pete Hegseth to be his Defense Department secretary (despite a LOT of questions about Hegseth’s qualifications, character and fitness for the position). And Hegseth just did this, as explained by The Associated Press:

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has ordered the Navy to rename the USNS Harvey Milk, a highly rare move that will strip the ship of the moniker of a slain gay rights activist who served as a sailor during the Korean War.

U.S. officials say Navy Secretary John Phelan put together a small team to rename the replenishment oiler and that a new name is expected this month. The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations, said the next name had not yet been chosen.

The change was laid out in an internal memo that officials said defended the action as a move to align with President Donald Trump and Hegseth’s objectives to “re-establish the warrior culture.”

It marks the latest move by Hegseth and the wider Trump administration to purge all programs, policies, books and social media mentions of references to diversity, equity and inclusion. And it comes during Pride Month—the same timing as the Pentagon’s campaign to force transgender troops out of the U.S. military.

Milk was in the United States Navy. He served during the Korean War on a submarine rescue ship. He was later elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, and was assassinated in cold blood less than a year into his term. Sounds very much like someone worthy of an honor by the military, no?

Well, not according to Pete Hegseth, because Milk was gay. Apparently gay men can’t be “warriors,” by Hegseth’s reckoning—and by extension, President Trump’s reckoning.

You know, the guy in the first pic that pops up on the Log Cabin Republicans’ website.

If there are any Log Cabin Republicans reading this, please explain: How can you be a member of a party who views part of you with such disdain? Yes, I understand the concept of trying to change something you believe in from within, and that being gay may not “define” you, etc. … but the hostility of the party is worsening toward you. How can you remain?

Hegseth is acting with pure anti-gay bigotry. I couldn’t be a part of any organization or group doing such hateful things. How can you?

—Jimmy Boegle

More News

• The FBI has arrested someone for allegedly assisting the man who set off the bomb outside of the American Reproductive Centers clinic in Palm Springs. The Los Angeles Times says: “Daniel Park, 32, has been charged with providing and attempting to provide material support to a terrorist, said Bill Essayli, the top federal prosecutor in Los Angeles. Park is accused of helping Guy Edward Bartkus secure 270 pounds of ammonium nitrate, an explosive precursor that can be used to construct homemade bombs. … Days after the bombing, authorities say, Park left the U.S. for Europe. Polish law enforcement detained him Friday, and he was arrested Tuesday night at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York after being deported, authorities said. When Park was confronted by Polish authorities, he attempted to harm himself, according to an FBI affidavit. … Park is accused of shipping approximately 180 pounds of ammonium nitrate in January and later paying for an additional 90 pounds of the chemical to be shipped to Bartkus in the days leading up to the Palm Springs attack. Essayli said that Park spent two weeks visiting Bartkus in Twentynine Palms in late January and early February. Three days before Park arrived at his house, according to a federal criminal complaint, Bartkus researched how to make powerful explosions using ammonium nitrate and fuel.”

• The NPR headline: “In recorded calls, reports of overcrowding and lack of food at ICE detention centers.” Ugh. The piece starts with an anecdote about a woman named Maria who told NPR her brother was being denied medication for a serious eye infection at the Krome Detention Center in Miami: “Florida has pledged to be a national model for state cooperation with President Trump’s immigration crackdown. As detention centers here and across the country fill up, NPR has received an outpouring of messages about severe overcrowding and inhumane conditions in immigration facilities across the state. More than a dozen detainees, family members and lawyers described similar issues as Maria, including detainees underfed and in ill health. Krome, which is run by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, has been dogged for years by allegations of inhumane conditions and investigated by the Department of Justice in 2000 on accusations of sexual abuse. This year alone, there have been two deaths at the facility: Ukrainian immigrant Maksym Chernayak and Genry Ruiz Guillen of Honduras. This morning, a group of Krome detainees assembled in the patio to form a human ‘SOS’ sign.”

• Also from NPR: The news org looks at how the battle over the plan to defund NPR and PBS is becoming predictably partisan: “As GOP congressional leaders are vowing to move full steam ahead to approve President Trump’s request to eliminate all federal funding for public media for the next two years, a group of 29 Senate Democrats are warning the broadcast outlets should be ‘protected, not decimated.’ In a letter to Senate Majority Leader John Thune, these senators argue the proposed clawback of money for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) ‘would have detrimental effects on local stations, which rely on this funding to provide critical services to millions of Americans across the country.’ The effort comes a day after the Trump administration formally requested Congress approve a $9.4 billion rescissions bill. The proposal includes $8.3 billion in cuts to foreign aid and $1.1 billion in cuts to public broadcasting. CPB distributes that funding to NPR and PBS and their member stations across the country. Congress approved the funding for the next two years for the public-private entity as part of the government funding bill Trump signed in March.”

• Related-ish: The New York Times created a visualization of all the National Institutes of Health grants that have been cut or delayed: Some details with these impressive (and depressing) graphics: “In all, the N.I.H., the world’s premier public funder of medical research, has ended 1,389 awards and delayed sending funding to more than 1,000 additional projects, The Times found. From the day Mr. Trump was inaugurated through April, the agency awarded $1.6 billion less compared with the same period last year, a reduction of one-fifth. (N.I.H. records for May are not yet comparable.) The impacts extend far beyond studies on politically disfavored topics and Ivy League universities like Columbia or Harvard. The disruptions are affecting research on Alzheimer’s, cancer and substance use, to name just a few, and studies at public institutions across the country, including in red states that backed Mr. Trump.”

• Reason No. 24,955 why Robert F. Kennedy should be behind bars, and certainly not having ANYTHING to do with health. Time magazine says: “Now that the measles vaccination rate is dropping precipitously across the U.S.—due in part to anti-vaccine sentiments—cases are rising. So far in 2025, 14 outbreaks have been reported in 33 states, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). (By comparison, in 2024, there were just 16 outbreaks reported during the entire year.) Scientists may now have a new way to catch cases. For the first time, researchers have posted national information on where the measles virus is showing up in wastewater. … This spring, the scientists began developing a test for picking up signs of the active or ‘wild type’ measles virus that is causing outbreaks in the U.S. The test uses samples from nearly 150 sewage sites across the country and can pick up signs of measles within 48 hours. So far, they have detected it in three sites: one day in Hollywood, Md.; four days toward the end of May in Sacramento; and twice in mid-May in Stamford, Conn.”

• Today’s recall-related news involves … ground beef from Whole Foods! The Associated Press reports: “U.S. agriculture officials are warning that ground beef sold at Whole Foods markets nationwide may be contaminated with potentially dangerous E. coli bacteria. Officials … issued a public health alert for 1-pound, vacuum-packed packages of Organic Rancher beef, produced on May 22 and May 23, by NPC Processing Inc., of Shelburne, Vermont. The products have use-by dates of June 19 and June 20. The U.S. Food Safety and Inspection Service did not request a recall because the products are no longer available for purchase. However, they may still be in consumers’ refrigerators or freezers. The meat was produced in Australia or Uruguay and processed in the U.S. It was sent to distributors in Connecticut, Georgia, Illinois and Maryland and then to Whole Foods stores nationwide.” The problem was discovered when company officials notified FSIS that they had shipped beef products that tested positive for E. coli O157:H7, a type of bacteria that can cause serious illness.”

• And finally … if you’re a coffee-drinker, we have some good news for you, especially if you’re a woman. CNN says: “Want to reach older age with a sharp mind and healthy body? Part of the answer may be in your coffee cup, according to new research. ‘Women who drank one to three cups of caffeinated coffee per day in their 50s were more likely to reach older age free from major chronic diseases and with good cognitive, physical, and mental health,’ said lead study author Dr. Sara Mahdavi, adjunct professor in the faculty of medicine and department of nutritional sciences at the University of Toronto. Researchers analyzed dietary data from more than 47,000 women who were part of the Nurses’ Health Study, according to the research released Monday at the annual meeting of the American Society for Nutrition in Orlando. The study was presented as an abstract, but a more in-depth manuscript of the investigation will be submitted for peer review in the coming months, Mahdavi said.”

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