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Biden Air Force Nominee’s ‘Pride’ Antics Prove Leftists Have Ideologically Captured The Military
The Federalist ^ | 11/27/2023 | Shawn Fleetwood

Posted on 11/27/2023 9:25:23 PM PST by SeekAndFind

In the latest example of leftist identity politics infecting the U.S. military, The Federalist has discovered that a high-ranking Air Force official recently promoted by President Joe Biden participated in a 2022 California “pride” parade.

Nominated by Biden to serve as major general earlier this month, Air Force Brig. Gen. Steven J. Butow was among several U.S. service members to participate in the 2022 Silicon Valley Pride Parade. Butow currently serves as commander of the California Air National Guard.

A picture taken by Tech. Sgt. Stefany Leyva and posted to DVIDS, a military media database, shows Butow posing for a photograph alongside his fellow service members during the San Jose-based event on Aug. 28, 2022. All of the individuals photographed — including Butow — are depicted wearing what appear to be lanyards attached to rainbow-colored event passes.

A separate photograph also reveals that Butow actively participated in the parade, which, according to the photo caption, marked the “fourth [p]ride parade” the California Military Department participated in last year and gave enlistees “an opportunity to march in the communities they serve while also promoting diversity and inclusion.”

“We’re a community-based organization. … The best part about the Guard is the Guard should reflect the communities that we represent,” Butow said, echoing leftist rhetoric. The comments were recorded by Grizzly Magazine, a publication associated with the California Military Department.

Hosted by Silicon Valley Pride, the annual parade was among several LGBT-themed festivities held by the group that week. According to local media outlets, the days-long festival included “drag bingo, a cook-off and the annual Pride flag raising at San Jose City Hall.” There were also reportedly two stages specifically designated for performances from “drag queens and dancers.”

Butow’s apparent endorsement of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI)-type ideology hardly makes him an enigma among Biden’s military nominees. In fact, several of the president’s military promotions are of individuals who openly promote neo-Marxist philosophy.

One such figure is Benjamin Jonsson. In the weeks following George Floyd’s death, Johnson, an Air Force colonel Biden promoted to brigadier general, wrote an article lamenting his fellow white airmen who don’t agree that the military is plagued by systemic racism. Specifically, Jonsson claimed that “white colonels” are the “biggest barriers” to addressing so-called “racial injustice” in the Air Force and that the aforementioned group is “largely blind to institutional racism.”

[RELATED: From Virginia To Texas, Air Force Throws ‘Pride’ Parties While Our Readiness Crumbles]

Charles Q. Brown — who was recently confirmed as the chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff — also espoused racialist nonsense in recent years. While participating in a 2020 virtual discussion hosted by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, Brown indicated that “[a]t the higher level of the Air Force, diversity ha[d] moved to the forefront of personnel decisions such as promotions and hiring.” During the same event, Brown also admitted to using his post to increase opportunities for so-called “diverse candidates” in the Air Force, saying he “hire[d] for diversity” when building his staff.

To read about Biden’s other “woke” military nominees, see here and here.

The military’s embrace of leftist politics under Biden further highlights the importance of Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville’s ongoing protest of the Defense Department’s radical abortion policy. Not long after the Pentagon announced it would bankroll service members’ abortion-related travel expenses, Tuberville initiated a hold on nominations and essentially forced the Senate Armed Services Committee to vote on military promotions one at a time rather than “en masse.”

Despite possessing the power to bring these nominations to the Senate floor for a vote, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senate Democrats have regularly attacked Tuberville, baselessly accusing him of jeopardizing “national security” and “military readiness.” In recent weeks, Tuberville’s GOP colleagues, led by Alaska’s Dan Sullivan, sided with Democrats in attacking the Alabama senator. Among the Republicans to join Sullivan’s crusade are Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Joni Ernst of Iowa, Mitt Romney of Utah, and Todd Young of Indiana.

Earlier this month, Democrats on the Senate Rules Committee advanced a resolution to the full floor that — if passed by 60 senators — would effectively allow their party to circumvent Tuberville’s protest and the Pentagon’s unlawful policy to go unchallenged. Given their slim 51-49 majority, Democrats would need Republican support to get the measure approved.


Shawn Fleetwood is a staff writer for The Federalist and a graduate of the University of Mary Washington. He previously served as a state content writer for Convention of States Action and his work has been featured in numerous outlets, including RealClearPolitics, RealClearHealth, and Conservative Review.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: airforce; homosexualpolicy; lgbt; military; queers; woke

1 posted on 11/27/2023 9:25:23 PM PST by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind

May God have mercy on us!


2 posted on 11/27/2023 9:26:27 PM PST by No name given (Anonymous is who you’ll know me as)
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To: SeekAndFind

The military and C&W music are two of the Dung Beetle Party’s greatest captures. I never dreamed I’d live to see them both swerve way over to the far left in Wingnutsville.


3 posted on 11/27/2023 9:41:07 PM PST by FlingWingFlyer (It wasn't "genocide" when Hamas did it. Hypocrites!!!)
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To: SeekAndFind

Ok, this is tacky to mention, but … the person’s name is “butt - ow?!”


4 posted on 11/27/2023 9:56:21 PM PST by married21 (As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.)
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To: married21

Not tacky. The trans portation secretary is Pete Buttigig.

The sec. of state is Blinken.

These people were sought out as a finger poke in the eye of the American taxpayers.


5 posted on 11/27/2023 9:59:29 PM PST by Texas resident (Biden=Obama=Jarrett=Soros)
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To: FlingWingFlyer

Donald Trump said it best: everything woke turns to sh-


6 posted on 11/27/2023 10:00:27 PM PST by No name given (Anonymous is who you’ll know me as)
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To: SeekAndFind

I wish we had a president smart enough to purge the military of these demons when he had the chance. I can’t think of any since Reagan that were... A real shame...


7 posted on 11/27/2023 10:09:25 PM PST by Captainpaintball (America needs a Conservative DICTATOR if it hopes to survive. )
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To: FlingWingFlyer
well its money...military has that pension carrot infront of their faces and they'll do any thing to keep it coming....

but we knew this....or should have known...that if you get someone on the govt bankroll you basically own them...which is why I say there should be NO defined pensions for any govt workers at all....401k's...fine...but no defined pensions....

too many bad people stay in or kept in just for the payday..

8 posted on 11/27/2023 10:14:09 PM PST by cherry
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To: cherry; SeekAndFind

My son was, until recently, a USAF pilot. He got out just in time. He avoided the clot shot and any more of this woke nonsense.


9 posted on 11/27/2023 10:20:17 PM PST by oldplayer
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To: No name given
(and the annual Pride flag raising at San Jose City Hall)

Tagline.


10 posted on 11/28/2023 12:13:19 AM PST by SaveFerris (Luke 17:28 ... as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold ......)
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To: SeekAndFind

I was lucky enough to serve under only two Commanders-In-Chief...Nixon and Ford...both of whom served honorably as Naval officers.Never in a million years would I serve under the likes of Osama Obama or The Big Guy.I’d desert if I ever woke up and found that they were my CiC.


11 posted on 11/28/2023 3:34:23 AM PST by Gay State Conservative (Proudly Clinging To My Guns And My Religion)
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To: No name given

I don’t wish harm on anyone, but I think this nation is in serious need of some of that Fatherly discipline the Bible talks about.


12 posted on 11/28/2023 3:38:17 AM PST by TwelveOfTwenty (Will whoever keeps asking if this country can get any more insane please stop?)
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To: Gay State Conservative

Have an acquaintance that wanted to go into the military while Biden was in office & he went, against my suggestion that he NOT go. He will have plenty of time later to possibly regret his decision. It seems to be getting worse all the time with respect to how the military is being run.


13 posted on 11/28/2023 5:48:18 AM PST by oldtech
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To: married21

I guess I’m tacky too, that same thought went through my head when I read that sentence.


14 posted on 11/28/2023 6:57:01 AM PST by bigfootbob (Arm Up and Live Free!)
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To: oldtech

I have a relative who went into the navy under Trump and loved it. Since BiteMe he has had a bullseye on his back. He’s white, conservative, Christian and asked for a religious exemption for the covid jab. He was outright denied on the exemption and they were preparing to honorably discharge him. Had given him a separation date and he had put his home on the market and found a job in another state. Three days before he’s told no discharge unless you withdraw your religious exemption request and he refused. It didn’t make any sense to hold up a discharge over an already rejected exemption request. Frankly, he felt the navy was lying to him again and went with his gut feeling and said no.

Then they tell him you will be deployed with your unit but can’t leave the base because you are not vaccinated. Then he’s told he can’t deploy because he doesn’t have the jab. Then he’s told he would finish his enlistment at his current station. It’s been one lie after another and he’s so fed up with it and has no confidence in any of the officers save one who has tried his best to be a straight shooter with him. He can do an internship for six months and then separate sometime next summer and he can’t wait to get away from the woke navy.


15 posted on 11/28/2023 8:35:16 AM PST by sarge83
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To: SeekAndFind

Biden selected him BECAUSE of his LBGT activism.


16 posted on 11/28/2023 9:10:21 AM PST by Wuli ( ,)
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To: Captainpaintball

Jimmy Carter started this crap by appointing weak people to very high places. Clinton did some but not like Comrade Traitor Obama and his present puppet, Joe the Child Sniffe Biden.


17 posted on 11/28/2023 4:33:05 PM PST by MadMax, the Grinning Reaper (Figures )
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