CNN
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The US Navy’s top admiral fervently defended a non-binary sailor on Tuesday amid some criticism from Republican lawmakers, saying he was “particularly proud of the sailor.” .”
Sailor, LTJG Audrey Knutson, shared their story on Navy’s Instagram Page last week. In a short video, Knutson said they are proud to serve as non-binaries, especially since their grandfather served in the Navy as a gay man during World War II. During a deployment last fall aboard the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford, Knutson said their highlight was reciting a poem to the entire ship during a night of LGBTQ speeches. The video on Instagram has garnered nearly 17,000 likes.
Then Senator Marco Rubio, a Republican from Florida, tweeted part of the clip with the caption, “While China prepares for war, this is what they have our US Navy focused on.” On Tuesday, Senator Tommy Tuberville, a Republican from Alabama, continued to attack the video, telling the Senate Armed Services Committee he had “a lot of problems with the video.”
But the Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Michael Gilday, defended the sailor, stressing that a commanding officer’s job was to build a combat team.
“I’ll tell you why I’m especially proud of this sailor,” Gilday said during the hearing. “So her grandfather served in World War II, he was gay and he was ostracized in the very organization that she not only joined and is proud to be a part of, but She also volunteered to deploy on Ford and she will probably deploy again next month when Ford is back at sea.”
Gilday used feminine pronouns to refer to Knutson, but the Navy told CNN that the pronouns Knutson chose were non-binary.
“We call on people from all over the country, from all walks of life, from all backgrounds to join us,” said Gilday, “and it is the duty of a commanding officer to build A cohesive combat team will obey the law, and the law requires us to be able to conduct rapid, continuous operations at sea. The level of trust a commanding officer develops throughout that unit must be based on dignity and respect, and so… if the officer can legally join the United States Navy, be prepared to. serving and willing to take the same oath you and I have put their lives first, then I am proud to serve by their side.”
Some Republican lawmakers on Capitol Hill have criticized the military for being too “sober,” citing it as one of the reasons for the military’s poor recruitment numbers, despite a recent survey. A recent Army survey found that only 5% of potential recruits worry about staying “sober”. ”
Last month, Republican Representative Cory Mills and several others pursued the Department of Defense’s training on diversity, equity, and inclusion at an Armed Services Subcommittee hearing House of Representatives on military. “We’re 150% sure we can pronounce each of our opponents correctly, and China and Russia, I’m sure they’re shaking because of this,” Mills said.
In response, Undersecretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness Gil Cisneros said diversity and equal opportunity in training have been a part of the military for decades.
At another hearing in early March with top enlisted leaders of the military, Sgt. Army Major Michael Grinston emphasized that the Army’s focus remains on lethality in combat, even with additional training in diversity and inclusion.
“There is one hour of equal opportunity in basic training and 92 hours in rifle marksmanship,” Grinston said at the time. “And if you go to [One Station Unit Training]had 165 hours of rifle marksmanship training and still only one hour of equal opportunity training.
