Female Veterans in Congress Demand Defense Secretary Hegseth Resign Over Christian Nationalist Video

Democratic lawmakers — including decorated combat veterans — say Hegseth’s repost promotes anti-women, anti-LGBTQ views and undermines U.S. military readiness.

WASHINGTON | A coalition of female Democratic lawmakers, many of them military veterans, is calling for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to resign after he reposted a video from a Christian nationalist church whose pastors advocate repealing the 19th Amendment, banning women from combat roles, and criminalizing homosexuality.

The repost, which featured Hegseth’s endorsement — “All of Christ for All of Life” — sparked bipartisan concern but drew the sharpest condemnation from women who have served in uniform.

Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), an Army helicopter pilot who lost both legs in Iraq, called the views in the video “antiquated, flat out wrong, and dangerously designed to justify discrimination against women in uniform.” Duckworth accused Hegseth of incompetence and said he “should resign in disgrace immediately.”

Rep. Chrissy Houlahan (D-Pa.), an Air Force veteran, said the defense secretary’s promotion of such ideology was “unacceptable political-religious advocacy” that undermines women and the LGBTQ community. She accused the Trump administration of “erasing accomplishments and stripping hard-fought rights.”

In the CNN-reported video, pastors from the Idaho-based church call for a Christian republic, declare women should submit to their husbands, and denounce women in leadership positions. Pastor Doug Wilson claimed, “It doesn’t take any talent to simply reproduce biologically.”

Rep. Maggie Goodlander (D-N.H.), a Navy Reserve intelligence officer, labeled Hegseth “unfit to serve in any position of public trust” and joined calls for his removal.

The Democratic Women’s Caucus also issued a blistering statement, with Chair Teresa Leger Fernández (D-N.M.) accusing Hegseth of using his position to “roll back a century of progress for women.”

Hegseth has previously questioned women in combat roles, telling a podcast last year: “It hasn’t made us more lethal. [It] has made fighting more complicated.”

Women gained full access to all combat roles in 2016 under Defense Secretary Ash Carter. Since then, female service members have earned Army Ranger tabs, become Green Berets, and served in Navy combat-craft crews after meeting the same rigorous standards as men.

Hegseth’s book, The War on Warriors, blamed the military’s diversity and inclusion programs for recruitment challenges, controversially writing: “There just aren’t enough lesbians from San Francisco who want to join the 82nd Airborne.”

Lawmakers say his latest action crosses a line. “We won’t go back,” Leger Fernández said. “But you should go packing.”

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-- By James W. Thomas

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