Cao’s debate remarks on military recruiting cause anger, concern with local LGBTQ community

NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) — As topics go, it was a long way from the earlier discussions of education, inflation and immigration during Wednesday night’s US Senate debate at Norfolk State University.

Republican challenger and Navy veteran Hung Cao used a question on military recruiting to charge headlong into the culture wars.

“When you’re using a drag queen to recruit for the Navy, that’s not the people we want,” Cao said, drawing the most audible reaction from the audience to that point.

Cao delivered a shot across the bow to the Defense Department’s effort to broaden its appeal. Yeoman Second Class Josh Kelly has seven years in with the Navy and he’s also a drag queen.

“Even now, I never thought I’d be able to do drag and serve at the same time,” Kelly told WAVY sister station WPIX in New York.

But Kelly, or Harpy Daniels as they’re known in drag, did wear both hats at once. The Navy gave them a six-month hitch as a digital ambassador.

Cao prefers recruits with a stronger appetite for the warrior mold.

“What we need is alpha males and alpha females who are going to rip out their own guts, eat them and ask for seconds,” Cao said. “Those are young men and women that are going to win wars.”

The LGBT Life Center in Norfolk sees Cao’s battle cry as a frontal assault.

“Just a moment of shock in the sense of you’re not acknowledging the history of military service and how LGBTQ people have been part of that service,” Life Center Director of Housing Julie Snell said Thursday afternoon.

“I didn’t understand my opponent’s argument,” said Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), running for his third six-year term. “He went all around the block and I’m not really sure what his point was about DEI.”

Snell says she has no doubt that a drag queen will help recruiting, giving others in her community a sense of inclusivity when considering a military career.

“Harpy is a bright light for the military and for the LGBTQ+ community,” she said.

“I want to show people that are also in the service that hey, people like me are here. We exist,” Kelly said.

According to Life Center more than 65,000 active duty military members identify as LGBTQ+, along with more than a million veterans, and those numbers continue to grow.

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