Hegseth orders Harvey Milk’s name stripped from ship amid Pride Month
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered the Navy to rename an oil ship named after gay rights activist Harvey Milk, a move that pointedly comes at the start of Pride Month.
Military.com first reported the impending name change, citing a memorandum from the Office of the Secretary of the Navy. The document reportedly showed that the service planned to strip the oiler USNS Harvey Milk of its moniker.
A defense official also confirmed to the outlet that Hegseth had ordered Navy Secretary John Phelan to undertake the renaming, with the announcement intentionally set to occur on June 13 during Pride.
Following news of the impending name change, Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) called the decision “a shameful, vindictive erasure of those who fought to break down barriers for all to chase the American Dream.”
“Our military is the most powerful in the world — but this spiteful move does not strengthen our national security or the ‘warrior’ ethos,” the former House Speaker said in a statement. “Instead, it is a surrender of a fundamental American value: to honor the legacy of those who worked to build a better country.”
Both the Pentagon and Navy did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Hill, but chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell later released a statement that appeared to confirm changes were underway, and not with just one ship.
“Secretary Hegseth is committed to ensuring that the names attached to all DOD installations and assets are reflective of the Commander-in-Chief’s priorities, our nation’s history, and the warrior ethos,” Parnell said. “Any potential renaming(s) will be announced after internal reviews are complete.”
USNS Harvey Milk was officially named at an August 2016 ceremony in San Francisco, where Milk, an American politician, became the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in California in 1977 as a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. He was assassinated in 1978 while serving on the board and posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2009.
Milk, a former Navy lieutenant who served during the Korean War aboard a submarine rescue ship, was forced to resign from service after four years and accept an other than honorable discharge instead of facing a court-martial for being gay – at the time a crime within the military.
Hegseth since becoming Pentagon chief has set out to dismantle any military program or reading material dealing with or referencing diversity, anti-racism or gender issues.
Welcome to The Hill’s Defense & National Security newsletter, I’m Ellen Mitchell — your guide to the latest developments at the Pentagon, on Capitol Hill and beyond.
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