Who was gay rights activist Harvey Milk?
Slain gay rights activist Harvey Milk was a political appointee for the city of San Francisco, where he enacted policy geared toward improving conditions for LGBTQ community members and working mothers.
Milk was born in New York to Jewish parents who both served in the Navy during World War I, according to the Milk Foundation.
He attended New York State College for Teachers (now State University of New York) where he became well known for a column in the student newspaper addressing diversity within the country's armed forces before enlisting in the Navy in 1951.
Milk served for four years, but he ultimately resigned over questions about his sexual orientation, as reported by the foundation.
However, he would go on to create legislation that supported LGBTQ openness in different facets of professional and private life during his tenure as a business owner and local official in California.
Milk moved to the West Coast in 1972, beginning a career as a camera store owner and operator on Castro Street. It was after two gay men were denied the opportunity to open shop in the area that Milk created the Castro Village Association, which became one of the nation's first organizations of predominantly LGBTQ businesses.
In 1975, Milk became the first openly gay city commissioner in the United States after being appointed to the San Francisco Board of Permit Appeals. He then went on to be elected as the San Francisco city-county supervisor in 1978 after three bids; he served with former Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), who went on to become the city's mayor.
In one year, he helped defeat California ballot initiative Proposition 6, which would have banned openly gay individuals from working as public school teachers. He also promoted the conversion of military facilities into affordable housing alongside tax reform and the promotion of LGBTQ rights in speeches.
'We are coming out to fight the lies, the myths, the distortions. We are coming out to tell the truths about gays, for I am tired of the conspiracy of silence, so I'm going to talk about it,' he said during one speech, as transcribed by the foundation.
'And I want you to talk about it. You must come out,' he added.
In November 1978, Milk was assassinated by a former city supervisor alongside Mayor George Moscone. Feinstein was present at the time and was the one to find Milk's body.
'I was the one that found Supervisor Milk's body, and I was the one to put a finger in a bullet hole, trying to get a pulse,' she said in 2013.
His killer was acquitted of murder charges but sentenced to eight years in prison for manslaughter.
Milk was honored by the U.S. Navy in 2021, when the branch announced it would name one of its oil tankers in his honor. However, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has ordered that his name be removed from the ship, according to reports from USA Today.
'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,' chief Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell previously said in a statement to The Hill when asked about potential renaming.
'Any potential renaming(s) will be announced after internal reviews are complete.'
The move comes months after President Trump signed a January executive order that issued guidelines banning gender identity and expanded pronoun usage from military service.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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