6 days ago
Hegseth directs Navy to rename USNS Harvey Milk days into Pride Month
A Navy supply ship named for former Navy officer and 1970s civil rights icon Harvey Milk may soon be stripped of its name at the direction of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, a defense official confirmed to Task & Purpose.
A plan to strip the USNS Harvey Milk of its name was first reported by Additional plans to erase the names of other key civil rights figures from the Milk's sister ships are also under consideration, though not imminent, the official confirmed to Task & Purpose. Those plans were first reported by CBS News.
A plan to announce the renaming of the Milk, one of the best-known gay activists in U.S. history, was set for mid-June, which is widely celebrated as 'Pride Month.' The decision to announce the name change during Pride Month was intentional, the defense official said.
Milk is one of five USNS John Lewis-class replenishment oilers, all of which are named for civil rights icons. The ships reported to be under consideration for name changes beyond the Milk are Lewis-class ships named for Thurgood Marshall, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Harriet Tubman, and four other civil rights figures. Some of those ships have, in Navy tradition, been named but not yet completed or launched.
Navy ships formally receive their names from — and in rare cases, have been renamed by — the Secretary of the Navy, a legal requirement which would be the case with the Milk, according to the defense official and reporting by the two organizations. But the decision to strike the name of Milk, a former Navy lieutenant junior grade, gay activist, and elected official in the 1970s, originated with Hegseth, according to the defense official and reporting on the 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.'
Several hours after the first reports of the renaming plan, Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell released a statement that did not address the USNS Milk, but said that one or more ships could be renamed after 'internal reviews.' '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. Any potential renaming(s) will be announced after internal reviews are complete.'
Milk was a Navy officer before entering politics as a gay activist in the 1960s and 70s. He led fights against housing discrimination in San Francisco and was elected to the city board of supervisors in 1977 as the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in California.
He was killed in 1978 when another member of the board shot and killed the mayor over a long-running political dispute and then killed Milk.
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