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American Military News
4 days ago
- Politics
- American Military News
SECDEF Hegseth orders Navy to rename ship named after gay rights activist: Report
A new report claims that Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has ordered the U.S. Navy to change the name of an oiler ship named after Harvey Milk, who was a gay rights activist. was the first outlet to report the anticipated name change for the U.S. Navy's ship after reviewing a memorandum from the Office of the Secretary of the Navy. An anonymous defense official told that the Navy was preparing to change the name of the USNS Harvey Milk and confirmed Navy Secretary John Phelan had received an order from Hegseth to change the ship's name. The defense official added that the timing of the name change was intentional during Pride month, which is celebrated each year in June. According to the memorandum obtained by the USNS Harvey Milk's name change is part of the 'alignment with president and SECDEF objectives and SECNAV priorities of reestablishing the warrior culture.' The outlet noted that the memorandum indicated that the announcement of the Navy's plan to change the name of the USNS Harvey Milk was expected to become public on June 13. According to CBS News, the USNS Harvey Milk was named after the gay rights activist in August of 2016 at a ceremony in San Francisco under former President Barack Obama's administration. The outlet noted that Milk was the first openly gay official to be elected to office in California prior to his assassination in 1978. READ MORE: Video/Pic: SECDEF Hegseth restores 'Fort Liberty' to 'Fort Bragg' The Harvey Milk Foundation's website describes Milk as a 'visionary civil and human rights leader who became one of the first openly gay elected officials in the United States.' The website notes that Milk enlisted in the Navy in 1951 and resigned in 1955 after he was 'officially questioned about his sexual orientation.' In a statement to Fox News, Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs Sean Parnell did not directly address the report regarding the renaming of the USNS Harvey Milk; however, he suggested that the Pentagon could implement additional name changes in the future. Parnell told Fox News, '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.' He added that 'any potential renaming(s) will be announced after internal reviews are complete.' According to documents obtained by CBS News, the Navy has a 'recommended list' of other ship name changes, including the USNS Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the USNS Thurgood Marshall, the USNS Lucy Stone, the USNS Harriet Tubman, the USNS Medgar Evers, the USNS Dolores Huerta, and the USNS Cesar Chavez.
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Reports: Trump administration to rename Navy ship named for gay rights leader Harvey Milk
On Nov. 6, 2021, the U.S. Navy christened and launched a ship in San Diego Bay named for slain gay rights leader Harvey Milk. Less than four years later, the Trump administration is ordering that the replenishment oiler USNS Harvey Milk be renamed. U.S. officials say Navy Secretary John Phelan put together a small team to rename the replenishment oiler and that a new name is expected this month, Navy Times reported. The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations, said the next name had not yet been chosen. CBS News first reported the proposed moniker change to the USNS Harvey Milk, which was named for the former Navy officer who later became one of the country's first openly gay elected officials, winning a position on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1977. Milk, along with San Francisco Mayor George Moscone, was assassinated on Nov. 27, 1978, by former city supervisor Dan White. The Navy referred all comments to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's office, which provided a brief statement: '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,' said Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell. 'Any potential renaming(s) will be announced after internal reviews are complete.' Milk served as a diving officer on the submarine rescue ship USS Kittiwake during the Korean War, according to He left the service as a lieutenant junior grade in 1955 with a 'less than honorable' discharge 'after being officially questioned about his sexual orientation,' according to his official biography. The reported renaming of the USNS Harvey Milk may not be the last in the U.S. Navy's fleet. Documents obtained by CBS News also show other vessels named after prominent leaders are also on the Navy's renaming 'recommended list.' Among them are the USNS Thurgood Marshall, USNS Ruth Bader Ginsburg, USNS Harriet Tubman, USNS Dolores Huerta, USNS Lucy Stone, USNS Cesar Chavez and USNS Medgar Evers. It's rare for the Navy to change the name of a ship. Two years ago, the Navy renamed the USS Chancellorsville and the USNS Maury, based on a congressional commission's recommendation to remove names linked to the Confederacy. The Chancellorsville was renamed the USS Robert Smalls, after a former slave who captured a Confederate ship during the Civil War, and the Maury became the USNS Marie Tharp, named after a pioneering female oceanographer, according to NPR. The order to rename the USNS Harvey Milk prompted sharp responses. In a statement, Democratic Rep. Nancy Pelosi, the former House speaker, said Milk 'proudly served as a lieutenant in the United States Navy' who was a 'formidable force for change' and an LGBTQ+ advocate. 'The reported decision by the Trump Administration to change the names of the USNS Harvey Milk and other ships in the John Lewis-class is a shameful, vindictive erasure of those who fought to break down barriers for all to chase the American Dream,' said Pelosi. Reports of the order to rename the USNS Harvey Milk come during the first week of Pride Month. Earlier this year, the Defense Department released a statement ending agency observances of such cultural awareness months. 'Our unity and purpose are instrumental to meeting the Department's warfighting mission. Efforts to divide the force — to put one group ahead of another — erode camaraderie and threaten mission execution,' noted the release, entitled 'Identity Months Dead at DoD.' The release directed Defense Department components and U.S. military departments to not use official resources to host celebrations or events related to cultural awareness months. Cultural awareness months specified in the directive included: National African American/Black History Month, Women's History Month, Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, Pride Month, National Hispanic Heritage Month, National Disability Employment Awareness Month, and National American Indian Heritage Month. Service members and civilians, the release noted, are permitted to attend such events in an unofficial capacity and outside of duty hours. News surrounding the renaming of the USNS Harvey Milk is the latest in a series of Trump administration actions to grab headlines across the military community. Last month, Hegseth sent a memo instructing U.S. service academies to offer admission 'exclusively on merit' with no consideration of an applicant's race, ethnicity or sex. 'The Military Service Academies (MSA) are elite warfighting institutions with long histories of producing world class military officers,' wrote Hegseth. 'The Department owes it to our nation, our service members, and the young Americans applying to the MSAs to ensure admissions to these prestigious institutions are based exclusively on merit.' And in January, Trump issued an executive order directing all elements of the U.S. Armed Forces to operate 'free from any preference' based on race or sex. The president wrote that as the military's commander in chief, he is 'committed to meritocracy and to the elimination of race-based and sex-based discrimination within the Armed Forces of the United States.' The Pentagon has also reportedly ordered all military leaders and commands to pull and review their library books that address 'diversity, anti-racism or gender issues.'
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Sean Penn Slams ‘Chief PETTY' Pete Hegseth's Harvey Milk Erasure
Actor Sean Penn hammered Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth for attempting to erase LGBTQ activist Harvey Milk's service record. Penn, 64, ripped Hegseth as 'Chief PETTY Officer' in an email to The Hollywood Reporter after it was revealed in a leaked Pentagon memo that the United States Naval Ship Harvey Milk—christened in Milk's honor on Nov. 6, 2021, in San Diego—will be renamed. Milk served four years in the Navy during the 1950 Korean War but was discharged amid questions over his sexual orientation. Milk went on to have a successful career in activism and politics, becoming the first openly-gay member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors before he was assassinated in 1978. 'I've never before seen a Secretary of Defense so aggressively demote himself to the rank of Chief PETTY Officer,' wrote Penn about the renaming. Milk screenwriter Dustin Lance Black, who won an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay for the film, also chided the renaming move as a distraction. 'This is yet another move to distract and to fuel the culture wars that create division,' Black, 50, told The Hollywood Reporter. 'It's meant to get us to react in ways that are self-centered so that we are further distanced from our brothers and sisters in equally important civil rights fights in this country. It's divide and conquer.' A Pentagon representative confirmed that the Navy ship would be renamed as part of Hegseth's larger culture war and 'reestablishing the warrior culture' in the armed forces. The name change plan was hatched to line up with June's Pride Month celebrations, reported. More Navy ship names on the chopping block include USNS Thurgood Marshall, USNS Ruth Bader Ginsburg, USNS Harriet Tubman Navy, and John Lewis-class oilers, CBS reported. A replacement name for USNS Harvey Milk has not be given. '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 spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement to the Daily Beast.
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Hegseth orders US navy to strip Harvey Milk name from ship amid Pride month
The US defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, has ordered the US navy to strip the name of prominent gay rights activist and navy veteran Harvey Milk from a ship during the middle of June – a month meant to celebrate the LGBTQ+ community – according to multiple outlets. The order to rename the USNS Harvey Milk, a fleet replenishment oiler, was in a memorandum from the office of the secretary of the navy, which was reported on and viewed by and CBS. Those reports note that the navy secretary, John Phelan, was instructed to strip the ship of its name by Hegseth. The timing of the announcement, which comes during Pride month, was reportedly intentional. The renaming is being done to ensure 'alignment with president and SECDEF objectives and SECNAV priorities of reestablishing the warrior culture', referring to Donald Trump, Hegseth and Phelan, according to the memorandum. The decision to rename the ship will be publicized on 13 June, according to The Guardian has contacted the defense department for comment. The vessel was initially named after Milk in 2016 during the Barack Obama administration. Milk was a prominent gay rights activist who served in the US navy during the Korean war. He later went on to run for office in California where he won a seat on the San Francisco board of supervisors. As one of the US's first openly gay politicians, Milk became a forefront figure of the gay rights movement across the country before his assassination in 1978 by a former city supervisor. In addition to renaming the USNS Harvey Milk, the defense department plans to rename other vessels that have been given names of various icons throughout American history. Documents reviewed by CBS showed that vessels on the US navy's 'recommended list' include USNS Thurgood Marshall, USNS Ruth Bader Ginsburg, USNS Harriet Tubman, USNS Dolores Huerta, USNS Lucy Stone, USNS Cesar Chavez and USNS Medgar Evers. In response to reports of the defense department renaming its vessels, the California representative and former House speaker Nancy Pelosi said: 'In San Francisco, we take great pride that our Harvey's name adorns a mighty ship among a new class of navy vessels – named for the conscience of the Congress, John Lewis – which honor titans in the fight for freedom. The names of those who fought for civil rights and human rights bring luster to these ships – as their leadership brought luster to America.' She went on to say: 'The reported decision by the Trump administration to change the names of the USNS Harvey Milk and other ships in the John Lewis-class is 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. Instead, it is a surrender of a fundamental American value: to honor the legacy of those who worked to build a better country.'
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Harvey Milk was just the start, Navy to rename other ships named for liberal heroes
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's decision to strip the name of trailblazing LGBT+ activist Harvey Milk from a U.S. Navy vessel will be followed by the renaming of many more ships, according to reports. Documents obtained by CBS News indicate that other vessels could be renamed as part of Hegseth's purge of 'woke' ideology from the military in addition to the USNS Harvey Milk, including the USNS Thurgood Marshall, the USNS Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the USNS Harriet Tubman, the USNS Dolores Huerta, the USNS Lucy Stone, the USNS Cesar Chavez, and the USNS Medgar Evers. The vessels placed on the Navy's 'recommended list' for renaming are all named for liberal icons. The task of renaming the ships will fall to Navy Secretary John Phelan. 'Secretary Hegseth is committed to ensuring that the names attached to all Department of Defense installations and assets are reflective of the commander-in-chief's priorities, our nation's history, and the warrior ethos,' the Pentagon said in a statement. Since being confirmed by the Senate in January, Hegseth has ordered the U.S. military to stamp out diversity, equity, and inclusion hiring practices in accordance with an executive order from President Donald Trump. The order extends to ending associations with minority awareness events such as Pride Month, Black History Month, and Women's History Month. These moves caused uproar in March when pages paying tribute to the service of American icons Jackie Robinson, the Navajo Code Talkers and Ira Hayes were removed from the Pentagon website, with his then-spokesperson John Ullyot issuing a statement declaring: 'DEI is dead at the Department of Defense.' Responding to the decision to rename the USNS Harvey Milk, a replenishment oiler given its name in 2021, California LGBT+ activist Nicole Murray-Ramirez told NBC San Diego: 'The truth is this administration has made it clear they want to erase the LGBTQ community and its history. It wants to erase a lot of history.' 'This does nothing to help crew members prepare for war. It's nothing but a distraction,' added James Seddon, a Navy veteran of 20 years experience, who pointed to the logistical problems likely to arise from the name change. 'Thousands of things will have to be reprinted or embroidered, from [the] ship's ball caps (which are part of the official uniform) to many other uniform parts that contain the ship's name. 'Not to mention that the ship's name isn't simply painted on the hull. There's raised steel that spells the name. The hull will have to be grinded down to rename the ship.' Seddon also warned of 'unnecessary controversy between members of the crew' arising from potential clashes of views that could undermine 'unit cohesion and training.' Milk became the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in California when he became a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in January 1978, having won a historic election the previous year. He was assassinated the following November after the passage of a bill prohibiting housing and employment discrimination because of sexual orientation. As a young man, Milk joined the Navy in 1951 and served as an operations and diving officer on the submarines USS Kittiwake and USS Chanticleer. But, in 1954, he was court-martialed after being accused of taking part in a 'homosexual act,' ultimately choosing to resign his commission and accept an 'Other Than Honorable' discharge rather than face trial. His story was told in Gus Van Sant's 2008 biopic Milk starring Sean Penn.
