SecDef Hegseth orders Navy to change name of "USS Harvey Milk"

The renaming is part of a larger agenda to erase the names and accomplishments of American civil rights icons

Not content to kick transgender servicemembers out of the US Military, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has ordered the US Navy to rename the “USNS Harvey Milk”, a replenishment oiler ship that has been in service since 2021.

Clearly the mere existence of a Navy vessel named after a gay civil rights icon offends the tender sensibilities of the raging bigot and homophobe in charge of the US Military and his rationale for changing the name is as absurd as you could imagine. And the announcement during Pride Month was absolutely intentional.

The Harvey Milk is part of the John Lewis class of oilers, ships named after prominent civil rights icons in this country. All of those ships, some as yet unbuilt, will be forced to be renamed as well.

From CBS News:

U.S. Navy documents obtained by CBS News and used to brief the secretary of the Navy and his chief of staff show proposed timelines for rolling out the name change of the USNS Harvey Milk to the public. While the documents do not say what the ship's new name would be, the proposal comes during Pride Month, the monthlong observance of the LGBTQ+ community that also coincides with the anniversary of the Stonewall uprising of 1969. WorldPride celebrations are being held in Washington, D.C., this year.

The 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.

CBS News found that a December 2024 web article from Naval Sea Systems Command about the laying of the keel for the future USNS Thurgood Marshall has been deleted.

Democrats have predictably issued sternly worded statements decrying such moves. Yet despite their strong words they are powerless to stop Hegseth from erasing the names and accomplishments of anyone who is not straight, white, or male.

This is, of course, part of MAGA’s larger culture war to erase diversity, equity, and inclusion from all corners of American society. The world looks on in horror as the USA descends further and further into madness at the hands of Trump, Hegseth, and the rest of their MAGA acolytes. Even images of the Enola Gay were erased from US Military history as part of a larger purge until public outcry brought it back.

The Navy, however, considers the renaming of ships to be taboo unless there is a very good reason to do so, as was the case when two ships named after Confederates were renamed after careful consideration by a Congressional commission tasked to investigate Confederate names across the entire US Military.

And before he served on San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors after being elected America’s first openly gay politician and becoming a civil rights icon after his assassination at the hands of fellow Supervisor Dan White, Harvey Milk served with the US Navy until he was discharged in 1955 for his sexuality.

From Military.com:

The oiler was first named after Milk in 2016 by then-Navy Secretary Ray Mabus. Milk came from a family that had a history of naval service and he was commissioned as an officer in 1951, according to USNI News. Milk then served as a diving officer on the submarine rescue ship USS Kittiwake during the Korean War. 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.

This order is the latest slap in the face to the LGBTQ+ community by the notoriously queerphobic Secretary of Defense and it certainly will not be the last.