After orders from the Trump Administration’s Defense Secretary Peter Hegseth, the USNS Harvey Milk will be renamed. The move comes off as a confusing insult during Pride Month. Harvey Milk served in the U.S. Navy from 1952 to 1954 as an “operations and dive officer aboard two submarine rescue ships — the USS Chanticleer and the USS Kittiwake” during the Korean War in 1970. Milk would become one of the first openly gay U.S. Officials, leading a life of political activism. In 1977, he was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors before his career was cut short by his assassination in 1978.
“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,” according to Democratic Representative and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. After his confirmation, Hegseth ordered the Pentagon and Military to stop heritage or awareness months. The exact reason surrounding the need to rename the fleet replenishment oiler lacks real reasoning.
Chief Pentagon Spokesman Sean Parnell gave a statement stating its “commit[ment] 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.” However, gay activism was and still is an integral part of our nation’s history. Harvey Milk originally earned an “other than honorable” discharge in 1955 after his supervisors became aware of his sexual orientation. In 2009, Milk was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom after his death, and one of his most significant achievements was passing a bill banning discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in housing and employment. In 2021, the U.S. Navy reached out to Milk’s nephew to erase his “less than honorable” discharge, but he declined wanting to preserve the status as a relic of queer veterans’ treatment at the time.
The renaming of the USNS Harvey Milk is shameful, but several John-Lewis class replenishment oilers are at severe risk of renaming, including the USNS Thurgood Marshall, named after the first Black Supreme Court Justice, the USNS Harriett Tubman, after her legacy of aiding slaves in escaping captivity during the 19th century, and others named after civil rights activists. It is difficult to preserve the “warrior ethos” as a nation by overwriting its history. Speculatively, the Harvey Milk’s name erasure comes as a spiteful move during the Trump Administration’s efforts to undermine “diversion, inclusion, and equity” practices. But more importantly, these people fought for the fundamental rights of others despite their own status, and celebrating these legacies is about our entire nation- regardless of protected status.