USNS Harvey Milk conducts a replenishment at sea in December 2024 in the Atlantic Ocean. (U.S. Navy photo)
WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has ordered the Navy to rename the ship that honors Harvey Milk, a former sailor who later became the first openly gay man elected to office in California, defense officials confirmed Tuesday.
The USNS Harvey Milk, a John Lewis-class replenishment oiler, was first named after the gay rights activist in 2016 by then-Navy Secretary Ray Mabus. The John Lewis-class oilers are designated by the Navy to be named for civil rights leaders and activists.
But the ship will be renamed now to “align with President Donald Trump’s and Hegseth’s priorities,” said an official who spoke on the condition of anonymity. The order was handed down from Hegseth to Navy Secretary John Phelan, a second official said. It was unclear Tuesday what the Harvey Milk’s new name will be, when the change will occur or how much it will cost.
Milk was commissioned in the Navy in 1951 and served as a diving officer on the submarine rescue ship USS Kittiwake during the Korean War. He was forced to resign in 1955 after it was discovered he was gay and was honorably discharged as a lieutenant junior grade.
Harvey Milk sits at San Francisco Mayor George Moscone’s desk on March 7, 1978. Moscone was out of town, and Milk was acting mayor. (Photo by Daniel Nicoletta/Wikimedia Commons)
Milk went on to run for political office in California, winning a seat on the San Francisco board of supervisors in 1977. He was killed in office in 1978 shortly after passing a bill banning housing and employment discrimination based on sexual orientation. Milk’s assassination transformed him into an icon in San Francisco and a martyr in the LGBTQ+ community. He was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2009.
“Leaders like Harvey Milk taught us that diversity of backgrounds and experiences help contribute to the strength and resolve of our nation,” former Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro said in 2021 during the ship’s commissioning ceremony. “There is no doubt that the future sailors aboard this ship will be inspired by Milk’s life and legacy.”
The Harvey Milk is undergoing maintenance at a shipyard in Alabama. The maintenance should be completed in late June, according to the Alabama Shipyard.
The Pentagon said reviews of names were in progress and potential renamings would be announced after those reviews are complete.
“Secretary Hegseth is committed to ensuring that the names attached to all [Defense Department] installations and assets are reflective of the commander in chief’s priorities, our nation’s history, and the warrior ethos,” said Sean Parnell, chief Pentagon spokesman.
The Navy declined to comment on the order to rename the Harvey Milk. The order was meant to become public on June 13, intentionally coinciding with Pride Month — celebrated annually in June to recognize the contributions and achievements of the LGBTQ+ community, according to Military.com, which was first to report the renaming.
News of the ship’s renaming drew criticism Tuesday from lawmakers, scholars and advocacy groups.
Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., a former House Speaker, said the renaming is a spiteful, vindictive erasure of those who fought to break down barriers. Tim Naftali, a senior research scholar for Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs, described the timing of the renaming as “nothing less than the most vicious homophobia.”
Stripping Milk’s name from a Navy ship on the basis of his sexuality is “despicable,” said Lindsay Church, president of Minority Veterans of America.
“It sends a dangerous message to every LGBTQ+ person who has worn the uniform: that your service is conditional, that your sacrifice is second-class. Harvey Milk stood for inclusion, for courage, and for the belief that everyone deserves dignity and respect — values the military claims to uphold,” Church said. “To erase him now is to side with bigotry over bravery, and history will remember it as a shameful retreat from justice.”
