The ship was named in 2016 by then-Navy Secretary Ray Mabus, who said the John Lewis-class of oilers would be named after leaders who fought for civil and human rights.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has ordered the Navy to rename the USNS Harvey Milk, a highly rare move that will strip the ship of the moniker of a slain gay rights
| I imagine he was drafted. At any rate, his Navy service can’t possibly have been central to his story. |
The USNS Harvey Milk was named in 2016 by then-Navy Secretary Ray Mabus, who said at the time that the John Lewis-class of oilers would be named after leaders who fought for civil and human rights.
Milk, who was portrayed by Sean Penn in an Oscar-winning 2008 movie, served for four years in the Navy before he was forced out for being gay. He later became one of the first openly gay candidates elected to public office. Milk served on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors and had sponsored a bill banning discrimination based on sexual orientation in public accommodations, housing and employment. It passed, and San Francisco Mayor George Moscone signed it into law.
| His Navy service was clearly more more important to those social justice warriors who pushed for a ship to be named after him, than to the man himself, and rightfully so. |
The ship was christened in 2021, and during the ceremony, then-Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro said he wanted to be at the event "not just to amend the wrongs of the past, but to give inspiration to all of our LGBTQ community leaders who served in the Navy, in uniform today and in the civilian workforce as well, too, and to tell them that we’re committed to them in the future."
Related:
Harvey Milk 07/10/2023 More than 100 are charged, including 81 children, as SF skateboarding event erupts into massive melee with minors destroying a light-rail vehicle and yelling 'F*** the police' as riot cops crackdown on annual gathering
Harvey Milk 06/04/2023 Navy Secretary Touts Ships as ‘Beacons' for ‘Diversity, Equity and Inclusion'
Harvey Milk 05/05/2023 Navy Somehow Even Gayer
Harvey Milk 07/10/2023 More than 100 are charged, including 81 children, as SF skateboarding event erupts into massive melee with minors destroying a light-rail vehicle and yelling 'F*** the police' as riot cops crackdown on annual gathering
Harvey Milk 06/04/2023 Navy Secretary Touts Ships as ‘Beacons' for ‘Diversity, Equity and Inclusion'
Harvey Milk 05/05/2023 Navy Somehow Even Gayer
