Hegseth orders the name of gay rights activist Harvey Milk scrubbed from Navy ship

By LOLITA C BALDOR WASHINGTON AP 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 activist who served as a sailor during the Korean War Related Articles Federal prisons must keep providing hormone therapy to transgender inmates a judge says The Trump administration is pushing therapy for transgender youth What does that look like Musk slams Trump s big tax bill as Republican senators race to meet a July th deadline Ex-Homeland Safeguard official Taylor fights back against Trump s unprecedented research order Republican push for proof of citizenship to vote proves a tough sell in the states U S functionaries say Navy Secretary John Phelan put together a small gang to rename the replenishment oiler and that a new name is expected this month The representatives who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations declared the next name had not yet been chosen The change was laid out in an internal memo that officers commented defended the action as a move to align with President Donald Trump and Hegseth s objectives to re-establish the warrior lifestyle It marks the latest move by Hegseth and the wider Trump administration to purge all programs policies books and social media mentions of references to diversity equity and inclusion And it comes during Pride Month the same timing as the Pentagon s campaign to force transgender troops out of the U S military The decision was first published by Military com Phelan s office did not respond to a request for comment The USNS Harvey Milk was named in by then-Navy Secretary Ray Mabus who explained 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 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 constituents office Milk served on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors and had sponsored a bill banning discrimination based on sexual orientation in society accommodations housing and employment It passed and San Francisco Mayor George Moscone signed it into law On Nov Milk and Moscone were assassinated by Dan White a disgruntled former city supervisor who cast the sole vote against Milk s bill The ship was christened in and during the ceremony then-Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro revealed he craved to be at the event not just to amend the wrongs of the past but to give inspiration to all of our LGBTQ district leaders who served in the Navy in uniform at present and in the civilian workforce as well too and to tell them that we re committed to them in the future The ship is operated by Military Sealift Command with a crew of about civilian mariners The Navy says it conducted its first resupply mission at sea in fall while operating in the Virginia Capes It continued to resupply Navy ships at sea off the East Coast until it began scheduled maintenance at Alabama Shipyard in Mobile Alabama earlier this year While the renaming is rare the Biden administration also changed the names of two Navy ships in as part of the effort to remove Confederate names from U S military installations The USS Chancellorsville named for the Civil War battle was renamed the USS Robert Smalls after a sailor and former enslaved person And the USNS Maury an oceanographic survey ship originally named after a Confederate sailor was renamed the USNS Marie Tharp after a geologist and oceanographic cartographer who created the first scientific maps of the Atlantic Ocean floor Maritime lore hints as to why renaming ships is so unique suggesting that changing a name is bad luck and tempts retribution from the sea gods