US: Navy Ship Officially Stripped of Harvey Milk’s Name

In another Pride Month snub to America’s LGBTQ+ community, US Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth has officially announced the renaming of the Navy ship that bore the name of gay rights icon Harvey Milk.

In early June, reports began circulating about plans to rename the navy oiler USNS Harvey Milk, which was originally dedicated in 2021 during a public ceremony.

On Friday, just days before the close of Pride Month, Hegseth confirmed the decision in a video posted on social media.

“I’m pleased to officially announce that the Department of the Navy is renaming the fleet replenishment oiler, formerly known as the USNS Harvey Milk, the USNS Oscar V Peterson,” said Hegseth.

“We are taking the politics out of ship naming. We’re not renaming the ship to anything political. This is not about political activists, unlike the previous administration,” claimed the Trump-appointed Secretary of Defence.

“People want to be proud of the ship they’re sailing in, and so we’re renaming it after a Navy chief,” he added.

Peterson was a Congressional Medal of Honor recipient who lost his life in World War II while leading a repair party on the USS Neosho.

Family Calls Out the Decision

Harvey Milk’s nephew, Stuart Milk, responded to the news, calling Hegseth’s announcement “petty and dishonest”.

“My uncle joined the Navy as a commissioned officer during a war and served honourably!” said Milk.

“We may have lost a backdoor battle to stop this misguided action, but I thank you all for having been a part of celebrating the ship’s—albeit brief—legacy. The USNS Harvey Milk’s symbol of hope, having existed at all, will live on in the hearts and minds of millions across the globe!”

Stuart Milk added that: “Neither the bullets that took his life, nor the stripping of his name from this ship will stop my uncle’s message of hope—hope unshamed, hope unafraid—from reaching all who yearn for acceptance and love across the globe.”

In a pointed remark directed at LGBTQ+ individuals serving under the Trump administration, Milk added: “Let me remind you of the famous MLK quote: ‘In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.'”

A Trailblazer Erased

Harvey Milk was a pioneering American politician and gay rights activist in the 1970s, widely recognised as one of the first openly gay individuals elected to public office in the United States. He was assassinated in 1978 at the age of 48 by a disgruntled colleague.

In 1955, Milk was discharged from the Navy under an “other than honourable” status simply for being gay—a policy reflective of the systemic discrimination LGBTQ+ people faced in the military for decades.

The US Navy named the ship in his honour in 2021 in what many saw as a powerful gesture of recognition and redress. That act has now been unceremoniously reversed.