Protection Secretary Pete Hegseth has ordered the Navy to rename the USNS Harvey Milk honoring the slain LGBTQ+ rights icon and army veteran, in accordance with experiences.
The timing of the title change, which was reported on the third day of Pleasure Month, was intentional, an individual acquainted with the plans informed Army.com, which was the primary to report Hegseth’s order.
When reached for remark, chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell wouldn’t verify the title change however mentioned Hegseth is targeted on aligning army establishments with President Donald Trump’s views.
“Secretary Hegseth is committed 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. Any potential renaming(s) will be announced after internal reviews are complete,” Parnell mentioned.
A memo obtained by Army.com exhibits that the title change is scheduled to be introduced June 13 aboard the USS Structure.
Milk was the primary overtly homosexual man elected to public workplace in California. He served lower than a yr on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors earlier than being assassinated in 1978. Previous to his profession in politics, Milk joined the Navy through the Korean Battle and served till 1955 when he was forcibly discharged due to his sexual orientation.
The USNS Harvey Milk was named in his honor in 2016, whereas President Barack Obama was nonetheless in workplace. It was one in every of a number of ships named for civil rights icons that yr.
Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, who represents a lot of San Francisco in Congress, reacted to the reported title change, calling it a “shameful, vindictive erasure of those who fought to break down barriers for all to chase the American Dream.”
“Our military is the most powerful in the world – but this spiteful move does not strengthen our national security or the ‘warrior’ ethos,” she mentioned in a press release. “Instead, it is a surrender of a fundamental American value: to honor the legacy of those who worked to build a better country.”
CBS Information additionally reported Tuesday that the Navy is contemplating altering the names of ships honoring the late Supreme Court docket justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Thurgood Marshall, Harriet Tubman, Dolores Huerta and Cesar Chavez, amongst different civil rights icons.
