Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s decision to strip the name of trailblazing LGBT+ activist Harvey Milk from a U.S. Navy vessel will be followed by the renaming of many more ships, according to reports.
Documents obtained by CBS News indicate that other vessels could be renamed as part of Hegseth’s purge of “woke” ideology from the military in addition to the USNS Harvey Milk, including the USNS Thurgood Marshall, the USNS Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the USNS Harriet Tubman, the USNS Dolores Huerta, the USNS Lucy Stone, the USNS Cesar Chavez, and the USNS Medgar Evers.
The vessels placed on the Navy’s “recommended list” for renaming are all named for liberal icons. The task of renaming the ships will fall to Navy Secretary John Phelan.
“Secretary Hegseth is committed to ensuring that the names attached to all Department of Defense installations and assets are reflective of the commander-in-chief’s priorities, our nation’s history, and the warrior ethos,” the Pentagon said in a statement.
Since being confirmed by the Senate in January, Hegseth has ordered the U.S. military to stamp out diversity, equity, and inclusion hiring practices in accordance with an executive order from President Donald Trump. The order extends to ending associations with minority awareness events such as Pride Month, Black History Month, and Women’s History Month.
These moves caused uproar in March when pages paying tribute to the service of American icons Jackie Robinson, the Navajo Code Talkers and Ira Hayes were removed from the Pentagon website, with his then-spokesperson John Ullyot issuing a statement declaring: “DEI is dead at the Department of Defense.”
Responding to the decision to rename the USNS Harvey Milk, a replenishment oiler given its name in 2021, California LGBT+ activist Nicole Murray-Ramirez told NBC San Diego: “The truth is this administration has made it clear they want to erase the LGBTQ community and its history. It wants to erase a lot of history.”
“This does nothing to help crew members prepare for war. It’s nothing but a distraction,” added James Seddon, a Navy veteran of 20 years experience, who pointed to the logistical problems likely to arise from the name change.
“Thousands of things will have to be reprinted or embroidered, from [the] ship’s ball caps (which are part of the official uniform) to many other uniform parts that contain the ship’s name.
“Not to mention that the ship’s name isn’t simply painted on the hull. There’s raised steel that spells the name. The hull will have to be grinded down to rename the ship.”
Seddon also warned of “unnecessary controversy between members of the crew” arising from potential clashes of views that could undermine “unit cohesion and training.”
Milk became the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in California when he became a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in January 1978, having won a historic election the previous year.
He was assassinated the following November after the passage of a bill prohibiting housing and employment discrimination because of sexual orientation.
As a young man, Milk joined the Navy in 1951 and served as an operations and diving officer on the submarines USS Kittiwake and USS Chanticleer.
But, in 1954, he was court-martialed after being accused of taking part in a “homosexual act,” ultimately choosing to resign his commission and accept an “Other Than Honorable” discharge rather than face trial.
His story was told in Gus Van Sant’s 2008 biopic Milk starring Sean Penn.
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