Hegseth orders navy to scrap gay rights activist Harvey Milk's name from ship
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "Hegseth orders navy to scrap gay rights activist Harvey Milk's name from ship")
US defense secretary, Pete Hegseth Photograph: (ANI)
A small team has been put together to rename the replenishment oiler, which is yet to decide the name, said U.S. officials.
US defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, has ordered the navy to rename USNS Harvey Milk during the middle of June – a month meant to celebrate the LGBTQ+ community, reported the Guardian. Milk was a prominent gay rights activist who served as a sailor during the Korean War.
A small team has been put together to rename the replenishment oiler, which is yet to decide the name, said U.S. officials on condition of anonymity according to the Associated Press.
Memorandum from the office of the secretary of the navy, referring to Donald Trump, Hegseth and Phelan said, "The renaming is being done to ensure “alignment with president and SECDEF objectives and SECNAV priorities of reestablishing the warrior culture”.
Who was Milk?
Milk was a prominent gay rights activist who served as a sailor during the Korean War. He also ran for office in California and also won a seat on the San Francisco board of supervisors. Milk went on to become one of the prominent figures of the gay rights movement across the country and US’s first openly gay politicians. In 1978, he was assassinated by a former city supervisor.
The vessel was named after Milk in 2016 under the Brack Obama regime.
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Some other vessels to be renamed?
The defense department also plans to rename some more vessels named after various icons throughout American history.
According to documents reviewed by CBS the US navy plans to rename USNS Thurgood Marshall, USNS Ruth Bader Ginsburg, USNS Harriet Tubman, USNS Dolores Huerta, USNS Lucy Stone, USNS Cesar Chavez and USNS Medgar Evers.
Pelosi criticises move
California representative and former House speaker Nancy Pelosi has criticised the move and said "this spiteful move does not strengthen our national security or the ‘warrior’ ethos."
“In San Francisco, we take great pride that our Harvey’s name adorns a mighty ship among a new class of navy vessels – named for the conscience of the Congress, John Lewis – which honor titans in the fight for freedom. The names of those who fought for civil rights and human rights bring luster to these ships – as their leadership brought luster to America," said Pelosi.
“The reported decision by the Trump administration to change the names of the USNS Harvey Milk and other ships in the John Lewis-class is 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. Instead, it is a surrender of a fundamental American value: to honor the legacy of those who worked to build a better country," she further said.
