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The order to rename a Navy ship honouring gay rights pioneer Harvey Milk has sparked outrage, underscoring political tensions over LGBTQ+ representation during Pride Month.
It’s only been six months since the Trump Administration took office, and we’ve witnessed an endless list of contentious decisions.
Just a few days ago, the US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth issued an order for the renaming of multiple Navy ships. One of those ships was named the USNS Harvey Milk, after the late veteran who was a pioneering politician and gay rights activist. Milk joined the Navy in 1951 and fought in the Korean War, but was forced to leave the military just a few years later.
In his time, homosexuality was grounds for discharge under military policy, and Milk faced a court-martial for participating in a ‘homosexual act’ a year before his dismissal. To avoid the trial, he resigned his commission and accepted an ‘Other Than Honourable’ discharge from the Navy.
Years later, Milk became one of the first openly gay men to hold public office in California when he was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1977. However, in 1978, Milk was assassinated by Dan White, a former San Francisco city supervisor, due to political and personal grievances.
Decades later, in 2016, former Secretary of the Navy, Ray Mabus, announced plans to name the John-Lewis class of replenishment oilers after prominent civil rights leaders. Harvey Milk was one of the chosen to be recognised for his contributions to civil rights and LGBTQ+ equality, as well as the time he served in the military.
Today, it is only this class of ship that Hegseth has ordered to be renamed, indicating what many believe is an underlying prejudice. The other ships that are in review include the USNS Thurgood Marshall, USNS Ruth Bader Ginsburg, USNS Harriet Tubman, and more.
Hegseth’s office did not give a reason for the renaming(s), nor insight into the ship’s new name. However, Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell released a statement claiming that the names attached to all Department of Defence assets ‘are reflective of the Commander-in-Chief’s priorities’, referring to Trump.
Representative Nancy Pelosi referred to the renaming of the ships as a ‘shameful, vindictive, erasure of those who fought to break down barriers for all to chase the American Dream’. Similar cries of outrage have rippled through the country.
What makes the renaming particularly brazen, is the announcement arrived during Pride Month. What is supposed to be a globally recognised period honouring the LGBTQ+ community’s ongoing fight for equality feels like salt in the wound in this instance. Many have interpreted the decision as a political statement, disregarding the essence of Pride Month.
Renaming the ship diminishes Harvey Milk’s contributions to the broader recognition of the service and sacrifices of LGBTQ+ individuals. Nevertheless, this isn’t Trump’s first rodeo at diminishing the LGBTQ+ identity.
