(WASHINGTON) — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has ordered the Navy to strike the name of pioneering gay rights activist Harvey Milk from one of its ships, orchestrating the change as Pride month celebrations take place, according to sources.
A defense official said the timing of the decision was intentional.
The order was first reported by Military.com and confirmed by ABC News.
Milk was one of the first openly gay men elected to public office in the United States after winning a seat on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1977. He was assassinated a year later.
Before serving in public office, Milk in 1951 enlisted in the Navy and attended Officer Candidate School in Rhode Island.
Milk served nearly four years in the Navy, according to a post from the Department of Veterans Affairs. He was discharged at the rank of a junior lieutenant after being threatened with a court martial because of his sexual orientation.
Both his mother and his father also served in the U.S. Navy in World War I.
The Pentagon’s chief spokesman, Sean Parnell, issued a statement saying that any renamings “will be announced after internal reviews are complete.”
“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,” Parnell added in a statement.
The USNS Harvey Milk is one of several ships named after prominent civil rights leaders and activists. A new name has not been announced.
“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,” former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said in a Tuesday statement.
Other ships in the John Lewis class include the Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sojourner Truth, John Lewis and Thurgood Marshall, among others
“Our military is the most powerful in the world — but this spiteful move does not strengthen our national security or the ‘warrior’ ethos,” she added. “Instead, it is a surrender of a fundamental American value: to honor the legacy of those who worked to build a better country.”
Before his death, Milk was credited with encouraging his friend and artist Gilbert Baker, a U.S. Army veteran to create the Pride flag. Milk was played by Sean Penn in the 2008 biographical film “Milk.”
“As the rest of us are celebrating the joy of Pride Month, it is my hope that the Navy will reconsider this egregious decision and continue to recognize the extraordinary contributions of Harvey Milk, a Veteran himself, and all Americans who forged historic progress for our nation,” Pelosi said.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom also criticized the reported renaming, saying, “Donald Trump’s assault on veterans has hit a new low.”
“Harvey Milk wasn’t just a civil rights icon — he was a Korean War combat veteran whose commander called him ‘outstanding,'” he added. “Stripping his name from a Navy ship won’t erase his legacy as an American icon, but it does reveal Trump’s contempt for the very values our veterans fight to protect.”
ABC News’ Luis Martinez contributed to this report.
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