Hegseth 'Orders Renaming Of Navy Ship Honoring LGBTQ+ Icon Harvey Milk'

Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth has ordered the Navy to rename the USNS Harvey Milk honouring the slain LGBTQ+ rights icon and military veteran, according to reports.

The timing of the name change, which was reported on the third day of Pride Month, was intentional, a person familiar with the plans told Military.com, which was the first to report Hegseth’s order. 

When reached for comment, chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell wouldn’t confirm the name change but said Hegseth is focused on aligning military institutions 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 said.

A memo obtained by Military.com shows that the name change is scheduled to be announced on June 13 aboard the USS Constitution.

Milk was the first openly gay man elected to public office in California. He served less than a year on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors before being assassinated in 1978. Prior to his career in politics, Milk joined the Navy during the Korean War and served until 1955 when he was forcibly discharged because of his sexual orientation.

The USNS Harvey Milk was named in his honour in 2016, while President Barack Obama was still in office. It was one of several ships named for civil rights icons that year.

Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, who represents much of San Francisco in Congress, reacted to the reported name 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 said in a statement. “Instead, it is a surrender of a fundamental American value: to honour the legacy of those who worked to build a better country.”

CBS News also reported on Tuesday that the Navy is considering changing the names of ships honouring the late Supreme Court justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Thurgood Marshall, Harriet Tubman, Dolores Huerta and Cesar Chavez, among other civil rights icons.