‘Cruel and petty and stupid’: SF leaders furious over plan to erase Harvey Milk’s name from Navy ship

By Janie Har | Associated Press

SAN FRANCISCO — Leaders in San Francisco are blasting the Trump administration for stripping the name of gay rights activist Harvey Milk from a U.S. naval ship, and especially during Pride Month, when people gather to celebrate the LGBTQ+ community.

Milk is a revered figure in San Francisco history, a former city supervisor and gay rights advocate who was fatally shot along with Mayor George Moscone in 1978 by disgruntled former supervisor Dan White. Just last month, California marked what would have been Milk’s 95th birthday with proclamations heralding his authenticity, kindness and calls for unity.

He served for four years in the Navy during the Korean War, before he was forced out for being gay. Milk later moved to San Francisco, where he became one of the first out gay politicians in the world with his election to the Board of Supervisors in 1977.

Cleve Jones, a close friend and LGBTQ+ activist, dismissed the renaming as an attempt by the Trump administration to distract the American public from far more serious concerns, including the ongoing war in Gaza and looming cuts to Medicaid and Social Security.

“Yes, this is cruel and petty and stupid, and yes, it’s an insult to my community,” Jones said. “I would be willing to wager a considerable sum that American families sitting around that proverbial kitchen table this evening are not going to be talking about how much safer they feel now that Harvey’s name is going to be taken off that ship.”

The Pentagon has not confirmed news of the renaming, a highly rare move, but unnamed officials say the change was laid out in an internal memo. It is in keeping with attempts by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and the broader Trump administration to purge all programs, policies, books and social media mentions of references to diversity, equity and inclusion. A new name has not yet been selected for the USNS Harvey Milk.

Milk’s nephew, Stuart Milk, said in a phone call Wednesday that he and the Harvey Milk Foundation have reached out to the Pentagon, which confirmed there is a proposed name change on the table.

“And our hope is that the recommendation is put aside, but if it’s not, it will be a rallying cry not just for our community but for all minority communities,” said Stuart Milk, who is executive chair of the foundation, adding that his uncle always said that gay rights, and those of other marginalized communities, required constant vigilance.

“So I don’t think he’d be surprised,” Milk said, “but he’d be calling on us to remain vigilant, to stay active.”

Elected officials, including former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and California Gov. Gavin Newsom, called the move a shameful attempt to erase the contributions of LGBTQ+ people and an insult to fundamental American values of honoring veterans and those who worked to build a better country. Pelosi and Newsom are both San Francisco Democrats.

Newsom took aim at Hegseth, calling the attempt “A cowardly act from a man desperate to distract us from his inability to lead the Pentagon” on the social platform X.

In a statement, San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie said Milk dedicated his life to serving the city and country, and is a role model for all Americans. He did not mention Trump or Hegseth.

The USNS Harvey Milk was named in 2016 by then-Navy Secretary Ray Mabus, who said at the time that the John Lewis-class of oilers would be named after leaders who fought for civil and human rights.

Sean Penn portrayed Milk in an Oscar-winning 2008 movie depicting his audacious rise in politics and his death by a supervisor who cast the sole “no” vote on his legislation banning discrimination based on sexual orientation.

Penn said in a statement to The Associated Press on Wednesday that “he’d never before seen a Secretary of Defense so aggressively demote himself to the rank of Chief PETTY Officer.”

While the renaming attempt is rare, the Biden administration also changed the names of two Navy ships in 2023 as part of the effort to remove Confederate names from U.S. military installations.