The LGBTQ community is galvanizing to prevent Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth from renaming a U.S. Navy ship as part of the Trump administration's anti-DEI initiative.
CBS News reported Tuesday that the Pentagon was formatting a timeline to rename the USNS Harvey Milk, which honors the Navy veteran and the first openly gay politician in California's history, who was assassinated in 1978.
Other ships under consideration for renaming include the USNS Thurgood Marshall, USNS Ruth Bader Ginsburg, USNS Harriet Tubman, USNS Dolores Huerta, USNS Lucy Stone, USNS Cesar Chavez and USNS Medgar Evers.
CBS cited a Navy memo that said "the renaming of naval ships was to realign the U.S. military with Trump administration priorities of 'reestablishing the warrior culture.'"
Milk’s nephew, Stuart Milk, told the Associated Press 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,” Milk said.
Milk added 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.”
According to the AP, "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."
The report said that the renaming of naval vessels 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," it read.
Democratic leaders like Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) have condemned the proposed name changes.