The Daily Populous Wednesday June 4th, 2025 day edition
Authored by abcnews.go.com and submitted by WhateverJoel

A DOD official said the decision's timing, during Pride month, was intentional.

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 John Lewis-class replenishment oiler USNS Harvey Milk (T-AO-206) conducts a replenishment at sea, Dec. 13, 2024. MC2 Maxwell Orlosky/Dvids

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.

Harvey Milk, an openly gay member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, sits outside his camera shop in San Francisco, November 9, 1977. Bettmann Archive/Getty Images

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."

Guests walk past the USNS Harvey Milk at General Dynamics NASSCO shipyard during the christening and launch ceremony for the ship in San Diego, California on November 6, 2021. Ariana Drehsler/AFP via Getty Images

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."

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.

emaw63 on June 3rd, 2025 at 20:04 UTC »

Excerpt from the article

> 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.

> A defense official said the timing of the decision was intentional

It really is something how much these people revel in being openly bigoted and hateful shits

Jrk67 on June 3rd, 2025 at 20:04 UTC »

"A DOD official said the decision's timing, during Pride month, was intentional."

no shit

"Hegseth and Navy Secretary John Phelan did not immediately respond to requests for comment from ABC News."

cowards

AudibleNod on June 3rd, 2025 at 19:59 UTC »

Harvey Milk served as a LT(jg) in the US Navy. Receiving an OTH discharge owing to his (pre-DADT) homosexuality. Homosexuals have served in the US military and have died defending this country. The USNS Harvey Milk was so named as a way to correct the record and acknowledge that America is defended best when all Americans can participate in its defense. I served during DADT and was worked in Radio. So I saw everyone's name who was discharged because of homosexuality. I can't say a single one was a 'bad' sailor. Each did their job as well as any other sailor. Some better. Hegseth and the rest of MAGA are willing to damage America's defense by excluding some Americans and they're showing how little they care about "e pluribus unum".