On eve of Pride, Pete Hegseth erases seminal gay rights activist Harvey Milk

On 3 June, US defence secretary Pete Hegseth ordered the Navy to rename the USNS Harvey Milk — a highly rare move that stripped the ship of the moniker of a slain gay rights activist who served as a sailor during the Korean War.

US officials said Navy secretary John Phelan put together a small team to rename the replenishment oiler and that a new name was expected within the month.

Hegseth has just announced that name, saying, "We are taking the politics out of ship naming." Quite in line with the Donald Trumo administration’s anti-DEI stance, sure. The new name, though? USNS Oscar V. Peterson — named for a sailor who fought in the Battle of the Coral Sea and was awarded his medal of honour (very) posthumously in 2010.

The US defence secretary would not be cocking the snook to another Oscar Peterson, jazz legend and anti-racism activist, would he?

I am pleased to announce that the United States Navy is renaming the USNS Harvey Milk to the USNS Oscar V. Peterson.

We are taking the politics out of ship naming. pic.twitter.com/2ypwAQGdAl

— Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth (@SecDef) June 27, 2025

The change was laid out in an internal memo that officials said defended the action as a move to align with President Donald Trump and Hegseth's objectives to "re-establish the warrior culture".

It marks the latest move by Hegseth and the wider Trump administration to purge all programmes, policies, books and social media mentions of references to diversity, equity and inclusion. And it comes during Pride Month — the same timing as the Pentagon's campaign to force transgender troops out of the US military.

Or, indeed, it goes one better, coming on the eve of International LGBT Pride Day.

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When the decision was first reported by Military.com, Phelan's office did not respond to a request for comment from the Associated Press.

The USNS Harvey Milk was named as recently as 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.

A man called Harvey Milk

Harvey Milk is owed a debt by every young American who struggled with their queer identity or sexuality while a minor.

For in 1978, as a politician, he helped defeat Proposition 6 (the infamous ‘Briggs Initiative”), a statewide ballot that wanted to ban gay people from working in California public schools. Milk’s opposition and leadership made it possible for gay children to have role models they had direct access to.

“All young people, regardless of sexual orientation or identity, deserve a safe and supportive environment in which to achieve their full potential,” he would say.

What a sign of the times! @USNavy naming ship for #HarveyMilk. An American hero and inspiration to so many. #LGBTQ pic.twitter.com/VEVOxGko8P

— Sen. Tammy Baldwin (@SenatorBaldwin) July 29, 2016

Milk, who was portrayed by Sean Penn in an Oscar-winning 2008 movie, served for four years in the Navy before he was forced out for being gay. He later became one of the first openly gay candidates elected to public office.

Milk served on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors and sponsored a bill banning discrimination based on sexual orientation in public accommodations, housing and employment. It passed, and San Francisco mayor George Moscone signed it into law.

On 27 November 1978, Milk and Moscone were both assassinated by Dan White, a disgruntled former city supervisor who cast the sole vote against Milk's bill.

Almost prophetically, Milk had once said, “If a bullet should enter my brain, let that bullet destroy every closet door in the country.”

At another time he had said, “Coming out is the most political thing you can do.”

Perhaps that makes it clear why the present dispensation could not wait beyond Pride Month to dispense with his legacy.

He wasn't just a gay rights activist, however. He was an anti-racism politician as well, who insisted, “All men are created equal. No matter how hard they try, they can never erase those words. That is what America is about.”

He also upheld the rights and welfare of senior citizens and other marginalised communities.

Harvey Milk served his country honorably — first in uniform, then in public office.

Taking his name off this Navy ship sends a clear message, and it’s one of disrespect and cruelty. pic.twitter.com/d3J3iFnXkS

— Martin Heinrich (@SenatorHeinrich) June 3, 2025

Former House speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat representing San Francisco, said in a statement on 3 June that the decision to change the ship's name was a "shameful, vindictive erasure of those who fought to break down barriers for all to chase the American Dream".

Pelosi said the people of San Francisco are proud that Milk's name adorns the ship and urged the Navy to reconsider.

"This spiteful move does not strengthen our national security or the warrior' ethos," she said. "Instead, it is a surrender of a fundamental American value: to honour the legacy of those who worked to build a better country."

Harvey Milk Day is celebrated in his adopted state, California, on 22 May, his birthday — a holiday instituted in 2022 by governor Gavin Newsom.

The ship that was Harvey Milk

When the ship was formally christened in 2021, then-Navy secretary Carlos Del Toro said during the ceremony that he wanted to be at the event "not just to amend the wrongs of the past, but to give inspiration to all of our LGBTQ community leaders who served in the Navy, in uniform today and in the civilian workforce as well, too, and to tell them that we're committed to them in the future".

The ship is operated by Military Sealift Command, with a crew of about 125 civilian mariners. The Navy says it conducted its first resupply mission at sea in autumn 2024, while operating in the Virginia Capes. It continued to resupply Navy ships at sea off the East Coast until it began scheduled maintenance at Alabama Shipyard in Mobile, Alabama, earlier this year.

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

The USS Chancellorsville — named for the Civil War battle — was renamed the USS Robert Smalls, after a sailor who was formerly an enslaved person. The USNS Maury, an oceanographic survey ship originally named after a Confederate sailor, was renamed the USNS Marie Tharp after the (female) geologist and oceanographic cartographer who created the first scientific maps of the Atlantic Ocean floor.

As for why renaming ships is so unusual, maritime lore holds that changing the name of a vessel formally ‘allowed’ into the oceanic realm brings bad luck, as it tempts retribution from the sea gods.

But then, this is hardly a deterrent for a regime intent on renaming the seas themselves, perhaps.

It remains to be seen how the ship that is America will fare in the annals of history with its anti-DEI captain, of course.

With AP/PTI inputs

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