National Defense

Navy Reportedly Considering Renaming Ship Honoring Harvey Milk

(Photo via Levi Meir Clancy / Unsplash)

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is reportedly weighing ordering the Navy to rename an oiler ship bearing the name of a controversial gay rights activist who allegedly had a relationship with a 16-year-old boy, Military.com reported Tuesday, citing internal documents and an anonymous official.

The USNS Harvey Milk, named after a San Francisco gay rights activist who was the first openly gay man elected to public office in California, is reportedly being prepared to be stripped of its name by Hegseth’s orders to Navy Secretary John Phelan, according to Military.com.

Documents reviewed by Military.com reportedly show that the renaming is being done to bring the Navy in “alignment with president and SECDEF objectives and SECNAV priorities of reestablishing the warrior culture.”

“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,” Chief Pentagon Spokesperson Sean Parnell said in a statement Tuesday. “Any potential renaming(s) will be announced after internal reviews are complete.”

The USNS Harvey Milk debuted its new name in August 2016 during the waning days of the Obama administration, according to USNI News. Milk served in the Navy from 1951 to 1955 as a diving officer during the Korean War on the submarine rescue ship Kittiwaki.

The naming of the ship generated controversy due to 33-year-old Milk’s documented relationship with 16-year-old Jack Galen McKinley, with the American Family Association describing Milk as a “homosexual predator” in reaction to the 2016 renaming. Milk allegedly took in McKinley as a lover when he moved to San Francisco as a minor, according to a biography on Milk’s life titled “The Mayor of Castro Street.”

McKinley later died of suicide in 1980 after numerous struggles with mental health issues, according to the biography, while Milk was shot and killed in 1978 by Dan White, who was a rival of his in San Francisco City Hall at the time. Milk remains a revered figure among LGBT activists.

Hegseth has made a major push to root out left-wing initiatives in the armed services, such as LGBT initiatives and diversity, equity and inclusion projects and related content.