Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s petty decision to strip Harvey Milk’s name from a USNS vessel is unsurprising, but still maddening. It’s all part of an orchestrated effort to rid the armed forces of diversity, which Hegseth, President Donald Trump, and others wrongly believe hinders an effective military. It is “chickenshit,” as gay former state lawmaker and supervisor Tom Ammiano, who worked with Milk, told us upon hearing of the Milk ship renaming plan. Coming during Pride Month, with an official announcement expected June 13, the day World Pride wraps up in Washington, D.C., the news is calculated to remove any notion that LGBTQ Americans are brave, courageous people who contribute to society. It was also intentional to make the announcement in June, noted Military.com, which broke the story.
Milk, of course, was the first openly gay man elected to public office in California when he won a San Francisco supervisor seat in 1977. His 11 months in office until his assassination were dedicated to representing LGBTQs and straights alike, from public transportation to equal rights. He embodied what so many LGBTQ people were thinking was all but impossible at the time – that a gay man could effectively serve in local government. Milk himself wanted more LGBTQs to join him. He called on us to come out and to seek public office. Many, many people did, and today there are more than 1,300 out elected officials across the country, according to the LGBTQ Victory Institute, the policy arm of the LGBTQ Victory Fund that works to elect out people to office.
The USNS Harvey Milk is a John Lewis-class oiler, a group of ships named after civil rights leaders. The ship, which had its maiden voyage to San Francisco last March, refuels and restocks other ships. As the Bay Area Reporter noted in February 2020, Milk was given an "other than honorable" discharge from the U.S. Navy and forced to resign on February 7, 1955 rather than face a court-martial because of his homosexuality, according to a trove of naval records obtained by the paper.
At the Milk ship's christening ceremony then-secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro had noted he wanted to be there in order "to amend the wrongs of the past" in terms of the harassment LGBTQ servicemembers had faced. And let’s not forget that. The military drummed out thousands of gay and lesbian servicemembers over the years, even before the homophobic “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy was implemented, which led to even more discharges – over 13,000 – and court battles by gay and lesbian servicemembers. DADT was finally repealed by Congress in 2010, and signed by then-President Barack Obama. (It went into effect in 2011.) Fast-forward to today, and now it’s trans service members who likely will soon be discharged under Trump’s executive order. The U.S. Supreme Court, dominated by conservatives eager to hand Trump whatever he wants, recently issued a ruling that the government can proceed with discharging trans troops even as the litigation continues over the president’s witch-hunt against trans servicemembers.
But back to the Milk ship. Hegseth, a former Fox News host, is obsessed with what he calls the “warrior” ethos in the military. And that apparently means that trans people cannot be part of the service, or that a Navy refueler cannot be named after a gay man. “We will revive the warrior ethos and restore trust in our military,” Hegseth said in his January 25 message after being confirmed as defense secretary. “We are American warriors. We will defend our country. Our standards will be high, uncompromising, and clear. The strength of our military is our unity and our shared purpose.”
The thing is, Hegseth has it all wrong. LGBTQ people who want to serve in the military have made that choice for a variety of reasons: a duty to serve, to honor their country. It’s not the right decision for all of us, but for those who serve, they have undergone rigorous training just like their straight counterparts. There is no credible evidence that having gay, lesbian, and trans troops hurts unit cohesion, which was debated and debunked during the yearslong debate on ending DADT. In fact, it’s now been 14 years since that policy was repealed, and the U.S. military is as strong as ever. Or, it was until Trump put Hegseth in charge. Never has there been a more unqualified person leading the Defense Department. Hegseth’s stumbles, including Signalgate, whereby military operations were revealed in an unsecure group chat over the Signal app, are more than enough for him to be relieved of duty. Instead, he picks on Milk, a deceased LGBTQ hero who served his country, and declares that he is not worthy of having a Navy ship bear his name. That’s what’s so shameful about all of this.
To LGBTQ veterans and servicemembers, we say, thank you for your service, and we’re sorry that you have to serve under a leader less qualified than you are. We’ve heard that LGBTQ veterans are heartbroken by Hegseth’s decision, and so are we. It should be rescinded.
Removing Milk’s name from the Navy ship doesn’t dilute his contributions to the world, and we won’t forget.
