The US Navy is to rename a tanker called Harvey Milk after the murdered gay rights activist.
Officials told Reuters of the move on Tuesday, in the latest example of
The US Navy is to rename a tanker called Harvey Milk after the murdered gay rights activist.
Officials told Reuters of the move on Tuesday, in the latest example of defence secretary Pete Hegseth’s drive to root out diversity, equity and inclusion policies.
Milk was an American politician and the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in California, as a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.
He was assassinated in 1978.
The decision was taken in 2016 to name one of the new class of John Lewis tankers after Milk, a navy veteran.
The vessel was christened in 2021.
A US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the directive for the change came from Hegseth’s office.
The official said it was unclear when the renaming would actually take place.
The news has emerged during Pride Month in the US.
Another official told Reuters that other John Lewis ships could be renamed, because they are named after civil rights and human rights leaders.
Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said Hegseth was committed to ensuring names of military installations and equipment “are reflective of the Commander-in-Chief’s priorities, our nation’s history and the warrior ethos”.
He added that any “potential renaming(s)” will be announced after internal reviews are complete.
Milk served in the US Navy in 1951 as a diving officer during the Korean War.
Hegseth has already ended diversity initiatives at the Pentagon and stopped observances of Black History Month.
Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer called the move to change the tanker’s name “disgusting” and “blatant discrimination”.
“Hegseth should be ashamed of himself and reverse this immediately,” he said on X.
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