The U.S. Navy is preparing to rename a ship named after one of the country’s pioneering gay politicians.
It may also strip the names of vessels named after important figures in the struggles for Black freedom in the latest string of policies under the Trump administration and the leadership of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to whitewash history and roll back diversity within the military.
USNS Harvey Milk to be renamed, says Pete Hegseth
CBS News reported Tuesday that it had obtained internal military documents showing that the U.S. Navy is preparing to rename one of its ships, the USNS Harvey Milk, and is considering renaming several others. Milk, a Navy veteran, was one of the first and most prominent openly gay elected officials in the United States; he was a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1977, but he and San Francisco Mayor George Moscone were assassinated in a 1978 shooting at City Hall. Although the Navy hasn’t announced a timeframe for renaming the ship or its new name, LGBTQ+ advocates are objecting to the renaming and the timing of this discussion during Pride Month.
Black, Latino, and women leaders may be next
The documents obtained by CBS also indicate that the military has put several other vessels on the “recommended list” for renaming; all are currently named after prominent Black, Latino, or women leaders. The ships under recommendation for renaming include the USNS Harriet Tubman, named for the famed Underground Railroad leader who was also the first woman to lead a U.S. military raid, freeing over 700 enslaved people during the Civil War. The list also includes World War II veteran and civil rights leader Medgar Evers, 19th-century women’s rights activist and abolitionist Lucy Stone, and Chicana labor activists Dolores Huerta and Cesar Chavez. Also on the renaming list are vessels named after Thurgood Marshall and Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the first Black man and first Jewish woman, respectively, to serve on the Supreme Court. The ships up for renaming are all members of the John Lewis-class of Navy vessels, named after the late civil rights leader and member of Congress.
Latest in a string of anti-diversity moves within the military
These moves seem to be in line with the policies of the Trump administration and the goals of Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, who has sought to roll back diversity and whitewash history through a variety of moves. Under Hegseth, who in the past pledged to root out “DEI woke s**t” from the military, books related to Martin Luther King Jr., Jackie Robinson and others were targeted for possible removal from the Naval Academy library. A video about the Tuskegee Airmen was temporarily removed from the Air Force training curriculum, although it was restored after public outrage. Under Hegseth’s leadership, the military has also set a policy of dismissing openly trans individuals from the armed services, and Trump fired several of the top female or Black leaders within the military.
Now, it seems that even the names of women, people of color and other marginalized individuals are being removed from the U.S. military. These potential changes serve as potent symbols of the current administration’s campaign against diversity and inclusion and its desire to whitewash American history.
