‘Shameful’: Bay Area Leaders Condemn Trump’s Threat to Rename USNS Harvey Milk

Amid reports that U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is ordering the Navy to rename the USNS Harvey Milk during Pride month, several Bay Area leaders are condemning the directive as an attack on the LGBTQ+ community.

The naval oiler is one of several ships named after iconic civil rights leaders, including watercraft named for Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Harriet Tubman. These ships are among several that could be renamed, keeping with the Trump administration’s hostility towards diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, according to reports by CBS News and other outlets.

The renaming of the USNS could happen in as little as a month. A spokesperson for the Pentagon said more information will be available upon the completion of an internal review.

“Secretary Hegseth is committed to ensuring that the names attached to all [Department of Defense] installations and assets are reflective of the Commander-in-Chief’s priorities, our nation’s history, and the warrior ethos,” spokesperson Sean Parnell said in a statement.

Harvey Milk, a gay rights trailblazer and former San Francisco city supervisor, was one of the first openly gay elected officials in the country. He also served as an officer in the U.S. Navy for several years before he was forced to retire after the discovery of his sexuality.

In 1978, Milk was assassinated at City Hall alongside Mayor George Moscone by former San Francisco Supervisor Dan White. His untimely death, as well as his years of activism on behalf of the gay community, turned him into a civil rights icon.

“The reported decision by the Trump Administration to change the names of the USNS Harvey Milk and other ships in the John Lewis-class is a shameful, vindictive erasure of those who fought to break down barriers for all to chase the American Dream,” Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi said in a statement to KQED.

Pelosi said San Francisco is proud to have Milk’s name on a naval vessel alongside others that honor civil rights giants. He fought not only for the LGBTQ+ community but for “the dignity and worth of every person,” she added.

State Sen. Scott Wiener called the decision to rename the USNS Harvey Milk a reversal of all the work that’s been done to persuade the Navy to recognize Milk and his service. He rebuked the order as an act of bigotry.

“The removal of Harvey Milk’s name from a naval vessel — during Pride Month, no less — is absolutely shameful. Harvey Milk was a hero. He was a veteran who served our country. He died for our community,” Wiener told KQED in a statement.

Trump and Hegseth are “determined to erase LGBTQ people from all aspects of public life,” he continued.

Cleve Jones, a human rights activist who was a student intern in the office of Supervisor Milk, said the news of the possible name change is unsurprising in light of everything that has transpired since Trump’s election.

He said it is interesting, however, that the defense secretary has chosen to focus so much attention on the name of a ship in the backdrop of major global conflicts such as the war against Ukraine and China’s threats against Taiwan.

“This administration … has turned the entire world order upside down and inside out,” Jones said. “It’s really shameful and does not bode well for the security of our nation.”

As for how Milk would react to this week’s news, Jones said he thinks the man would be unbothered.

Milk “would shrug it off and laugh and double down,” Jones said. “It’s time for us all to focus on the real issues: the real issue of security, the real issues of housing costs, of groceries, of the press — the real issues facing Americans, the ones they talk about at their dinner table.”

“I don’t think they’re talking about the names of these ships at their kitchen table.”

KQED’s Azul Dahlstrom-Eckman contributed to this report.