1930–1978
Latest News: U.S. Defense Secretary Orders Name Change for Harvey Milk Naval Ship
The USNS Harvey Milk tanker ship is on the verge of receiving a new name, sparking intense reactions from some political figures.
According to a Military.com report, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has ordered the Navy to rename the ship, which has honored the late gay rights activist and his military service since its launch in November 2021. A memorandum obtained by CBS showed that vessels named after other noteworthy figures—including Thurgood Marshall, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Harriet Tubman, and Dolores Huerta—have also been requested for review.
The act of renaming a Navy ship is very rare and considered partially taboo. The most recent occurrence was in 2023, when the USS Chancellorsville and research ship USNS Maury received new monikers. Both names were tied to the Confederacy.
The timing of the proposed change is notable, as June is Pride Month in the United States. The honorary month dates back to 1970 when the initial LGBTQ Pride marches took place on the first anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising.
Democratic lawmakers criticized the decision to rename the USNS Harvey Milk, with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries calling it “an utter abomination in terms of the extreme MAGA Republican effort to continue to erase American history, and we’re not going to allow it to happen.” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer reacted in a post to X, formerly Twitter, saying Hegseth should immediately reverse the decision.
Who Was Harvey Milk?
Gay rights activist and community leader Harvey Milk made history in January 1978 when he became one of the first openly gay public officials in the United States. He served on San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors. Prior to his political career, the native New Yorker had served in the U.S. Navy and worked in a variety of industries before settling in San Francisco and opening a camera shop. His life and his political career came to an untimely end when he was fatally shot in November 1978 at age 48. Numerous books and movies have been made about the politician, including the Oscar-winning 2008 biopic Milk starring Sean Penn.
Pride: The Story of Harvey Milk and the Rainbow Flag by Rob Sanders
Quick Facts
FULL NAME: Harvey Bernard Milk
BORN: May 22, 1930
DIED: November 27, 1978
BIRTHPLACE: Woodmere, New York
ASTROLOGICAL SIGN: Gemini
Early Years and Naval Service
Harvey Bernard Milk was born on May 22, 1930, in Woodmere, New York. Reared in a small middle-class Jewish family, Milk was one of two boys born to William and Minerva Milk. A well-rounded, well-liked student, Harvey played football and sang in the opera at Bay Shore High School. Like his brother, Robert, he also worked at the family department store, Milk’s.
After graduating from the New York State College for Teachers in 1951, Milk joined the U.S. Navy, ultimately serving as a diving instructor at a base in San Diego during the Korean War. Following his discharge in 1955, Milk moved to New York City, where he worked a variety of jobs, including public school teacher, production associate for several high-profile Broadway musicals, stock analyst, and Wall Street investment banker. He soon tired of finance, though, and befriended gay radicals who frequented Greenwich Village.
LGBTQ Activist and Politician
In late 1972, bored with his life in New York, Milk moved to San Francisco. In California, he opened a camera shop called Castro Camera on Castro Street, putting his life and work right in the heart of the city’s gay community.
For much of his life, Milk had stayed quiet about his personal life. He had known since high school that he was gay, and even in the wake of an emerging gay rights movement, the deliberate and careful Milk chose to remain on the sidelines. But things had started to turn for him toward the end of his time in New York, as he befriended a number of openly gay people who frequented Greenwich Village.
In San Francisco, his life and outspoken politics evolved even further. As Castro Camera increasingly became a neighborhood center, Milk found his voice as a leader and activist. In 1973, he declared his candidacy for a position on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors to help lead the city and the county. A novice politician with little money, Milk lost the election, but the experience didn’t deter him from trying again. Two years later, he narrowly lost a second election for the same seat. By then, Milk had become a political force—an outspoken leader in the gay community with political connections that included San Francisco Mayor George Moscone, Assembly speaker and future city mayor Willie Brown, and future U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein.
In 1977, Milk, who was known affectionately as the “Mayor of Castro Street,” finally won a seat on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. He was inaugurated on January 9, 1978, becoming the city’s first openly gay officer, as well as one of the first openly gay individuals to be elected to office in the United States.
While his campaign certainly incorporated gay rights into his platform, Milk also wanted to tackle a wide variety of issues, such as childcare, housing, and a civilian police review board.
Assassination
Milk’s ascension had come at an important time for the gay community. While many psychiatrists still considered homosexuality a mental illness at this time, the liberal
San Francisco Mayor George Moscone had become an early supporter of gay rights and had abolished the city’s anti-sodomy law. Moscone had also appointed several gay people and lesbians to a number of high-profile positions within San Francisco.
On the other side of Moscone was Supervisor Dan White, a Vietnam veteran and former police officer and fireman, who was troubled by what he perceived as a breakdown in traditional values and a growing tolerance of homosexuality. Also elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1977, he frequently clashed with the more liberal Milk on policy issues.
The Mayor of Castro Street: The Life and Times of Harvey Milk by Randy Shilts
A year after his election, in 1978, White resigned from the board, citing that his salary of $9,600 wasn’t enough to support his family. But White was prodded on by his police supporters and subsequently changed his mind regarding his resignation and asked Moscone to reappoint him. The mayor refused, however, encouraged by Milk and others to fill White’s spot with a more liberal board member. For White, who was convinced that men like Moscone and Milk were driving his city “downhill,” it was a devastating blow.
On November 27, 1978, White entered City Hall with a loaded .38 revolver. He avoided the metal detectors by entering through a basement window that had been negligently left open for ventilation. His first stop was at the mayor’s office, where he and Moscone began arguing before eventually moving to a private room so that they couldn’t be heard. Once there, Moscone again refused to reappoint White, and White shot the mayor twice in the chest and twice in the head. White then went down the corridor and shot Milk, twice in the chest, once in the back, and twice in the head. Soon after, he turned himself in at the police station where he used to work. Milk died at age 48.
Dan White’s Trial
White’s trial was marked by what came to be known as the “Twinkie defense,” as his lawyers claimed that the normally stable White had grown slovenly prior to the shootings due to abandoning his usually healthy diet and instead indulging in sugary junk food such as Coke, doughnuts, and Twinkies. In a surprising move, a jury convicted White of voluntary manslaughter rather than murder.
In the wake of White’s downgraded conviction, peaceful demonstrations by Castro’s gay community outside City Hall turned violent. More than 5,000 policemen responded by entering nightclubs armed with truncheons and assaulting patrons. By the riot’s end, 124 people were injured, including 59 policemen. This episode is known in history as “The White Night Riots.”
White subsequently served just six years in prison. In 1985, a year after his release, a distressed White died by suicide.
Editor’s Note: If you or someone you know is struggling with suicidal thoughts or self-harming behaviors, call or text 988 to get help from the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.
Milk Movie
In the years since the killings, Milk’s legacy as a leader and pioneer has endured, with numerous books and movies made about his life. In 1984, Milk was the subject of the Oscar-winning documentary The Times of Harvey Milk. Nearly three decades after its release, the project was added to the U.S. Library of Congress for preservation in 2012.
In 2008, actor Sean Penn starred as Milk in the acclaimed biopic Milk. The movie primarily focuses on Milk’s life and political aspirations throughout the 1970s. Penn’s performance drew widespread acclaim, and he won the 2009 Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of the slain politician. The film was also awarded the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay.
U.S. Navy Ship and Renaming Controversy
In July 2016, the U.S. Navy announced it would name a yet-to-be constructed tanker after Milk, calling it the USNS Harvey Milk. Milk’s nephew praised the decision, saying it would send “a green light to all the brave men and women who serve our nation: that honesty and authenticity are held up among the highest ideals of of nation’s military.”
San Francisco politician Scott Wiener also celebrated the announcement. “When Harvey Milk served in the military, he couldn’t tell anyone who he truly was,” he wrote in a statement. “Now our country is telling the men and women who serve, and the entire world, that we honor and support people for who they are.” However, some critics argue that Milk wouldn’t have wanted such an honor, citing his opposition to the Vietnam War.
The ship, a replenishment oiler that refuels aircraft carriers at sea, launched from San Diego in November 2021. Four years later, in June 2025, the tanker was back in the headlines when Military.com reported U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had ordered the Navy to rename the ship, stripping Milk’s name. According to the report, a memorandum showed the change was requested to show “alignment with president and [secretary of defense] objectives and [secretary of the navy] priorities of reestablishing the warrior culture.” A new name for the ship has yet to be announced.
Additionally, a terminal at the San Francisco International Airport is named after Milk following a five-year renovation project. Completed in 2024, the space now includes multiple departure gates, exhibits, and a museum gallery dedicated to Milk.
Quotes
- All men are created equal. No matter how hard you try, you can never erase those words.
- Hope will never be silent.
- I know that you cannot live on hope alone, but without it, life is not worth living.
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Tyler Piccotti joined the Biography.com staff as an Associate News Editor and is now the News and Culture Editor. He previously worked as a reporter and copy editor for a daily newspaper recognized by the Associated Press Sports Editors. In his current role, he shares the true stories behind your favorite movies and TV shows and profiles rising musicians, actors, and athletes. When he's not working, you can find him at the nearest amusement park or movie theater and cheering on his favorite teams.
