The US Navy is set to rename ships named after prominent civil rights activists, including LGBT activist Harvey Milk, Supreme Court justices, labor leaders, and black and womenʼs rights activists.
CBS News writes about this.
In the midst of Pride Month, dedicated to the fight for LGBT rights, it became known that the Pentagon plans to rename the tanker USNS Harvey Milk, named after the famous LGBT activist Harvey Milk. Milk served as a diver in the US Navy and participated in the Korean War. He became the first openly gay person elected to public office in California. He was assassinated ten months after his appointment.
The memo, which was obtained by CBS News, says that the decision is part of the policy of the US President Donald Trump Administration to "restore the culture of the warrior". In addition to Milk, the Pentagon recommends renaming other ships named after prominent civil rights activists. Among them are US Supreme Court Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Thurgood Marshall, anti-slavery activist Harriet Tubman, trade unionists Dolores Huerta and Cesar Chavez, suffragist Lucy Stone and black rights activist Medgar Evers.
After his confirmation in January, the US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth issued a directive instructing the Pentagon to stop holding events related to history and the fight for minority rights due to concerns that such programs could undermine unity within the military. It prohibited the involvement of people and resources in events such as Pride Month, African American History Month and Womenʼs History Month.
Democratic leaders have protested the renaming decision. Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called it “a shameful, vindictive erasure of those who fought to ensure that everyone could achieve the American dream”. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer wrote in X that Secretary Hegseth “should be ashamed of himself and should reverse this decision”.
- Trump previously promised to “stop the transgender madness” and “recognize only two genders”. After his inauguration, his administration banned or restricted the use of hundreds of words on official websites, documents, and other public texts. The list included, in particular, the following words: women, equality, anti-racism, climate crisis, discrimination, feminism, gender, gender-based violence, inclusivity, LGBT, non-binary, trauma, victim, Gulf of Mexico, etc.
Author: Oleksandr Bulin
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