Tag Archives: harvey milk

US Navy Says Homosexuality Represents US and Navy Values

The US Navy recently launched the USNS Harvey Milk. Milk was famous for being dishonorably discharged from the Navy for his homosexuality. He was also an elected official in San Francisco when he was killed by a political acquaintance in 1978.

The Navy said

The ship honors Navy veteran and LGBT activist Harvey Milk, one of the first openly gay candidates elected to public office… USNS Harvey Milk is the first ship named for an openly gay person.

Thus, the US Navy clearly and emphatically said ship was named for Milk because he was gay.

Importantly, at the launch, President Biden’s Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro said [emphasis added]

Ship names are important because they express what we value as a Navy and as a nation and communicate those values around the globe in every port of call…

The decision to name the ship after Milk began nearly 10 years ago, and was ultimately made by then-President Obama’s Navy Secretary Ray Mabus (who also attended the launch). At the time, Mabus was apparently trying to make a connection between gay “heroism” and the Medal of Honor.

There are already too many bad jokes about what Sailors do at sea and Read more

Americans Still Getting History on DADT Wrong

The US military community in Vicenza, Italy, recently attempted to host a “gay pride event” in which Stuart Milk, LGBT activist and nephew of Harvey Milk, was going to speak to DoD school children and the local community:

Stuart Milk will give three talks on [US Army post] Caserma Ederle — one at the high school for students who sign up, and one at the middle school, for eighth-graders whose parents will be advised in a letter that they may opt out. The third talk, open to the community, is…at the Hall of Heroes auditorium.

Just a few hours after the Stars and Stripes reported that event, however, it announced Milk’s visit had been canceled — without explanation: Read more

Navy Secretary Appears to Equate Gay “Heroism” with Medal of Honor

mabus2Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus has “raised a few eyebrows” recently, according to the Associated Press, when he’s chosen some unusual people for whom to name US Navy vessels (previously noted here):

Why, critics questioned, would he name a ship in honor of the late gay rights leader Harvey Milk or after former U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords when there are plenty of military heroes to choose from?

The answer? Mabus says he’s trying to “connect” people with the US Navy and Marine Corps by highlighting “heroism” outside of the naval services.

Retired VAdm Doug Crowder noted Mabus had the “right” to name the ships, but Read more

Navy Honors Two Harveys: One Medal of Honor Recipient. One Homosexual.

Update: Now covered at the Stars and Stripes, CNN, and the Christian Science Monitor.

harveys

A Tale of Two Harveys: Harvey Barnum (L), Harvey Milk (R)

Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus announced that a destroyer would be named after retired US Marine Corps Colonel and Medal of Honor recipient Harvey Barnum.

In December 1965, then-Lieutenant Barnum was an artillery forward observer when he took command of a company under fire that had lost its commander:

He immediately assumed command of the rifle company…, and moving at once into the midst of the heavy fire, rallying and giving encouragement to all units, reorganized them to replace the loss of key personnel and led their attack on enemy positions from which deadly fire continued to come.

His sound and swift decisions and his obvious calm served to stabilize the badly decimated units and his gallant example as he stood exposed repeatedly to point out targets served as an inspiration to all.

After years of requests, the Navy is reportedly ready to name a vessel after Harvey Milk: Read more

Navy Christens First Ship for Homosexual

As announced last year, the US Navy recently christened a research vessel for late astronaut Sally Ride.

The Navy [christened] the Auxiliary General Oceanographic Research (AGOR) R/V Sally Ride (AGOR 28) Saturday, Aug. 9, during a ceremony held at the Port of Anacortes Transit Shed in Anacortes, Washington.

There had previously been a push to name a vessel for Harvey Milk, which was opposed even by some homosexuals. Ride at least had credentials to justify the honor.

Read more

US Navy Names First Ship for Homosexual

Though the idea of a USS Harvey Milk — to be named for a homosexual activist — never left port, a few have already noted the US Navy just decided to name an upcoming ship for a homosexual:

Mabus named the future R/V Sally Ride (AGOR 28), which will be a Neil Armstrong-class AGOR ship, to honor the memory of Sally Ride, a professor, scientist and an innovator at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California San Diego.  Ride was the first woman and also the youngest person in space.  She later served as director of NASA’s Office of Exploration.

Following her death on 23 July 2012, Ride’s obituary was the first public Read more

USS Harvey Milk Gets Unlikely Foes

A Congressman’s idea to name a Navy ship after homosexual activist Harvey Milk has received opposition from a seemingly unlikely group — homosexuals:

Some of the strongest opposition appears to be from the gay community…Some gay activists, at least one city supervisor and others have said Milk was anti-war and wouldn’t want a ship named after him.

The normally non-controversial process of naming vessels after cities and Presidents takes a scandalous turn every now and then when the Navy suggests, or receives a suggestion to consider, naming a vessel after a controversial figure.