Pete Hegseth has ordered that the USNS Harvey Milk, named after the gay rights icon Harvey Milk, has to be renamed.
Military.com reached out to Hegseth's office for comment on the move but did not immediately receive a response.
However, the memo reviewed by Military.com noted that the renaming was being done so that there is "alignment with president and SECDEF objectives and SECNAV priorities of reestablishing the warrior culture," apparently referencing President Donald Trump, Hegseth and Phelan.
Milk became one of the first openly gay elected officials in U.S. history during the 1970s, making him an icon of the nascent gay civil rights movement, and was killed while serving on the board of supervisors in San Francisco.
The renaming news was slated to become public June 13, according to the memo.
A new name for the Harvey Milk was not given but, according to the memo, Hegseth and Phelan are planning to announce the new name aboard the
USS Constitution, the oldest commissioned Navy ship.
Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., the former House Speaker who represents much of San Francisco,
in a statement Tuesday called the decision to rename the ship "a surrender of a fundamental American value: to honor the legacy of those who worked to build a better country."
The Harvey Milk is a John Lewis-class oiler, a group of ships that are to be named after prominent civil rights leaders and activists.
CBS reported Tuesday that the Navy is also considering renaming other John Lewis-class oilers including the USNS Thurgood Marshall, USNS Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and USNS Harriet Tubman. Both Marshall and Ginsburg were Supreme Court justices, and Tubman was a Black abolitionist who helped slaves escape the South via the Underground Railroad.
Unlike the Milk, though, some of the ships being considered for renaming have yet to be completed.
Pelosi called that possibility "a shameful, vindictive erasure of those who fought to break down barriers for all to chase the American Dream."
"Our military is the most powerful in the world -- but this spiteful move does not strengthen our national security or the 'warrior' ethos," she added.
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