The U.S. Navy has been ordered by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to rename the USNS Harvey Milk. LGBT Network President David Kilmnick calls it an attack on the LGBTQ community. NewsdayTV's Ken Buffa reports. Credit: Newsday Studios

Leaders in the LGBTQ+ community and the family of Long Island native and gay rights activist Harvey Milk this week denounced a Pentagon review that could strip his name from a U.S. Navy ship.

"It sends a message, in particular to our lesbian and gay service members, that although they may be tolerated, they are not going to be celebrated," said Stuart Milk, a nephew of Harvey Milk’s who grew up in Rockville Centre and now lives in Wilton Manors, Florida.  "I don’t see an upside for the Navy in this."

In an interview Thursday, Stuart Milk said generations of his family had served in the Navy and his uncle had been proud of his service, which occurred during the Korean War and included work as a diving instructor before he was forced out of the military for being gay.

Harvey Milk was born in Woodmere and raised on the South Shore. After graduation from Bay Shore High School in 1947 and New York State College for Teachers in Albany in 1951, he served four years as an officer in the U.S. Navy. He taught math at George W. Hewlett High School during the 1956-57 school year.

In 1977, he was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, the first openly gay official to be elected in California, and helped pass an ordinance banning discrimination based on sexual orientation in public accommodations, housing and employment. A year later, he and the San Francisco mayor were shot dead by a former city supervisor who had voted against the ordinance.

In 2021, ahead of a christening ceremony for the Navy fuel replenishment ship that would become the USNS Harvey Milk, then-Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro said Milk’s life had taught that "diversity of backgrounds and experiences help contribute to the strength and resolve of our nation," according to a Pentagon news release. "There is no doubt that the future Sailors aboard this ship will be inspired by Milk’s life and legacy."

The U.S. Navy launches the USNS Harvey Milk in San Diego,...

The U.S. Navy launches the USNS Harvey Milk in San Diego, Nov. 6, 2021. Credit: AP/Alex Gallardo

This week, the Pentagon press office said in an email that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was "committed to ensuring that the names attached to all DOD installations and assets are reflective of the Commander-in-Chief’s priorities, our nation’s history, and the warrior ethos. Any potential renaming(s) will be announced after internal reviews are complete."

The Milk belongs to a class of ships named for civil rights leader John Lewis. Other ships already delivered include the Earl Warren and Robert F. Kennedy. Future ships in the class were to be named for Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Harriet Tubman.

The White House did not respond to a request for comment. Renaming would be unusual but not unprecedented. In 2023, the Biden administration changed the names of two Navy ships as part of an effort to dissociate the military from the Confederacy of the Civil War.

The review came at the start of Pride month, which recognizes the 1969 Stonewall Uprising in Manhattan and contributions of LGBTQ+ people. It comes after a May Pentagon directive to military leaders and commands to pull and review all library books addressing diversity, anti-racism or gender issues.

LGBTQ+ leaders said the timing appeared to be deliberate.

"To do this at any time would be un-American, but especially in Pride month, it’s an intentional attack on the community," said David Kilmnick, president of the nonprofit LGBT Network, which works on Long Island and in Queens.

The move was especially painful, he said, for those who had followed the USNS Harvey Milk saga from the start.

"When they named that ship, it had a much larger significance. It was something that resonated with us here and with a lot of kids we served. It was a proud moment." Now, Kilmnick said, "They are trying to erase us from history."

The  nonprofit  is highlighting Milk in promotional material for Sunday’s Long Island Pride Parade in Huntington, which Kilmnick said would draw 20,000 people.

Paula M. Neira, a registered nurse and Navy veteran, said renaming would "send a message to minority groups that your history is unimportant, your service is not valued, your presence is not welcomed. It does nothing to increase our military readiness or enhance our military security."

Neira, a transgender woman, is the USNS Milk sponsor, a role rooted in Navy tradition. Duties include smashing a bottle against the bow of a ship at christening and forming a lifelong relationship with its crew, for example by exchanging holiday greetings or participating in homecoming events, according to the Society of Sponsors of the U.S. Navy.

Neira said she saw her job as "supporting the crew of the ship, letting them know they’re appreciated and we’re grateful for the sacrifices they’re making on our behalf." She said the job was a "lifetime appointment." And, she noted, her initials are etched into the ship’s keel plate, another Navy tradition.

Milk remains revered in San Francisco and in New York State, where there is a Harvey Milk High School in New York City and a Harvey Milk Award for Student Leadership in the state university system. “He serves as an inspiration for our students and us all,” said SUNY Chancellor John B. King Jr. in an email.

With AP

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