US Navy to name ships after gay activist Harvey Milk, SCOTUS Judge Earl Warren, Robert Kennedy, Sojourner Truth
The U.S. government will honor celebrated gay rights icon and California politician Harvey Milk by naming a U.S. Navy ship after him.
The U.S. Naval Institute News reported that Navy Secretary Ray Mabus signed a Congressional notification to commission a yet-to-be-built Military Sealift Command fleet oiler the USNS Harvey Milk.
The ship to be named for Milk is included in a class of oilers being built by General Dynamics NASSCO that will be named after civil rights leaders, including former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Earl Warren, former Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy and abolitionist Sojourner Truth.
The latest government recognition of Milk almost certainly will spark controversy. Though Milk served in the Navy during the Korean War as a diving officer on a submarine and his family had a Naval background, he publicly opposed the Vietnam War.
Two years, ago, President Barack Obama honored Milk with a commemorative U.S. postage stamp. California also pays tribute each year to him with a “Harvey Milk Day” on May 22 that was signed into law by then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2009.
Harvey Milk
