Overview

• Senate Democrats on June 5 failed to secure enough support to block a procedural vote on renaming the USNS Harvey Milk.
• A memorandum from the Office of the Secretary of the Navy directs removal of Harvey Milk’s name to satisfy President Trump and Secretary Hegseth’s effort to revive traditional wartime ethos.
• Officials have recommended renaming at least seven other naval vessels honoring civil rights figures, including the USNS Thurgood Marshall and USNS Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
• Harvey Milk’s nephew Stuart Milk and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi condemned the move as a vindictive erasure of LGBTQ+ and civil rights history.
• The decision reverses a 2016 initiative that named John Lewis–class replenishment oilers after civil rights leaders and reflects the administration’s broader shift away from what it labels “wokeness” in the military.