Harvey Milk's Military Service Is Just One Part of His Substantial Legacy

The history of LGBTQ+ rights in America could not have been written without Harvey Milk, the first openly gay man to win elected office in America. Following the news that a battleship named in Milk's honor is being renamed, many expressed outrage at the move, and also wondered whether Milk had served in the military himself.

Although no reason has been given for the decision to rename the USNS Harvey Milk, those who have been paying attention to the moves of the Trump administration can probably take an educated guess. Here's what we know about whether Milk served in the military himself.

Harvey Milk served in the Navy from 1951 to 1955, according to the National Archives. On the USS Chanticleer and the USS Kittiwake, he was an operations officer during the Korean War.

That service was honored with the USNS Harvey Milk, which is a 2021 vessel designed to support other ships at sea. It was part of a group of 2021 vessels that were named after civil rights icons like Thurgood Marshall, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Dolores Huerta, Harriet Tubman, Cesar Chavez, and Lucy Stone.

Pentagon chief spokesperson Sean Parnell said that renaming the ships would help align with President Trump's priorities.

“Secretary Hegseth is 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," he told NBC News.

The news that the ship has been renamed comes in the midst of Pride Month, as LGBTQ+ people celebrate the legacies of Harvey Milk and others like him. Milk is best known for his advocacy for the gay community and for becoming the first elected official in the history of the country to win office while being openly gay. He was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1977 and was shot and killed alongside the mayor in 1978.

Although no specific reason was given for the decision to rename the USNS Harvey Milk, the move seems to be aligned with Pete Hegseth's general efforts to make the military an overtly masculine organization. That has meant everything from stripping out references to gay individuals from various Department of Defense websites to a call in January for the military to abandon any identity or cultural awareness months.

“Our unity and purpose are instrumental to meeting the Department’s warfighting mission. Efforts to divide the force — to put one group ahead of another — erode camaraderie and threaten mission execution," he explained in a statement at the time.

There was a time in American history when you could not serve in the military if you were openly gay.

Hegseth has not said that he's planning to bring back that policy, but renaming ships that are named after historically important LGBTQ+ figures sends a clear signal. Trump's version of the military might accept gay people, but that doesn't mean that it wants to make it easy for them.