"Shameful, vindictive erasure": Hegseth orders removal of Harvey Milk's name from Navy ship

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has ordered the Navy to remove the name of gay rights icon and Navy veteran Harvey Milk from one of its ships.

Per a report from Military.com , the order was passed down in a memo from Navy Secretary John Phelan . The memo said that the redesignation of the oil tanker USNS Harvey Milk was an attempt to get into "alignment with president and SECDEF objectives and SECNAV priorities of reestablishing the warrior culture."

A defense official who spoke to the outlet said that the directive came from Hegseth, adding that the Pentagon had intentionally timed the announcement to coincide with the start of Pride Month. The renaming is expected to become official next week.

Milk was the first openly gay man to hold elected office in the United States afte