US Navy to rename ship named after gay rights activist Harvey Milk

The United States’ Defence Secretary has ordered the renaming of US Navy ship USNS Harvey Milk, named after trailblazing gay rights activist Harvey Milk.

The decision, during Pride Month, marks the latest move by Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, and the wider Trump administration, to purge all programmes, policies, books and social media mentions of references to diversity, equity and inclusion.

Milk was one of the first openly gay men elected to public office in the US after winning a seat on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1977. He was assassinated a year later.

Before serving in public office, Milk in 1951 enlisted in the Navy and attended Officer Candidate School.

Former speaker of the House of Representatives, Democrat Nancy Pelosi, condemned the reported move to rename the USNS Harvey Milk, calling it "a shameful, vindictive erasure of those who fought to break down barriers for all to chase the American Dream."

"Harvey Milk proudly served as a Lieutenant in the United States Navy and was a formidable force for change, not just in California, but in our country," the California congresswoman said in a statement.

"This spiteful move... is a surrender of a fundamental American value: to honour the legacy of those who worked to build a better country." 

Since taking office, Trump has moved to ban trans troops from the military and to dismantle diversity programmes, claiming they "undermine leadership, merit, and unit cohesion, thereby eroding lethality and force readiness." 

Harvey Milk's murder helped cement his reputation as a civil rights icon, and he was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. His life was the subject of the film Milk, released in 2008.