“Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has ordered the Navy to rename an oil ship named after gay rights activist Harvey Milk, a move that pointedly comes at the start of Pride Month.”
So reported “The Hill” today. Well what a sad commentary on our current state of affairs.
Said Pentagon spokesperson Sean Purnell: “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.”
Harvey Milk served on a submarine rescue ship during the Korean War ( unlike the current president who avoided military service by questionable means during the Vietnam War) but was kicked out of the military and accepted an “other than honorable discharge “ instead of a court martial for being gay (a crime in the 1950’s military). Harvey Milk went on to serve as the first openly gay elected official as a Supervisor in San Francisco in the 1970’s. He became a celebrated leader of the gay rights movement. He was gunned down in 1978 and was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2009.
He may not have represented Trump and Hegseth’s valued “warrior ethos “ but he served his country honorably and, to many, represented values that many Americans admire. The current homophonic, xenophobic, racist administration and its policies desire to throw us back to the bad old days when having the wrong skin color or the wrong sexual orientation were criminal acts to be punished. Many thought we had moved on from the hateful policies of the past, but unfortunately, we are forced to live through a four-year nightmare with an administration that wants us to live in the past and seeks to destroy progress made over the last decades.
Jim Wilkins
Talbot County
Talbot County
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