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In a move coinciding with Pride Month, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is ordering the U.S. Navy to rename one of its ships, named after a gay rights icon
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As Military.com first reported, a new memorandum from the Office of the Secretary of the Navy calls for the renaming of the oiler at the U.S.N.S. Harvey Milk
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Milk was a gay rights leader, a Navy veteran, who was assassinated alongside then San Francisco
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Mayor George Moscone in 1978. A defense official told Military.com the announcement of plans to
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change the ship's name during Pride Month was an intentional move. According to the report
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the purpose of the renaming is to bring it into alignment with President and Secretary of Defense
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objectives and Secretary of Navy priorities of re-establishing a warrior culture. It has not yet
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been announced what the ship's new name will be. The Harvey Milk is part of a group of ships named
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after prominent civil rights leaders and activists. According to a CBS News report, the Navy is also
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reconsidering renaming other oilers in that group, including the USNS Thurgood Marshall, Ruth Bader
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Ginsburg and Harriet Tubman. It's rare for ships to be renamed as the Navy considers doing so to
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be taboo, according to military.com. Get all the latest unbiased updates by downloading the
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Straight Arrow News app