‘Readiness Over Wokeness’: GOP Lawmakers Salute Renaming of Navy Vessel

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has reportedly ordered the U.S. Navy to rename a tanker vessel that had been christened the USNS Harvey Milk after the late left-wing gay activist and San Francisco politician.

Milk, who began a relationship with a 16-year-old boy when he was 33, has long been seen as a homosexual rights icon and was portrayed by Sean Penn in a biographical film released in 2008.

Obama administration Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus announced the naming one ship in a new fleet of oil vessels after Milk in 2016. Milk was given a discharge from the Navy in 1955 after he was revealed to be gay, which was not permitted at the time. Milk was slain in 1978 at the age of 48.

In an internal memo, the change was characterized as a part of President Donald Trump’s administration’s efforts to “reestablish the warrior culture” in the armed forces.

A new name for the ship has reportedly not yet been chosen. 

“Under the Biden admin, where they renamed ships after pedophiles who had sex with 17-year-old boys, recruitment was at an all-time low. Under the leadership of President Trump and Secretary Hegseth, honor and pride in our country, rather than sexuality, are being restored to our military. The recruitment numbers speak for themselves,” Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., told The Daily Signal. The Army recently announced it had surpassed its recruitment targets “with more than 61,000 future soldiers” before the end of the fiscal year.

“In a time when our military should be focused on readiness over wokeness, I fully support Secretary Hegseth’s decision to rename the Navy ship Harvey Milk. Our ships should honor those who embody the sacrifice, service, and values that make our nation great—not serve as platforms for woke political statements,” Rep. Barry Moore, R-Ala., noted. 

“I applaud President Trump and Secretary Hegseth for making a needed course correction toward honoring real heroes who reflect the true spirit of America’s armed forces,” the Alabama congressman added. 

“Our Navy ships should elevate the American ideal and strike fear into our enemies. Naming a ship after a gay activist accomplishes neither. Secretary Hegseth has it right: From camo to call signs, our military must project strength and American excellence, not woke politics,” Rep. Andy Ogles, R-Tenn., said.

“Naming a U.S. Navy ship after Harvey Milk in 2016 was a harbinger of the crazy wokeness that would overtake military and government leadership a few years later,” Jay Richards, a senior research fellow at The Heritage Foundation, told The Daily Signal. 

“Milk was an unsavory character who should not be treated as a civil rights hero by the federal government. Secretary Hegseth is doing exactly the right thing in renaming the ship,” Richards continued.

The move by the Trump administration comes during the month of June, which is celebrated by gay rights activists as “Pride Month.” Muriel Bowser, the mayor of Washington, D.C., jumped into the culture war fray last week when she celebrated Pride Month by having an “LGBTQIA+ flag-raising ceremony,” on the steps of the John A. Wilson Building, which houses the city government. 

“Happy World Pride in the gayest city in America,” the mayor told the assembled crowd for the ceremony conducted on May 29. As an empirical fact, Washington does not have the highest percentage of self-described homosexual residents in the U.S. 

“Which month does Mayor Bowser raise a flag celebrating traditional American families, honoring heterosexual couples and Christian values? Instead of virtue signaling, the mayor should be more focused on the ethics investigations into her lavish, Qatari-funded foreign trips. It’s worth noting that while Mayor Bowser claims to champion gay rights here at home, she accepted over $61,000 in travel from a regime where homosexuality is illegal. So which is it, principle or payoff?” Greene explained to The Daily Signal.

A recent Washington Free Beacon report found that Qatar funded the mayor and four staff members’ December 2023 trip to visit the Persian Gulf state. 

“Too many Democrats in Washington are more interested in playing political games than doing the job they were elected to do. The only flags I fly outside of my office are the flags of the United States, Alabama, and ‘An Appeal to Heaven’” Moore told The Daily Signal. The ‘Appeal to Heaven’ flag dates back to the American Revolution.