The American Secretary of Defense, Pete HegsethOfficially announced that the US Navy supply ship appointed in honor of Harvey Milk Homosexuals’ Rights Activist should be renamed from Oscar against Peterson, a master of the Congress Medal of Honor for his actions in the Battle of the Coral Sea during the Second World War.
“We are removing the policy of the name of ships”, ” Hegseth announced on Friday X.
In a video statement that accompanies him, Hegseth added: “We do not rejoice the ship to anything political. These are not political activists, unlike the previous administration. Instead, we rename the ship after a medal recipient of the Congress. ”
“People want to be proud of the ship in which they sail,” added Hegseth.
This decision comes in the midst of a widespread reaction against LGBTQ + Rights and Problems in the United States Trump administrationranging from the prohibition of books associated with LGBTQ + causes to the reduction of the rights of transgender persons.
The oil food ship had been appointed, according to the rights of homosexuals from San Francisco, who was murdered in 1978 after being supervisor of the city, overwhelming the “mayor of Castro Street”. He had served in the navy as a diving officer on an underwater rescue ship but had resigned with a “other than humor” release rather than being courted by the martial court.
Peterson sat at USS Neosho, a ship that was strongly damaged by Japanese diving bombers on May 7, 1942, during the Battle of the Coral Sea. In a bombing raid, Peterson and the members of the repair party, he led, were seriously injured. But despite his injuries, he managed to close four valves to the steam line, suffering from third degree burns on his face, shoulders, arms and hands in the process.
But by closing the partition valves, Peterson isolated the steam to the machine room and helped keep the operational ship.
In an ad that seemed timed for the start of Pride months, Hegseth announced that the name of Milk should be removed from the ship in early June. He had been appointed according to the gay icon in 2016 by the secretary of the time, Ray Mabus, who said at the time that the class of John Lewis ‘Oilers’ class would be named after leaders who fought for civil and human rights.
The move on behalf of the Milk of the ship sparked a backlash from the friends of the activist during his first declaration. “Yes, it’s cruel and mean and stupid, and yes, it is an insult to my community,” said Cleve Jones, a close friend of Milk and an activist LGBTQ + said to Associated Press.
“I would be ready to bet a considerable sum that American families sitting around this proverbial kitchen table this evening will not talk about the most that the name of Harvey will be removed from this ship,” he added to the press agency.
Milk nephew, Stuart milk, told the AP that renamed him The ship would become “a rallying cry not only for our community, but for all minority communities”. He added: “I don’t think he would be surprised, but he would call us to remain vigilant, to remain active.”
The elected officials, including the former speaker of the Chamber, Nancy Pelosi and the Governor of California, Gavin Newsom, described change as an attempt to erase the contributions of LGBTQ + people and an insult to the fundamental American values to honor veterans.
“The culture of the right is again there. A loose act of a desperate man to distract us from his inability to direct the Pentagon “,” Newsom said about Hegseth on the social media platform X.
