The US Navy is building a ship named after a man they made resign for being gay
By the time Harvey Milk’s supervisors in the US Navy officially questioned him about his sexuality, he had graduated from officer school and served as a diving officer on a submarine rescue ship during the Korean War.
Then his superiors caught him in a park that was popular with gay men, his nephew said. The sighting raised questions about Milk’s sexual orientation in an era when the military banned gay, lesbian and bisexual service members. Milk was forced to resign.
In a move that signalled an aboutface on the issue of gay rights, the Navy on has begun to construct the USNS Harvey Milk, a fleet oiler that will provide fuel to ships and aircraft. The Navy announced in 2016 that Milk’s name would appear on a ship, along with other civil rights leaders including abolitionist Sojourner Truth and suffragist Lucy Stone.
Milk studied math and history at New York State College for Teachers, which is now the State University of New York, before he enlisted and started Officer Candidate School in Newport, Rhode Island.
Life after the Navy took Milk to New York, where he worked as a teacher, a stock analyst and a production associate for Broadway musicals. He moved to San Francisco in 1972 and opened a camera shop in the Castro District, which was known for its gay community.
Milk quickly became a powerful local activist. He founded the Castro Village Association for LGBTQ-led businesses, sat on San Francisco’s Board of Permit Appeals and in 1978 was sworn in as a city-county supervisor.
In addition to advocating for policies that would affect all residents, Milk was also a fervent protector of gay rights.
Milk urged gay people to proclaim their sexual orientations as a way to fight for equality.
People regularly lobbed death threats at Milk, who created several iterations of his will in case he were to be assassinated. ‘‘If a bullet should enter my brain, let that bullet destroy every closet door,’’ he said in one version.
Milk’s prediction became reality on November 27, 1978, when former Supervisor Dan White entered city hall through a basement window, killed Mayor George Moscone and shot Milk several times. – TNS