The Navy tanker that has carried the name of assassinated gay rights icon Harvey Milk has a new name, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced Friday: It's now the Oscar V. Peterson. Hegseth ordered the change in keeping with President Trump's campaign to remove diversity, equity and inclusion efforts from the government, a senior official told the New York Times. Peterson served in the Navy in World War II and received the Congressional Medal of Honor, per the Hill. In a video posted online, Hegseth said, "We are taking the politics out of ship naming."
Hegseth praised Peterson for his spirit of "self-sacrifice" in leading a repair party on the USS Neosho after an attack by Japanese dive bombers in 1942. Everyone in the party was severely wounded or killed, he said. Peterson was seriously wounded but carried on, "helping to keep the ship operational," the secretary added. Milk served in the Navy for four years, including on a submarine rescue ship during the Korean War. He was given an "other than honorable discharge" when his superior officers learned he was gay. Milk later became the first openly gay elected official in California. He and San Francisco Mayor George Moscone were shot to death in 1978.
The fleet replenishment oiler in 2021 became the first Navy ship named for an openly gay person, per the Times. Other Navy ships Hegseth is considering rechristening are the Thurgood Marshall, the Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the Harriet Tubman, the Dolores Huerta, the Lucy Stone, the Cesar Chavez, and the Medgar Evers.
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