Stuart Milk on Pentagon’s plan to rename the USNS Harvey Milk: “His legacy will not be silenced or diminished”

Statement by Stuart Milk, Executive Chair of Harvey Milk Foundation and nephew of Civil Rights Icon Harvey Milk on behalf of both the Milk Family and the Harvey Milk Foundation:

“We are heartbroken to hear that there is a recommendation at the Pentagon to remove my uncle’s name from the USNS Harvey Milk. I recently had the honor of spending three days and nights aboard the ship with the men and women who serve our country, and I was there as the ship replenished, while underway at sea, the Destroyer Squadron (DESRON2) accompanying the USS Gerald Ford in the Atlantic Ocean.

The pride that all the men and women on those ships – gay, straight, black, white, Hispanic, commissioned officers and enlisted personnel – all of them, without exception, expressed and relayed to me, was a testament to the American spirit of patriotism and respect for our nation’s collective history of growth.

Harvey Milk’s legacy is certainly enhanced and celebrated by a US Naval Ship, however his legacy will not be silenced or diminished by the renaming of that Naval ship. Rather such an action would only serve to prove that Harvey Milk style hope will continue to endure and inspire across the globe, and that neither bullets nor name stripping can stop Harvey’s overriding message to us all – when he prophetically anticipated making the ultimate sacrifice: “Let the bullets that enter my brain, destroy every closet door”. “You gotta give ‘em hope.”

Navy will rename the USNS Harvey Milk, named for LGBTQ rights pioneer NBC News