Plenty. On June 27, 2025, President Donald Trump's Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth changed the name of U.S. Navy Ship Harvey Milk to U.S. Navy Ship Oscar V. Peterson. Harvey Milk you will remember was a gay activist and the first openly gay person to serve on the Board of Supervisors in San Francisco. He and Mayor George Moscone were assassinated on Nov.  27, 1978 by a fellow supervisor, Dan White. The back story on Harvey Milk's life underscores how egregious the name change is.

Harvey served in the U.S. Navy  from 1951-1958. He was forced to resign because of his homosexuality.  It was not until  2010 that LGBTQ individuals could serve in the military. The counterculture movement of the 1960s greatly affected his beliefs and he came out of the closet and eventually settled in the Castro district of San Francisco where he led the civil rights movement. He notably organized an unprecedented coalition that included activists, students, disabled people of color as well as LGBTQ people. To erase Harvey Milk's name from the Navy ship disregards his enormous contributions to freedom and equality.  His heroic deeds inspire all of us.

Lillian Cartwright

Easthampton