National
Campaign for ‘USS Harvey Milk’ stalled?
Supporters hope to honor slain gay activist with vessel bearing his name
Sean Sala supports efforts to name a Naval vessel after Harvey Milk. (Photo courtesy Thom Senzee)
Organizers insist that a national campaign to persuade the United States Navy to christen “the next appropriate ship” the USS Harvey Milk in honor of the slain civil rights leader and naval veteran, launched nearly two years ago, is still on course. But they confess that achieving their goal is far from a sure thing.
To date, the highest-level, officially acknowledged conversation about the prospect of the U.S. Navy naming a ship after Milk happened during the tenure of gay San Diego City Council President Todd Gloria’s term as interim mayor with Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus.
“I remain optimistic that Harvey Milk will be appropriately honored and a Navy vessel will bear his name,” Gloria told the Blade. San Diego, where the USS Harvey Milk Navy Ship Campaign was launched, is the principal homeport to the U.S. Navy’s Pacific Fleet and its more than 50 ships.
The Office of the Secretary of the Navy did not respond to a request for comment.
Lt. Junior Grade Harvey Milk trained to become a master diver at what is now Naval Base San Diego. Gloria and one of the lead proponents of the USS Harvey Milk ship campaign, San Diego City Commissioner Nicole Murray Ramirez, say they are confident the campaign remains on track to win Navy support for the idea of honoring Milk with a vessel bearing his name.
However, more than nine months have passed since Gloria met with Secretary Mabus and two years since the ship-naming campaign began. The Navy has yet to affirm that it is considering naming a vessel for Milk.
“The State of California has designated May 22 annually as ‘Harvey Milk Day,’” wrote Gloria in a letter to Mabus around the same time of his in-person meeting with the Navy secretary in Washington. “Given the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, I believe that naming a vessel in honor of Harvey Milk will continue the strong message that as Americans we honor the service of all equally.”
Gloria’s letter to Mabus also noted that Milk was posthumously bestowed with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest honor for a civilian by President Obama in 2009.
What class of Navy ship might one day be called the “Harvey Milk,” maybe an aircraft carrier or nuclear submarine? That’s not likely as those are historically named only after presidents. If the examples of Cesar Chavez and former congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, both of whom have been so honored, offer guidance, then a ship named after Milk is likely to be a littoral or cargo vessel.
“We aren’t concerned with what type of ship it is,” Ramirez said. “That’s up to the Navy. What we care about is that a ship is named for this deserving Navy veteran and American hero.”
According to Ramirez, the decision about whether to name a vessel after the late Harvey Milk rests solely with the secretary of the Navy. If the campaign succeeds, it will be the first time a Naval vessel is named after an openly gay man.
Sean Sala, also a Navy veteran, is a Servicemembers United national leadership committee member and current national coordinator for the Military Freedom Coalition, an LGBT service members advocacy group. Like Milk before him, Sala was also stationed at Naval Base San Diego. He said it would be difficult to overestimate the value to the nation’s LGBT population to know that there is a naval vessel named in honor of Milk.
“Every time I pulled into a foreign port I had a local ask me ‘what’s your ship’s name?’” Sala said. “Our ships’ names then go into the mindset of the people whose countries we visit. Many of our ships are named after great battles, great military leaders; and now we have the Caesar Chavez. We are starting to name our ships after people who were civil rights leaders, so the USS Harvey Milk would send a message around the world that we, as a country, defend, protect and cherish the ideal that LGBT people should be equal under the law.”
Says Sala, a United States Navy ship emblazoned with the name “USS Harvey Milk” would be a powerful statement to friends and foes alike, that U.S. sailors are willing to lay down their lives for an American vision of equality that includes lesbians, gays, bi and transgender people in addition to heterosexuals. Nicole Murray Ramirez agreed.
“Growing up as a Latino, it was hard to find role models,” Ramirez said. “Basically, we had no role models other than the veterans of World War II, such as my dad.”
After more than seven years of work that included gathering statements of support from a diverse crowd of national leaders and elected officials from across the U.S., including some Republicans, last May the United States Postal Service unveiled the Harvey Milk Commemorative Stamp—its first specifically honoring an openly gay man.
“I think the secretary of the Navy will see how much this ship will mean to gay and lesbian and other minorities, the same way that naming a ship after Cesar Chavez meant so much to the Latino community,” Ramirez said.
Several former members of the armed forces, including retired U.S. Navy commander Zoe Dunning and retired Marine Corps staff sergeant Eric Alva have joined with prominent LGBT and civil rights leaders, including Stuart Milk, Harvey’s nephew, to work behind the scenes to speed up the effort to make the ship a reality. The campaign even has a congresswoman, San Diego Democrat Susan Davis, on its list of honorary co-chairs.
“This is going to happen,” Ramirez told the Blade. “It’s not a question of ‘if.’ It’s a question of ‘when.’”
Harvey Milk was elected to a seat on the San Francisco City and County Board of Supervisors in 1977. He was assassinated along with San Francisco Mayor George Moscone by disgruntled former supervisor Dan White in 1979.
Milk, who was famous for saying, “You gotta give ‘em hope,” is frequently credited with leading the defeat of California’s Briggs Initiative, which would have prevented LGBT people from teaching in public schools. His U.S. Navy deep-sea diver’s belt buckle, which Milk wore while serving on the USS Kittiwake during the Korean War, is among the items of clothing he wore on the day White fired the bullet that killed him.
Federal Government
US Census Bureau testing survey on LGBTQ households
Agency proposing questions about sexual orientation and gender identity
The U.S. Census Bureau is seeking public comment on a proposed test of sexual orientation and gender identity questions on the American Community Survey. The test would begin this summer and continue into next year.
The Census Bureau published the request as a Federal Register notice. In its press release the agency noted that the ACS is an ongoing survey that collects detailed housing and socioeconomic data. It allows the Census Bureau to provide timely and relevant housing and socioeconomic statistics, even for low levels of geography.
As part of the process for adding new questions to the ACS, the Census Bureau tests potential questions to evaluate the quality of the data collected.
The Census Bureau proposes testing questions about sexual orientation and gender identity to meet the needs of other federal agencies that have expressed interest in or have identified legal uses for the information, such as enforcing civil rights and equal employment measures.
The test would follow the protocols of the actual ACS — with one person asked to respond to the survey on behalf of the entire household. These particular questions are asked about people 15 years of age or older. Households are invited to respond to the survey online, by paper questionnaire or by phone.
The current Federal Register notice gives the public a final opportunity to provide feedback before the Census Bureau submits its recommendations to the Office of Management and Budget for approval. The public may provide feedback through May 30 online.
The White House
Judy Shepard to receive Presidential Medal of Freedom
Nancy Pelosi is also among this year’s honorees
Beloved LGBTQ advocate Judy Shepard is among the 19 honorees who will receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award in the U.S., the White House announced on Friday.
The mother of Matthew Shepard, who was killed in 1998 in the country’s most notorious anti-gay hate crime, she co-founded the Matthew Shepard Foundation with her husband Dennis to raise awareness about anti-LGBTQ violence.
The organization runs education, outreach, and advocacy programs, many focused on schools.
In a statement shared via the Human Rights Campaign, Shepard said, “This unexpected honor has been very humbling for me, Dennis, and our family. What makes us proud is knowing our President and our nation share our lifelong commitment to making this world a safer, more loving, more respectful, and more peaceful place for everyone.
“I am grateful to everyone whose love and support for our work through the years has sustained me.
“If I had the power to change one thing, I can only dream of the example that Matt’s life and purpose would have shown, had he lived. This honor reminds the world that his life, and every life, is precious.”
Shepard was instrumental in working with then-President Barack Obama for passage of the landmark Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act in 2009, which was led in the House by then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who will also be honored with a Presidential Medal of Freedom during the ceremony on Friday.
Also in 2009, Shepard published a memoir, “The Meaning of Matthew: My Son’s Murder in Laramie, and a World Transformed,” and was honored with the Black Tie Dinner Elizabeth Birch Equality Award.
“Judy Shepard has been a champion for equality and President Biden’s choice to honor her with the Presidential Medal of Freedom is a testament to what she’s done to be a force of good in the world,” HRC President Kelley Robinson said in a statement.
“A mother who turned unspeakable grief over the loss of her son into a decades-long fight against anti-LGBTQ+ hatred and violence, Judy continues to make a lasting impact in the lives of the LGBTQ+ community,” she said.
“It is because of her advocacy that the first federal hate crimes legislation became law and that countless life-saving trainings, resources and conversations about equality and acceptance are provided each year by the Matthew Shepard Foundation,” Robinson said. “We are honored that Judy is a member of the HRC family and know that her work to create a more inclusive and just world will only continue.”
Other awardees who will be honored by the White House this year are: Actor Michelle Yeoh, entrepreneur and former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Jesuit Catholic priest Gregory Boyle, Assistant House Democratic Leader Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.), former Labor and Education Secretary and former U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole (R-N.C.), journalist and former daytime talkshow host Phil Donahue, World War II veteran and civil rights activist Medgar Evers (posthumous), former Vice President Al Gore, civil rights activist and lawyer Clarence B. Jones, former Secretary of State and U.S. Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), former U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) (posthumous), Olympic swimmer Katie Ledecky, educator and activist Opal Lee, astronaut and former director of NASA’s Johnson Space Center Ellen Ochoa, astronomer Jane Rigby, United Farm Workers President Teresa Romero, and Olympic athlete Jim Thorpe (posthumous).
National
United Methodist Church removes 40-year ban on gay clergy
Delegates also voted for other LGBTQ-inclusive measures
The United Methodist Church on Wednesday removed a ban on gay clergy that was in place for more than 40 years, voting to also allow LGBTQ weddings and end prohibitions on the use of United Methodist funds to “promote acceptance of homosexuality.”
Overturning the policy forbidding the church from ordaining “self-avowed practicing homosexuals” effectively formalized a practice that had caused an estimated quarter of U.S. congregations to leave the church.
The New York Times notes additional votes “affirming L.G.B.T.Q. inclusion in the church are expected before the meeting adjourns on Friday.” Wednesday’s measures were passed overwhelmingly and without debate. Delegates met in Charlotte, N.C.
According to the church’s General Council on Finance and Administration, there were 5,424,175 members in the U.S. in 2022 with an estimated global membership approaching 10 million.
The Times notes that other matters of business last week included a “regionalization” plan, which gave autonomy to different regions such that they can establish their own rules on matters including issues of sexuality — about which international factions are likelier to have more conservative views.
Rev. Kipp Nelson of St. Johns’s on the Lake Methodist Church in Miami shared a statement praising the new developments:
“It is a glorious day in the United Methodist Church. As a worldwide denomination, we have now publicly proclaimed the boundless love of God and finally slung open the doors of our church so that all people, no matter their identities or orientations, may pursue the calling of their hearts.
“Truly, all are loved and belong here among us. I am honored to serve as a pastor in the United Methodist Church for such a time as this, for our future is bright and filled with hope. Praise be, praise be.”
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