Navy Admiral Condemns Hegseth For Renaming USNS Harvey Milk

Retired Navy Admiral James Stavridis has publicly criticized Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s decision to rename the USNS Harvey Milk, calling the move unjustified and disrespectful to the legacy of the ship’s namesake, Jennifer Bandery reported for HuffPost.

The decision by the Trump administration to change the names of the USNS Harvey Milk and other ships in the John Lewis-class has been met with much rebuke. I Photo: Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Maxwell Orlosky / United States Navy

“I am scratching my head about renaming the USNS Harvey Milk,” Stavridis said during an appearance on SiriusXM’s The Michael Smerconish Program.

“I’m Greek American. Arguably the greatest general in history, Alexander the Great, was gay. And oh, by the way, [gay] people serve at the highest level of the U.S. Cabinet today—like the Secretary of the Treasury, Scott Bessent, who I think is doing a pretty good job with a tough hand of cards.”

He added: “So I don’t get it—why we need to rename this ship, especially at this moment, and during Pride Month.”

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) also condemned the decision.

“The reported decision by the Trump administration to change the names of the USNS Harvey Milk and other ships in the John Lewis-class is a shameful, vindictive erasure of those who fought to break down barriers for all to chase the American Dream,” she said in a statement.

Sean Penn and screenwriter Dustin Lance Black, who both won Oscars for the 2008 biopic Milk, also criticized the move.

“This is yet another effort to distract and to fuel the culture wars that create division,” Black told The Hollywood Reporter, as reported by Emily Zemler for Rolling Stone.

“It’s meant to get us to react in ways that are self-centered so that we are further distanced from our brothers and sisters in equally important civil rights fights in this country. It’s divide and conquer,” he said.

“These guys are idiots. Pete Hegseth does not seem like a smart man, a wise man, a knowledgeable man. He seems small and petty. I would love to introduce him to some LGBTQ folks who are warriors—who have had to be warriors our entire lives just to live openly as who we are.”

“These guys are idiots. Pete Hegseth does not seem like a smart man, a wise man, a knowledgeable man. He seems small and petty. I would love to introduce him to some LGBTQ folks who are warriors—who have had to be warriors our entire lives just to live openly as who we are.”