The U.S. Navy launches the USNS Harvey Milk, a fleet replenishment oiler ship named after the first openly gay elected official, in San Diego, Saturday, Nov. 6. The Navy ship is the second of six vessels in the Navy’s John Lewis-class program, second to the USNS John Lewis. (AP Photo/Alex Gallardo)
SAN DIEGO (AP) – A Navy ship named for slain gay rights leader Harvey Milk, who served four years in the Navy before being forced out, was christened and launched in San Diego Bay Saturday, Nov. 6.The replenishment oiler USNS Harvey Milk slid down the shipyard ways after a bottle of Champagne was smashed on the bow by former Navy officer Paula M. Neira, clinical program director for the John Hopkins Center for Transgender Health.Milk’s nephew, Stuart Milk, and Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro watched the traditional ceremony.“The secretary of the Navy needed to be here today, not just to amend the wrongs of the past, but to give inspiration to all of our LGBTQ community leaders who served in the Navy, in uniform today and in the civilian workforce as well too, and to tell t
