Shameful. Disgraceful. Petty.
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is planning to rename naval ships that currently honor American civil rights leaders and trailblazers. The USNS Harvey Milk, named for the slain LGBTQ+ rights leader and Navy veteran, is first on the chopping block — with the announcement deliberately planned during Pride Month.
Other ships targeted for renaming include vessels honoring Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Harriet Tubman, Dolores Huerta, Thurgood Marshall, Cesar Chavez, Lucy Stone and Medgar Evers — American heroes who fought to make our nation more just and equal. Erasing their names dishonors their legacy and sends a harmful message about whose contributions we value as a nation.
By adding my name, I am calling on Secretary Pete Hegseth to stop this shameful erasure of American heroes. I demand an immediate halt to this plan and insist we maintain these ship names that honor historic Americans–many of them U.S. military veterans–who broke barriers and fought for equality.
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