Pete Hegseth came under unusual fire on Tuesday.
National Review national affairs reporter John Fund, a well known conservative, criticized Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth for ordering the removal of gay rights icon Harvey Milk’s name from a Navy ship, calling the move a “gratuitous insult.”
“It’s one thing to properly wipe away obnoxious DEI programs that have created a playpen for superficial thinking and morale-sapping behavior at the Pentagon. It’s another to deliberately remove the name of a historically significant figure,” Fund wrote in a piece titled “Harvey Milk Was a Patriot.”
Milk “had a real association with the Navy,” he added.
“During the Korean War, Milk volunteered for the Navy, in which both his father and mother had served. He served as a diving officer on a submarine rescue ship,” Fund wrote
Milk was one of the first openly gay elected officials in U.S. history during the 1970s. He was killed while serving on the board of supervisors in San Francisco.
Hegseth’s timing to rename the ship occurred during Pride month, which was intentional, according to a defense official who spoke with Military.com.
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