‘Milk’ star Sean Penn blasts Navy stripping Harvey Milk’s name from ship

Mlik star Sean Penn and screenwriter Dustin Lance Black, who each won Academy Awards for the 2008 biopic of civil rights icon Harvey Milk, aren’t mincing words in response to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s decision to strip Milk’s name from a U.S. Navy vessel.

“These guys are idiots,” Black told The Hollywood Reporter on Wednesday. “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 life just to live our lives openly as who we are.”

Black was referencing a statement from Chief Pentagon Spokesman Sean Parnell circulated following the leak of a memo first reported by CBS News discussing plans to rename a fleet of ships bearing the names of American civil rights leaders. Shared with Entertainment Weekly, the statement reads, “Secretary Hegseth is committed to ensuring that the names attached to all DOD installations and assets are reflective of the Commander-in-Chief’s priorities, our nation’s history, and the warrior ethos. Any potential renaming(s) will be announced after internal reviews are complete.”

“I’ve never before seen a Secretary of Defense so aggressively demote himself to the rank of Chief PETTY Officer,” Penn snarked to THR.

Milk served as a lieutenant, junior grade in the Navy during the Korean War, opting to resign in 1955 rather than face court-martial because of his sexuality. He then pursued a career in San Francisco politics and was the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in California when he became a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1977. The following year, fellow Supervisor Dan White assassinated Milk and Mayor George Moscone as a reprisal for Moscone opting not to reappoint him to the Board of Supervisors, a decision he perceived Milk as playing a role in.

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Current San Franciso Mayor Daniel Lurie responded to Hegseth’s plan, a rare one in American military history and a questionable one given its timing during LGBTQ Pride Month. In a statement shared with EW, Lurie noted, “From the Board of Supervisors to the U.S. Navy, Harvey Milk dedicated his life to serving our city and our country, and he did it with courage and distinction. Our city has proudly followed his leadership, marking what would have been his 95th birthday last month and now Pride Month. Harvey was a model for how all of us, across this country, can contribute to our communities.”

Former Speaker of the House and San Francisco congresswoman Nancy Pelosi, responded in her own public statement: “Harvey Milk proudly served as a Lieutenant in the United States Navy and was a formidable force for change…. 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.”

The USNS Harvey Milk isn’t the only Navy vessel flagged by the Trump administration for a potential name change. Ships named after civil rights leaders and influential progressive politicians including Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Harriet Tubman, Dolores Huerta, Cesar Chavez, and Medgar Evers are among those listed in the leaked memo.

The move from the Hegseth-led Department of Defense is the latest in a string of attacks on government programs designed to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion. In January, the DoD issued a release titled “Identity Months Dead at Dod” signaling the Department’s intention to eliminate “celebrations related to cultural awareness months” including National African American/Black History Month, Women’s History Month, and Pride Month.