A Navy ship named for gay rights activist Harvey Milk, who was ma to rign om the force bee of his sexual orientatn, was lnched San Diego Saturday.
Contents:
- THE U.S. NAVY HAS CHRISTENED A SHIP NAMED AFTER SLA GAY RIGHTS LEAR HARVEY MILK
- TELL: AN INTIMATE HISTORY OF GAY MEN THE MILARY
- NAVY’S FIRST OPENLY GAY SEAL BUILDS HIS LIFE ANEW
- MEET BRETT JON, A GAY NAVY SEAL
- US NAVY LNCH SHIP NAMED FOR GAY RIGHTS ACTIVIST HARVEY MILK
THE U.S. NAVY HAS CHRISTENED A SHIP NAMED AFTER SLA GAY RIGHTS LEAR HARVEY MILK
Milk served the Navy the 1950s, but was discharged after beg qutned about his sexual orientatn. He beme the first openly gay elected official California before his ath 1978. * navy and gay *
Navy has lnched and christened a ship named for the sla gay rights lear Harvey Milk, who served the Navy durg the Korean War but was discharged after beg qutned about his sexual orientatn. Namg the ship after an in of the LGBTQ rights movement reprents a symbolic tone for the ary followg a long history which gay service members were unable to serve openly.
In this April 1977 file photo, San Francis supervisor Harvey Milk ss the mayor's office durg the signg of the cy's gay rights bill San Francis. The Navy is namg a ship honor of the late gay rights lear, who served the Navy for four years before he began a reer San Francis cy ernment.
TELL: AN INTIMATE HISTORY OF GAY MEN THE MILARY
As "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" to an end, we sent Chris Heath to terview dozens of gay servicemen om the past and prent to fd out what life was really like as Ameri's ary stggled wh s last great inty crisis * navy and gay *
In 1977, after his Navy reer, Milk beme the first openly gay elected official California when he won a seat on the San Francis Board of Supervisors. A Navy ship named for gay rights activist Harvey Milk, who was ma to rign om the force bee of his sexual orientatn, was lnched San Diego Saturday. Milk served the Navy as a divg officer durg the Korean War, at a time when gay service members were not allowed to openly acknowledge their sexualy.
Durg his time as a divg stctor San Diego, California, the 1950s, his supervisors ught him at a park popular wh gay men, acrdg to his nephew Stuart Milk. Milk was one of the first openly gay policians elected to office the Uned Stat, and the first openly gay official elected California.
While servg as a cy supervisor, Milk troduced legislatn to protect the gay muny, cludg a gay rights ordance 1978 to ban discrimatn agast LGBTQ hog or employment. He and other activists also succeed strikg down Proposn 6, which would have mandated the firg of gay or lbian teachers California. 14 tablish a policy of mandatory discharge for service members who attempt to engage a homosexual act.
NAVY’S FIRST OPENLY GAY SEAL BUILDS HIS LIFE ANEW
Most lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr service members are still reluctant to disclose their sexual orientatn or inty. * navy and gay *
DoD LGBTQ+ Timele: This timele not signifint events and polici chronologil orr that had a signifint impact on Department of Defense (DoD) polici, stctns, or orrs as they relate to the Lbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgenr, and Queer (LGBTQ+) muny. The are the voic explag what has been like to be a gay man1 the Amerin ary over the prev seventy or so years, om World War II veterans their late eighti to young servicemen on active duty.
Life Today as a Gay ServicemanHow we got here: In 1992, many people thought that the discrimatn was nearly over. "I remember beg the Castro, " says John Forrett (army rerve, 1987–99), "and watchg the TV at a bar wh some iends, watchg Al Gore and Bill Clton swearg that if they beme the tag team for Ameri they were gog to get rid of the harassment of gays and lbians servg the ary.
" Gay people were allowed the ary but only as long as they didn’t reveal their sexualy; to facilate this, all members of the ary were also prohibed om quirg about anyone’s possible orientatn. Gay people were only acceptable, effect, to the gree to which they uld succsfully masquera as nongay. Servicemen were advised that until then the policy would still apply, and that they uld potentially face s sanctns if they intify themselv publicly as gay.
MEET BRETT JON, A GAY NAVY SEAL
Brett Jon discs the secrecy volved beg a gay Navy SEAL unr 'don't ask, don't tell' and the surprisg muny of support he disvered the ary. * navy and gay *
’ "Air Force #1: "Two of my iends were disvered, both officers—’s a long and arduo procs for an officer to get kicked out for beg gay.
"Air Force #2 (senr airman, three years): "No one at my job would ever, ever spect that I was gay at all. And you’re good at your job—a gay person wouldn’t be good at his job, so obvly you’re not gay. You’re a Mare, you don’t md gettg dirty, gog out to the field and not showerg for weeks at a, if you were gay, when you have to shower wh all the other guys you’d get all exced.
I mean, if you want to hi, the Mare Corps is one of the bt plac to do that, bee nobody wants to adm they are standg next to a gay guy. I had ma about halfway through and the recer was trated wh how long was takg me, and he said, ’Well, basilly, are you gay? One Man’s Operatn Iraqi FreedomMany gay servicemen the morn era—cludg Eric Alva (Mar, 1991–2004)—have pleted long ary reers whout their sexualy ever beg revealed.
US NAVY LNCH SHIP NAMED FOR GAY RIGHTS ACTIVIST HARVEY MILK
And therefore few people realized that the first Amerin serly wound the vasn of Iraq durg the send Gulf war was a gay Alva signed up, before "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, " he had to lie on his paperwork. Lbians have suffered unr the same prohibns and prejudic and share many of the same experienc, as well as some that are distct, but this article ncentrat on the experience of gay men. And when, 2006, the battl over "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell" the ary and gay marriage the wir muny were simmerg, Alva’s boyiend at the time poted out to him that he did have some notoriety that might be of e.