U.S. Navy lnch ship named after gay rights lear Harvey Milk : NPR

Contents:

• 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
• TELL: AN INTIMATE HISTORY OF GAY MEN THE MILARY
• 'I DON'T FEEL PART OF THE MILARY ANYMORE': OPENLY GAY PILOT LEAV AFTER HARASSMENT
• NAVY SECRETARY: CHAPLA FED BY ‘CHOICE’ TO INTIFY AS GAY
• NAVY OFFICIALLY LNCH SUPPORT SHIP NAMED AFTER GAY TRAILBLAZER HARVEY MILK

US NAVY LNCH SHIP NAMED FOR GAY RIGHTS ACTIVIST HARVEY MILK

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. He was the first openly gay elected official the state of California.

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.

THE U.S. NAVY HAS CHRISTENED A SHIP NAMED AFTER SLA GAY RIGHTS LEAR HARVEY MILK

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. 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.

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.

TELL: AN INTIMATE HISTORY OF GAY MEN THE MILARY

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.

'I DON'T FEEL PART OF THE MILARY ANYMORE': OPENLY GAY PILOT LEAV AFTER HARASSMENT

Seventeen years which gay servicemen have existed a paradoxil kd of herworld. 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. ’ "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.

NAVY SECRETARY: CHAPLA FED BY ‘CHOICE’ TO INTIFY AS GAY

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. 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.

NAVY OFFICIALLY LNCH SUPPORT SHIP NAMED AFTER GAY TRAILBLAZER HARVEY MILK

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. For gay ary members who choose to do so, there has been the extra burn that their partners mt rema visible. (The meetgs have been arranged through a private onle work lled OutServe, set up only last year, which allows gay and lbian servicepeople a safe and secure way of fdg and munitg wh one another.

To be the ary and still try to live any kd of life as a gay man, ’s not Force #4 (senr airman, four years): "Right now our relatnships don’t exist.