USNS HARVEY MILK by Denny Meyer |
When I was a young gay man in the late 1970s
standing in his camera shop on Castro Street in
San Francisco chatting with Harvey Milk, I never
imagined that I'd live to see the day that the
United States Navy would announce naming a ship
after him. There was an awful lot that we
didn't know and couldn't imagine back then.
We didn't know that Harvey would be assassinated
and become a martyr, although that was just
around the corner in time. We didn't know
about AIDS, that would decimate our lives in the
coming decades, although that had already begun. At the end of that
decade, I often stood on the corner of Castro
and 18th in San Francisco chatting with Leonard Matlovich. In those days, the gods of the
gay revolution walked the Earth like ordinary
mortals. Back then, I could not imagine
that what he started would lead to our armed
forces allowing us to serve openly in Pride,
some 37 years later. Back then, I had just
begun my two decades of love with my life
partner; yet almost no one could imagine that
the day would come when we could have married
each other in any state in America! It
was, in many ways, an innocent carefree time,
at least in San Francisco in those days.
We couldn't have imagined the horror of HIV, the
sea of tears for those we loved, the riots, the
years of protest and demanding our rights; the
tears of joy when at long last our service to
our country was honored, and when we could
at long last have our love affirmed.
All that is what makes this ship naming
something incredibly profound for me now, as an
old gay veteran. It brings back, in a rush, the
memories of those decades past when our history
was in the making by our own actions. Who
could have known what would come to pass!
All that is what gives this moment meaning for
me.
If I could go back in time and tell Harvey
that the US Navy would name a ship after him in
2016, even he who regularly envisioned the
future, even he would have laughed his ass off
at the very idea. As a young man in the
early 1950s, during the Korean War, Lieutenant
Junior Grade Harvey Milk patriotically served
his country in the US Navy where he was a Master
Diving Instructor. He proudly wore a
military brass buckle emblazoned with the seal
of his specialty until the day he died. He
was a veteran who, like more than a million
other gay American patriots from WWII to 2011,
served in silence. Despite what some who
never served like to think, he was proud as hell
of his service to his country; just as most of
us gay American veterans are.
Harvey MIlk's Diving Buckle,
Courtesy of Michael Bedwell
And so it has come to pass that on a balmy
afternoon in mid August of 2016 on the great
lawn of Treasure Island in San Francisco Bay, a
quiet little 'ship naming' ceremony was held in
honor of my hero Harvey Milk. T-A0 206 has
yet to be built; the keel has yet to be laid.
But, the day will come in a few short years when
American sailors will routinely go about their
duties on its deck, with USNS Harvey Milk
neatly sewn on a patch on a shoulder of their uniforms.
Like the students of Walt Whitman High School in
Huntington New York, many of those young men and women
won't have clue who the hell the namesake of their
vessel was.
Just somebody from history. But, some of
them will be young gay American service members
who will be thrilled to be serving on a ship
named for someone who made their pride and
freedom possible.
It would be nice to imagine a sleek destroyer
or nuclear submarine bearing his name; but this
fine sea vessel in a new series of ships named
after American civil rights leaders will be a
"fleet replenishment oiler." According to
the public affairs website of the Secretary of
the Navy, "The future USNS Harvey Milk will be
operated by Military Sealift Command and provide
underway replenishment of fuel and stores to
U.S. Navy ships at sea and jet fuel for aircraft
assigned to aircraft carriers. Construction is
expected to begin in 2018."
SecNav PAO illustration of the future USNS
Harvey Milk
The Secretary of the Navy, Ray Mabus said at
the ceremony, "The future USNS Harvey Milk
will play a vital role in the mission of our
Navy and Marine Corps while also forging a new
path in fleet replenishment. ...Naming this ship
after Harvey Milk is a fitting tribute to a man
who had been at the forefront of advocating for
civil and human rights. T-AO 206 will,
for decades to come, serve as a visible legacy
of Harvey Milk's committed service to his
nation, both as a Sailor and as an activist. By
adorning one of our ships with his name, his
example will live on in the steel of that ship
and in all those who will serve aboard her."
Those may just be nice words in a speech, but as
a former gay sailor who served in the US Navy in
the late 1960s and early 1970s, they are
something I could never have imagined hearing
from the Secretary of the Navy in those days.
For me, its inspiring, making me puff out my old
chest in pride and wiping a tear from my eyes.
So, progress is at hand at last. Milk
has been honored, but in fact, so have we all.
That ship shall sail honoring all those patriots who
served in silence, and all those patriots who serve in
Pride.
©2016 GayMilitarySignal