By: Paul Goldberg, Senior Editor | JRL CHARTS LGBT Politics USA
WASHINGTON D.C. — (June 15, 2025) — U.S. Rep. Eric Sorensen (D-IL), one of the few openly gay members of Congress, delivered a blistering rebuke to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Thursday over the Pentagon’s reported move to strip civil rights icon Harvey Milk’s name from a U.S. Navy ship.
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The tense exchange unfolded during a House Armed Services Committee hearing, where Sorensen challenged Hegseth to affirm Milk’s legacy and military service.
“Do you believe that Harvey Milk is a veteran who deserves this country’s thanks?” Sorensen asked.
Milk, who served from 1951 to 1955, was forced out of the Navy with an “other than honorable” discharge simply for being gay. Despite this, Milk would go on to become one of the nation’s most influential LGBTQ+ rights pioneers before being assassinated in 1978.
When Hegseth tried to dodge the question by pointing to ongoing deliberations about the ship’s name, Sorensen pressed harder, noting that he couldn’t get a straight answer the day before from Navy Secretary John Phelan either.
“My grandfathers taught me to value every veteran’s service — no matter their background,” said Sorensen. “But here I see leadership willing to erase that service.”
He then invoked his own childhood dream of becoming a weatherman, a career path that could’ve begun in the military — but wasn’t open to people like him.
“I could’ve joined the Navy or the Army to study meteorology. But someone like me wasn’t allowed,” he stated. “You may want to change that, but you can’t. This country belongs to all of us — gay, straight, trans, disabled, immigrant.”
Sorensen warned that such actions from military leadership are once again alienating LGBTQ youth.
“Gay kids like me are watching. They’re deciding not to serve — because they believe the Pentagon doesn’t care about them.”
The USNS Harvey Milk, launched in 2021, was the first Navy ship named after an openly gay American. Recent reports say it’s now under review for renaming, along with other ships named for labor leaders, civil rights figures, and Supreme Court justices.
“Every veteran deserves thanks,” Sorensen declared. “That’s what my grandfather believed. That’s what I believe. And that’s what this country should believe.”
The Pentagon has yet to issue a formal update on the final decision, but outrage is growing from LGBTQ+ advocates and veterans’ groups nationwide.
Stay tuned to JRL CHARTS LGBT Politics USA for ongoing coverage of LGBTQ+ rights battles on Capitol Hill.
