United States Navy veteran Harvey Milk, who became an LGBT rights icon after becoming the first openly-gay elected official in California in the 1970s, will be honored by the branch for which he served, according to a report by USNI News via Congress.
The Navy is set to name a ship after him.
The announcement is signed by Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus and decrees that a Military Sealift Command fleet oiler will be christened the USNS Harvey Milk (T-AO-206).
Milk joins an impressive legion of figures who have been honored with vessel names, including Robert F. Kennedy, Sojourner Truth and Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren.
More from USNI News:
Milk came from a Navy family and commissioned in the service in 1951. He served as a diving officer in San Diego during the Korean War on the submarine rescue ship Kittiwake until 1955. Milk was honorably discharged from the service as a lieutenant junior grade.
When Milk was assassinated by fellow city supervisor Dan White (a Vietnam vet who famously dodged a murder charge through the dubious “Twinkie defense”) he was wearing his U.S. Navy diver’s belt buckle.