Navy launches ship named for gay rights leader Harvey Milk

From The Associated Press

Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro said that, like many others, Milk had to “mask that very important part of his life” while he served in the Navy.

A Navy ship named for slain gay rights leader Harvey Milk, who served four years in the Navy before being forced out, was christened and launched in San Diego Bay on Saturday.

The replenishment oiler USNS Harvey Milk slid down the shipyard ways after a bottle of champagne was smashed on the bow by former Navy officer Paula M. Neira, clinical program director for the John Hopkins Center for Transgender Health.