Blog Post — A Navy Ship Named Harvey Milk lat-harvey-milk-stamp

“The Navy is set to name a ship after the gay rights icon and San Francisco politician Harvey Milk, according to a congressional notification obtained by USNI News.

“The July 14, 2016 notification, signed by Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus, indicated he intended to name a planned Military Sealift Command fleet oiler USNS Harvey Milk (T-AO-206).”

It should be noted here that on August 12, 2009 President Obama awarded posthumously the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Harvey Milk.  Just who is Harvey Milk and why would he deserve the nation’s highest civilian award and now have a ship named after him.  Oh yeah, and there’s also the forever stamp that has been dedicated in his honor and California has its own state holiday “Harvey Milk Day!”

Milk’s only claim to fame was he was the first openly homosexual candidate to be elected to public office in the US– city supervisor of San Francisco.   Within a short time he pushed for the passage of a homosexual special rights ordinance.  Only one supervisor, fellow Democrat Dan White, voted against it.  Prior to that Harvey Milk had opposed a zoning bill proposed by White.

In November 1978, White resigned from his position saying the supervisor salary was not enough to support his family.  Mayor George Moscone told White he would consider reappointing him if he chose to return.  Several days later White did ask to return, but Moscone refused to reappoint him, due in part to a request by Milk.

On November 27, 1978, less than a year after taking office, Harvey Milk and Mayor George Moscone were shot and killed by Dan White in their offices in  San Francisco City Hall.  Milk was immediately catapulted to become a national ‘gay’ icon.’  Most believe he was targeted by White for being ‘gay’ and may even forget that the mayor of San Francisco was killed that day also.  Reading the history outlined above, it is doubtful Milk was targeted simply for being ‘gay.’  But what do the facts mean anymore??

Randy Shilts was a San Francisco Chronicle reporter who died of AIDS in 1994.   He was also a close friend to Harvey Milk and his biographer.

Harvey Milk served in the Navy from 1951 to 1955, when he was honorably discharged.  “Milk later exploited his time in the Navy during his political career – by lying about it, claiming falsely that he had received a dishonorable discharge for his homosexuality. Milk ‘knew the story would make good copy,’ according to Shilts. ‘Maybe people will read it, feel sorry for me and then vote for me,’ Milk told one campaign manager.

Shilts confessed, “Harvey always had a penchant for young waifs with substance abuse problems.”

His victims included a 16-year-old runaway from Maryland named Jack Galen McKinley — Milk was 33.  Years later McKinley committed suicide.  Another teen who crossed Milk’s path was former homosexual Gerard Dols.  In a 2008 radio interview Dols shared of how – as a physically disabled teen – the “very nice” Harvey Milk had encouraged him in 1977 to run away from his Minnesota home and come to San Francisco.  Milk sent him a letter with instructions, which was intercepted by Dols’ parents.  A complaint with the Minnesota attorney general’s office was filed, but the case got “lost.”

Peter Sprigg of the Family Research Council wrote in 2009 in his detailed expose of Milk, “He continued to engage in homosexual conduct while serving in the U. S. Navy.”  Shilts reports that Milk, who had his own apartment off base, would pick up hitchhiking sailors by offering them a bed to sleep in. ‘The guests often would not know that Milk’s apartment had only one bed until they walked in the door.’

Another lover, Jack, moved in with Milk when he was 16 and Milk was 33. Jack attempted suicide several times, and once when he physically attacked Milk, ‘Harvey literally tied him up and threw him in a closet,’” reports Shilts.

Craig, had been arrested after having sex with a 40-year-old man – when Craig was 14. He met Milk when he was 17. ‘[I]t would be to such boyish-looking men in their late teens and early 20s that Milk would be attracted for the rest of his life,’ Shilts reports.

Besides homosexuals, Milk had another key constituency – “potheads,” according to Shilts. One key supporter ran “a marijuana supermarket from his bustling apartment.” Shilts reports that Milk arranged several jobs for his partner Jack L. – including one manufacturing “poppers,” an illegal street drug. When a doctor asked what he could do for gay people, Milk replied, “Write more prescriptions for Quaaludes.”

Milk may even have faked a “hate crime” to advance his political ambitions. The windows of Milk’s camera shop were “blown out by … M-80 mega-firecrackers.” Shilts says, “Years later friends hinted broadly that Harvey had more than a little foreknowledge that the explosions would happen. ‘… [T]he campaign was sort of going slow, and, well …’”

In the few months that Milk actually held elective office, “Harvey left little doubt that his term would be marked more by his unique brand of political theater than by the substantive tasks of the board,” according to Shilts. And that “political theater” had mostly to do with advancing the homosexual movement – in his “political will,” Milk declared, “Almost everything that was done was done with an eye on the gay movement.”

Here in PA, Jerry Sandusky sits in prison for taking advantage of underage boys and now the United States Navy is poised to name a ship after someone who has committed the same type crimes.  Something isn’t quite right here!!

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