Tony Perkins, president of the
Christian conservative group Family Research Council (FRC), is
calling on supporters to protest the Navy's plan to name a ship after
gay icon Harvey Milk.
According to various reports, U.S. Navy
Secretary Ray Mabus plans on naming a fleet oiler the USNS Harvey
Milk.
Milk was elected to the San Francisco
Board of Supervisors in 1977 on a pledge to back gay and lesbian
rights, making him the first openly gay official of a major U.S.
city. The following year, a disgruntled former supervisor killed
Milk.
Milk served aboard a submarine rescue
ship during the Korean War.
In
a press release, Perkins said that Milk was not worthy of the
honor: “Although he served briefly in the Navy, nothing he did
merits the kind of tribute Mabus is giving him.”
“If you’re as disturbed by Mabus’s
plans as we are, bring this up to your House and Senate leaders while
they’re home campaigning and hosting townhalls. Let them know that
the Navy’s idea is an outrageous one when there are so many other
deserving men and women, whose courage mattered – not in the
bedroom – but on the battlefield,” he added.