Gay icon gay rights. Milk's image as a positive role model led to him becoming the namesake for the first high school designed primarily for gay teenagers, the Harvey Milk High School, in the East Village of New York City. The portrayal of those efforts in the critically acclaimed film "Milk" earned Sean Penn an Oscar and comparisons to the contemporary battle over the anti-gay ballot initiative Proposition 8 raging in California at the time of the film's release in 2008. An ironic icon is Anita Bryant, who worked to oppose homosexuality. During the 1970s, Bryant led a national campaign, "Save Our
USNS Harvey Milk (T-AO-206) prominent civil rights leaders, with the second to be named for gay rights activist Harvey Milk. Milk served in the U.S. Navy during the Korean War aboard the submarine rescue ship USS "Kittiwake" and held the rank of Lieutenant (junior grade) at the time of his honorable discharge. The ship was officially named at a ceremony in San Francisco on August 16, 2016. It is the first U.S. Navy ship named for an openly gay leader. USNS Harvey Milk (T-AO-206) USNS "Harvey Milk" will be the second of the "John Lewis" class of underway replenishment oilers, operated by the Military