San Francisco, the city that voted to use taxpayer dollars to provide sex change operations, is refusing to accept the U.S.S. Iowa, a veteran ship of WWII, Korea, and Gulf War I.

In a sign of the times the city of San Francisco voted 8-3 not to have the retired warship USS Iowa remain docked in the bay.

The USS Iowa fought in battles from World War II to Korea to the Persian Gulf War and is recognized has having suffered one of the most horrific accidents in Navy history.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif, also a former mayor of the city, locked up $3 million for the ship to remain a tourist attraction in the city. But with the war on terror, the military policy on gays and the war in Iraq facing so much opposition, the city supervisors voted the measure down.

"If I was going to commit any kind of money in recognition of war, then it should be toward peace, given what our war is in Iraq right now," Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi tells AP.

"This isn't the San Francisco that I've known and loved and grew up in and was born in," says Sen.Feinstein. "This is a very petty decision." [...]

[Said Douglass Wilhoit, head of Stockton's Chamber of Commerce], "San Francisco's rejection of such a storied battleship is a slap in the nation's face. We're lucky our men and women have sacrificed their lives to protect our freedom. Wherever you stand on the war in Iraq you shouldn't make a decision based on philosophy."

UPDATE: As Sgt. Fluffy points out, the U.S.S. Iowa was not a veteran of the Gulf War and was decommissioned by that time. Most articles covering this story are reporting that the Iowa was in the Gulf War. My guess is that some AP reporter somewhere read that the Iowa Class battleships (like the Wisconsin) took part in the war, and didn't understand the distinction.