Who is Harvey Milk?
Harvey Milk was a San Francisco politician who is unfortunately probably most famous for his death at the hands of ex-supervisor Dan White; at White’s trial, the notorious “Twinkie Defense” was used to excuse his actions. However, Milk made a number of remarkable accomplishments during his lifetime, most notable of which was his election as an openly gay candidate in an era when homosexuality was still widely regarded as a mental illness. When Harvey Milk became San Francisco’s first gay supervisor in 1977, and one of the first openly gay politicians in the modern world, he became an inspiration to gays and lesbians everywhere. He was born in New York in 1930, and joined the Navy in 1951. After being honorably discharged, Harvey Milk worked as a teacher in New York City, and ultimately moved to San Francisco in 1972. Milk had no interest in politics, but he quickly became a leader in The Castro, San Francisco’s gay district. He also became a major activist in the city, fighting for gay
Much has been written about him as the first elected gay official in the United States, and although his legacy is much more than that, one must look past the brevity of his political tenure to define his legacy. He ushered in the notion of Gay Pride and helped gays everywhere begin the process of healing the effects of centuries of oppression. He showed the straight community that gays were more than the punch lines of sick jokes. He set the bar very high for all future gay rights activists by his willingness to pay the ultimate price for his beliefs, while feeling death was a certainty. The major motion picture will solidify Milks legacy in the minds of many people who had yet to know his name, and after watching the movie many will be wondering how Harvey Milk could, despite his accomplishments and subsequent recognition, have remained the least famous, famous person in the history of civil rights. The Hope Speech Somewhere in Des Moines or San Antonio, there is a young person who r
and why is a school named after him? In all the discussion on the Harvey Milk School and why it is or isn’t a good idea I think a little something which speaks volumes got lost in the shuffle. Just who Harvey Milk was. Harvey Milk was a councilman in San Francisco who along with Mayor Muscone was assisinated by a fellow councilman named Frank White. Milk was San Francisco’s first openly gay councilman and had just recently been elected when in 1977 he and Muscone were gunned down in cold blood. White was a very conservatve former cop turned councilman who decided to take by violence what he couldn’t win electorally. White was tried for the crime. He used the ‘twinkie’ defense. The theory was that since he loaded up on junk food and sugar he was not responsible for what he did. A jury of White’s peers, but not Milk’s, found him guilty of manslaughter and he served 5 years in prision. 5 years for the worst crime in a democracy that of assassination. This wasn’t back in the day but in the
