40 Years After Assassatn Of First Openly Gay Elected Official In California : NPR

Contents:

• 40 YEARS AFTER ASSASSATN OF FIRST OPENLY GAY ELECTED OFFICIAL IN CALIFORNIA
• MURRED GAY POLICIAN HARVEY MILK'S LEGACY KEY AS LGBT+ RIGHTS ATTACKED - SCREENWRER

40 YEARS AFTER ASSASSATN OF FIRST OPENLY GAY ELECTED OFFICIAL IN CALIFORNIA

—died November 27, 1978, San Francis, California), Amerin polician and gay-rights graduatg om the New York State College for Teachers Albany (1951), Milk served the U. His populary grew when he challenged the cy’s gay learship, which he thought was too nservative s attempts to ga greater polil rights for 1973 Milk ran for a seat on the cy’s Board of Supervisors but was feated.

MURRED GAY POLICIAN HARVEY MILK'S LEGACY KEY AS LGBT+ RIGHTS ATTACKED - SCREENWRER

Navy vsel to be named for an openly gay person, and at the ship’s christeng Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro said, “For far too long, sailors like Litenant Junr Gra Milk were forced to the shadows or, worse yet, forced out of our beloved Navy. “I fully realize that a person who stands for what I stand for, an activist, a gay activist, be the target or potential target for a person who is secure, terrified, aaid, or very disturbg, ” Milk said the tape.

”Born on Long Island 1930 and raised a tight-kn Jewish muny, Milk knew om a young age that he was gay, but spent much of his adult life figurg out how out of the closet to be. Milk was mted to attag public office, and spent years buildg his crentials, foundg the Castro Street Fair and the San Francis Gay Democratic Club, and nng several tim for office throughout the ’70s before his 1977 of Milk’s biggt acplishments happened before he ever took office, back when he was lled the “Mayor of Castro Street. Coors was tryg to stop the hirg of unn drivers to transport their beer, and Milk agreed to try and throw the weight of San Francis’s LGBTQ muny behd the strike, exchange for Baird phg the Teamsters to support the hirg of gay tck drivers.

Milk began his mpaign wh an appeal his regular lumn the Bay Area Reporter, wh the headle “Teamsters Seek Gay Help, ” and ma an argument for solidary across inty l: “If we the gay muny want others to help our fight to end discrimatn, then we mt help others their fights.

”Farman wr Harvey Milk: His Liv and Death that aln-buildg was central to his polics:“Gay people mt build bridg wh workers and racial mori, he clared.

Not only was the morally right thg to do, but workers and racial mori were ‘’s wh gays, he said, bee they all had mon enemi—the ‘them’s who wanted to keep the powerls their place. ”Milk helped nvce gay bar owners to stop sellg Coors solidary wh the Teamsters strike, brgg media along to photograph bar owners dumpg out the beer ran for office four tim San Francis, cludg twice for the Board of Supervisors and also the California State Assembly, and was fally elected 1977 to the Board after his send n. ” Ste noted that electoral reprentatn has been a key path to power for the LGBTQ his brief time office, Milk was a stnch advote for gay rights at a moment when the polil climate was eply hostile towards LGBTQ people.

” “This one has teeth; a person n go to urt if his rights are vlated once this is passed, ” Milk told the Tim of the Milk at the Gay Pri Para rryg a si readg, “I'm om Woodmere, New York”. San Francis Chronicle/Hearst Newspapers via Getty ImagMilk also went head to head wh the homophob of his time, g his platform to help beat back Proposn 6.

Instead, the Briggs Iniative lost by more than a ln his ath, Milk had a key role the formatn of the 1979 Natnal March on Washgton for Gay and Lbian Rights.

“This is perhaps a perd when lbians and gay men were at their most divid, as lbian femists are g to their own and llg gay men out on sexism, and even the term ‘lbian’ me to much greater populary the ’70s as distct om women llg themselv ‘gay women, ’” Ste said.

Ste scribed Milk’s relatnship wh fellow San Francis LGBT in and close iend Sally Gearhart, a lbian activist, as proof of Milk’s effectivens at workg across differenc and buildg and Gearhart’s close relatnship was part of a movement to build nnectns between gay men and lbians that had grown by the late 1970s. “Before Harvey, I thk that most groups that were gay or lbian, homosexual groups, or homophile groups, as they lled themselv at one pot, uld not have dreamt of havg rourc for teenagers.

Protters nonted lol police, outraged over the blatant homophobia that allowed Whe to receive such a lenient Milk’s impact was felt far beyond the Bay Area. Wng a seat on the cy’s Board of Supervisors, he emerged as one of the untry’s preement openly gay elected officials, spearheadg an important anti-discrimatn measure.

The send son of William and Merva Milk, he me om a fay wh proment ti to the muny: His Lhuanian-born grandfather Morris owned Milk’s Dry Goods, which beme the largt partment store on Long Island, and had helped anize the area’s first realized he was gay at an early age, and reportedly was dulgg his sir wh illic trysts by his early teens. ”Mayor of Castro Street Milk moved back to San Francis for good late 1972, and wh a few months he opened a mera shop on Castro Street, the heart of the gay muny. Partly spired by what he viewed as an unfair tax on small bs, he cid to n for a seat on the San Francis Board of Supervisors was spurned by much of the cy’s more fluential gay electorate, who felt the outspoken New Yorker should tone down his act and wa his turn.

Addnally, Milk fed an alliance wh the Teamsters Unn by supportg a boytt of Coors beer, and the unn returned the favor by promisg to hire more gay drivers. Bettmann Archive/Getty ImagSupervisor Harvey Milk Undnted by his electn loss, Milk found the San Francis Gay Democratic Club to garner more polil support, and succsfully phed for a reanizatn of the Board of Supervisors electn om a cywi, at-large format to a geographil district format. Returng to the mpaign trail 1977, he sought to broan his appeal beyond the gay muny through promis to reform the tax to boost dtry, create low-e hog and tablish day re centers for workg mothers.

That November, an historic electn that also saw the first Che Amerin and the first Ain Amerin woman elected to the cy’s Board of Supervisors, Milk beme one of the untry’s first openly gay elected Rights Legislatn Demonstratg his penchant for urtg publicy, Milk -sponsored a “pooper-soper” ordance that required dog owners to clean up after their pets.

As supervisor, he also dove to more personal matters by spearheadg a bill to ban discrimatn employment, hog and public acmodatns based on sexual orientatn, one of the natn’s strongt gay-rights measur to date. Followg California State Senator John Briggs’s troductn of the Proposn 6 ballot iative, which sought to ban gay teachers and anyone supportg gay rights om workg California schools, Milk spent much of the summer and fall of 1978 mpaigng agast the iative.

This time, the reactn was far ls peaceful: Outraged protters stormed Cy Hall and set police rs on fire, and the SFPD rpond by smashg up gay bars and beatg patrons. ”Legacy: Harvey Milk Day Although he spent ls than a year office, Milk’s brief time the public eye marked an important steppg stone the battle for gay rights. ” Addnally, more elected officials, cludg Massachetts Congrsman Gerry Studds and Barney Frank, me forth to acknowledge their homosexualy durg this subsequent years, Milk’s name was attached to a seri of schools, buildgs and public centers throughout California.