Harvey Milk was a pioneer in the LGBTQ community being the first openly gay elected official in California's history. Harvey came to the Castro District of San Francisco from New York City in 1972 , where after WWII, gay men had come to live away from the prejudice, judgement, and ostracism. While Harvey was aware of his sexuality earlier in his life, he did not come out as openly gay until after he was 40, when he decided to get into civic duty.
Milk was born on May, 22, 1930 to William Milk and Minerva Karns , his Lithuanian Jewish parents. After Harvey graduated from high school, he attended New York State Collage for teachers where he majored in Math. After he graduated, Milk went into the Navy during the Korean War. After being discharged, Milk began to teach. His first relationship was with Joe Campbell and they were together for about 6 years. Later, this would be noted as Harvey's longest relationship.
When researching Harvey, I found that while he did try to keep his gay love life private from his work life at first, he was a total romantic. He would write poetry, send love letters, and souround his lovers with support and love.
In the 70s, Milk and his boyfriend at the time, Scott Smith, opened a camera store on Castro Street. In 1973 a politician came into his camera shop and advised him that they shop owed a 100.00 deposit against the state's sales tax. After yelling back and forth with the gentleman and going to the offices of the state, the deposit was reduced to 30.00. The small business on Castro St were often harassed by politicians due to the fact that they were largely owned by gays. Harvey had enough. He decided it was time to literally " put up or shut up".
Milk was not automatically welcomed by the gay political establishment in San Francisco. Milk was running for City Supervisor and the seasoned politicians at the time felt that Harvey had not earned the right to run for such an important role without years of hard work. Milk got to work but at first his inexperience showed. He attempted to campaign without any staff, any support, and any money. However, his very strong, fire filled, and outrageous speeches gained him a lot of attention from the press. He got 16,000 votes and came in at 10th place out of 32 candidates.
At this time, Milk was named the "Mayor of Castro Street" after he went door to door at the neighborhood gay bars asking them to refuse to sell beer until the UNION hired more gay drivers . Milk continued to be an important ally for gay businesses on Castro St. He felt that all gays should only buy from gay owned businesses and therefore organized the Castro Street Fair in 1974 to try and bring in more customers to the gay businesses in the area. The fair was wildly successful.
After this time, Harvey became a serious political figure and he stated to get very serious about being elected and making a change. On November 8th 1977, he was elected supervisor. His swearing - in made national news as he was the first non- incumbent , openly gay man to be elected to a public office.
Milk began to receive death threats and even made the comment "If a bullet should ever enter my brain, let that bullet destroy every closet door."
In November of 1978, Dan White, resigned his position on the Board of Supervisors stating that he was not paid enough. After a few days, White changed his mind and tried to withdraw his resignation and at first, Mayor Moscone agreed. However, after speaking with the Board of Supervisors, he was convinced to not allow the withdrawal of Dan's resignation.
Mayor Moscone had plans to have a press conference to announce the resignation of Dan White and his replacement on November 27,1978. About 30 minutes before the press conference, White slid into a window in the basement of City Hall. He went to the mayor's office first He tried speaking with the Mayor first but the conversation ended up in a shouting match and then White shot the Mayor in the chest, shoulder, and then twice in the head. He then was walking to get to his former office, reloading his gun, and stumbled upon Harvey. He asked him to come in his office and then shot Milk 5 times, two of those bullets striking him in the head.
Harvey Milk was only 48 years old. White later turned himself in.
Harvey died trying to get equal rights for the LBGTQ community. His legacy will always be remembered for highlighting the importance of gay neighborhoods to the city and for the liberation of gays. In the last year of his life, Milk encouraged gay people to come out in the open and be seen. He stated that if more gays were open, they could help stop the discrimination and hate against them. Harvey Milk was a pioneer. His legacy lives on in each person who overcomes their fear and trepidation of being LGBTQ and is open and honest about their sexuality. Allowing others to know they are loved, embraced, and never alone.
With it being the end of Pride month, I wanted to bring to light 2 people that died simply because of their sexuality. Two men, Harvey Milk and Matthew Shepard, who were taken too soon simply because they of who they loved. Two people who would have never hurt a soul and two lives taken in hatred.
Please know that if you are Gay ,Lesbian, Bi-Sexual, Trans Sexual, Pan Sexual, Asexual, Cisgender, Non-Binary, Transgender....YOU ARE LOVED. YOU ARE SPECIAL. AND MOST OF ALL, YOU ARE WANTED.
Source Material- Wikipedia: Harvey Milk.
Harvey Milk Biography.
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