Harvey Milk Day

[Rick336]

from www.365gay.com


Calif. Assembly Passes Harvey Milk Day Bill
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff

Posted: May 20, 2008 - 11:00 am ET

(Sacramento, California) The California Assembly has passed legislation honoring slain LGBT civil rights pioneer Harvey Milk. The bill, designating May 22 each year as Harvey Milk Day, now moves to the state Senate where it is expected to encounter little difficulty.

May 22 is Milk's birth date. He would have been 78 this year.
Milk was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1977 and shot to death a year later, along with Mayor George Moscone, by fellow supervisor Dan White.

White was convicted of manslaughter, and served a little more than three years in prison before committing suicide.

In the years since his death, Milk has become the most recognizable martyr of the gay rights movement.

The bill requires the Governor to proclaim May 22 as Harvey Milk Day, and designates it as a "day of special significance" in California, encouraging schools to conduct suitable commemorative exercises on his life and contributions to the state.

The legislation would have no financial impact on the state, and state workers and school employees would not get the day off from work.

The Assembly voted 45 to 23 to pass the bill, authored by Assemblyman Mark Leno (D).

"Harvey would be proud to know that his legacy continues to teach us to believe in ourselves and our dreams," said Leno in a statement following the vote.

"Given the alarming rates of suicide, depression, substance abuse, bullying and violence against LGBT youth in our schools, the bill aims to give LGBT and straight students alike a positive representative of who LGBT people are that inspires pride and self-esteem rather than fear and shame. That is what Harvey was all about," he said.

The measure comes as the City of San Francisco prepares to unveil a statue to Milk on Thursday.

Last month the San Francisco Arts Commission formally approved the placement of the sculpture in the Ceremonial Rotunda in City Hall.

The bronze sculpture will sit atop a stone base inscribed with a quote from one of his most famous speeches.

Milk has been immortalized in the film "The Life and Times of Harvey Milk", at a school named for him, and a plaza near Castro and Market Streets. Shooting was recently completed on a second film, a dramatization of Milk's life starring Sean Penn and directed by Gus Van Sant.

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[Vanessa White]

I am so glad that even though thirty years after his death, it will be recognized and seized as an opportunity for support and education. My brother was living in San Francisco at the time; I remember the chaos and upset about the murders. A movie with Sean Penn sounds like it will have the intensity necessary to pull it off properly.

Thanks for this info, Rick.

[tdogg]

Awesome. It's a wonderful time to be living in Sac! Lot's of history being made. I hope it passes and gets signed by the Gov.