The Times of Harvey Milk

[Rick336]

Many of you probably know who Harvey Milk was. But for those of you who don't, Harvey Milk was the very first openly gay elected official in the United States. He was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1977.

The story of his election made national news. Never before had an openly gay man run for office and won.

A year later on November 7th, 1978 Harvey Milk made this speech:

"We must destroy the myths once and for all. We must continue to speak out and most importantly every gay person must come out. As difficult as it is, you must tell your family, you must tell your relatives, you must tell your friends, you must tell your neighbors, you must tell the people you work with, you must tell the people in the stores you shop in, and once they realize that we are indeed their children and that we are indeed everywhere, every myth, every lie, every innuendo will be destroyed once and for all. And once you do you will feel so much better."

Tragically, twenty days after Harvey Milk made this speech, he was shot and killed by San Francisco Supervisor Dan White.

The night following the morning Milk was killed, one-hundred thousand gays, lesbians, and straight supporters held a silent candlelight march down Castro and Market Streets to the San Francisco City Hall. The only sounds were the sobbing mourners.

Sally Gearhart who attended the vigil described it this way:

"It was one of the most eloquent expressions of a community's response to violence that I've ever seen. And I think we as lesbians and gay men and all the straight people who were marching with us, and there were thousands, I think we sent a message to the nation that night about what our immediate response was. Not violence. But a certain respect for Harvey and a deep regret and feeling of tragedy."

In 1977 Harvey Milk was the only openly gay elected official in America. In 2006 there are over 300.

In 1984 a documentary was made about Harvey Milk's run for office and assassination titled, "The Times of Harvey Milk." It won an oscar at the 1985 Academy Awards for best documentary feature.

I think every person who has never seen this film should purchase it and watch this piece of American history. There is also a feature length motion picture in production titled, "The Mayor of Castro Street" that is scheduled for release in 2008.

Rick

[Emproph]

I remember being in grade school when he was killed and then the whole ‘hopped up on junk food’ defense at the trial.

I saw the documentary several months back and it was really enlightening and inspiring. It’s amazing to see how things have changed since then, both good and bad. I highly recommend it too.

[Zerbie]

Before my time - but I read the book by the same name as the movie that you say is due out in a couple years.

And yes, the famous Twinkie Defense is what stands out most vividly in my memory.

[Maria]

Thank you very much for your post (thread). I knew nothing about Harvey Milk before Gus van Sent's movie released (2008). And I'm happy that I've seen it.
Now I'm trying to find out about him everything. I've already ordered "The Times of Harvey Milk" by Rob Epshtein. And I'm going to buy Randy Shilts book.

[Gennee]

I didn't see the movie but from what I have read about Harvey Milk, he was truly a pioneer and visionary. He spoke out for gays, lesbians, transgender, the disabled, people of color, and the elderly. Harvey Milk lived an open life in a time that was perilous to glbt people.

Harvey was also a veteran who served in the navy during the Korean War. I wonder if he encouraged other gay seamen to be who they are? To me, Harvey is a true hero.

Gennee

[tdogg]

Gennee, watch the movie. It was fantastic and you will get a great idea of the work Harvey did. Well worth the price of a rental or even a purchase!