Harvey milk fight for lgbtq

Harvey Milk Day in SF takes on new meaning in fight for Diverse rights

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- San Francisco's Castro District was filled with sounds of celebration Thursday evening in honor of Harvey Milk, on what what've been his 95th birthday.

"Harvey Milk was the first person to stand up and say, no one's going to know us until we come out of the closet, and now we're out of the closet and this is a permanent legacy for us," said Ned Moran, a volunteer for Friends of Harvey Milk Plaza.

Milk was the first openly gay man elected to public office in California, and he built a legacy advocating for LGBTQ+ rights.

"Harvey came out and organized at a hour that was also very dark, a very difficult hour. He showed us what can take place if we appear out and group , and that the power of the people is greater than the might of the not many at the top," said Fred Fishman, a San Francisco resident, noting Milk is an example in today's battle against the Trump administration's attacks on LGBTQ+ rights.

FULL VIDEO: 'Murder at Municipality Hall: The killing of Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk'

The ABC7 Originals documentary,

harvey milk fight for lgbtq

Harvey Milk (1930 - 1978) 

"I know that you cannot stay on hope alone, but without it, life is not worth living.  And you ... and you ... and you ... possess got to grant them hope." -Harvey Milk, "You Cannot Live on Aspire Alone" speech

When he won the election to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1977, Harvey Milk made history as the first openly homosexual elected official in California, and one of the first in the Combined States.  His camera store and campaign headquarters at 575 Castro Street (and his apartment above it) were centers of community protest for a spacious range of human rights, environmental, labor, and neighborhood issues.  During his tenure as supervisor, he helped pass a queer rights ordinance for the city of San Francisco that prohibited anti-gay discrimination in housing and employment.

Harvey Milk has been honored twice under President Obama's administration.  First, he was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2009.  In 2014, he was honored by the Combined States Postal Service with a Forever Stamp in 2014.

 

Selected Library Resources:

  • Jason Edward Black and Charles E

    What Really Made Harvey Milk Special

    When Harvey Milk was elected 47 years ago this November, he became one of the first openly gay people in public office. With a seat on the San Francisco board of supervisors—essentially the city council—Milk was viewed as a promising political force. His career was cut short just over a year after his election, when he was murdered alongside the then-mayor of San Francisco by a homophobic political rival out to agree a personal score. Today, he is one of the most recognizable male lover icons of the 20th century. But his story has been sanitized and sanded down to blurb size over the years, such that mainstream mentions of his life rarely capture much of who he actually was.

    I didn’t know a lot about Milk beyond the broad strokes of his concise political career before I started reporting Slow Burn: Gays Against Briggs, the latest season of Slate’s narrative history podcast. It wasn’t clear to me whether he’d become a gay rights icon primarily because of his martyring or because he was truly a singular head. After spending seven months immersed in the story of the Briggs Initiative, a 1978 ballot proposition that would have banned gay teachers

    Celebrating Harvey Milk: Honoring His Contributions to LGBTQ History

    Harvey Milk was more than just an iconic figure in the LGBTQ community – he was a trailblazer who consecrated his life to fighting for equality and justice. As one of the first openly gay elected officials in the Together States, Milk paved the way for generations of LGBTQ activists and politicians to come.

    His legacy lives on today, as we continue to fight for the rights and dignity of all LGBTQ individuals. In the words of Harvey Milk himself, “Hope will never be silent.” May 22nd is Harvey Milk Day, but he is a historical figure who should be remembered every time changes for the better are made for the LGBTQ community.

    Table of Contents

    Who Was Harvey Milk?

    Harvey Bernard Milk was a gay rights activist and politician who made history by becoming one of the first openly gay elected officials in the United States. Harvey Milk was born in New York in 1930 and had a complicated childhood, struggling with his sexuality in a community that was hostile and discriminatory towards LGBTQ people. He served in the U.S. Navy during the Korean War and eventually settled in San Francisco in the early 1

    This June the National Archives is commemorating National Woman loving woman, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Pride Month, which honors the important contributions that LGBTQ+ Americans own made to U.S. history and culture.Visit our website for more information.Today’s display is from Jen Hivick at the National Personnel Records Center, and looks at civil rights activist Harvey Milk’s time in the military. 

    Did you understand that the National Personnel Records Center has uploaded military records for some very notable service members? They are online at the Persons of Exceptional Prominence (PEP) webpage and features veterans ranging from Bea Arthur to Franklin D. Roosevelt. 

    One “personal of exceptional prominence” is Harvey Bernard Milk. Although foremost known as the first openly gay man to be elected to office in California, before his tragically short-lived career in politics he served in the U.S. Navy from 1951 until 1955. 

    Milk’s military record gives us communication about his family, his childhood, and his service in the Navy. Documents in it include a copy of his birth certificate, his high academy transcript, and his application to become an officer.