Harvey Milk

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Harvey Milk (1930-1978) American politician and gay-rights activist.

Harvey Bernard Milk (May 22, 1930 – November 27, 1978), an American politician and gay rights activist, was the first openly gay city supervisor of San Francisco, California. He and Mayor George Moscone were assassinated in 1978. His assassin, Dan White, was sentenced to only seven years in prison. Outrage over the verdict led to widespread rioting in San Francisco by enraged homosexuals and others. Milk is seen by some to be a martyr to the LGBT community.

1 Biography
2 Academy Award Winning Documentary, Musical and Dramatic Portrayals of Milk's Life
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early life

Harvey Milk was not born Glimpy Milch, as it is widely reported. Harvey's given name was Harvey Bernard Milk. Milch was also not his grandfather's surname as has been reported, in fact Harvey's grandfather, Morris Milk was the owner and namesake of Milk's Department Store in Woodmere, NY; Glimpy was Harvey's nickname because as a child and adolescent, he was considered "goofy"-looking because of his large ears, nose, and feet. He was born in Woodmere, New York. He graduated from University at Albany in 1951 and joined the United States Navy; he was honorably discharged, although he later told voters in campaigns that he was a victim of one of the many anti-gay purges of the armed services.

Following his service in the Navy, Milk lived for a time in Dallas, Texas but as a Jew had difficulty in finding and keeping a job. Eventually he relocated to New York City and took a job on Wall Street. He also became involved with theater, serving as producer along side Tom O'Horgan for a number of plays including Lenny and the musical Jesus Christ Superstar.

In 1972, like many gay people of the time, Milk moved to San Francisco. He settled with his partner Scott Smith and opened a camera store, Castro Camera, in the Castro gay village. He emerged as a community leader, founding the Castro Valley Association of local merchants, and represented the neighborhood businesses in dealing with the city government.

[edit] Public office

Milk ran for the San Francisco Board of Supervisors unsuccessfully twice, in 1973 and 1975. He emerged as a figurehead for San Francisco's large gay community, and was known as the "Mayor of Castro Street," a title which he himself coined. With each campaign, he garnered larger number of supporters.

In acknowledgment of Milk's base of support, Mayor George Moscone appointed him to the powerful Board of Permit Appeals in 1976. Milk would lose his seat after just five weeks, however, when he announced his candidacy for the California State Assembly. Milk's opponent in that race was Art Agnos, who would win the assembly seat by 3,600 votes out of 33,000 ballots cast.

After San Francisco switched from at-large to district elections, Milk was elected to the Board of Supervisors on his third attempt in 1977, the first openly gay elected official of any large city in the United States, and only the third openly gay elected official in all of the US, after Kathy Kozachenko and Elaine Noble. Milk represented District 5, which included the Castro.

In his eleven months as a Supervisor, he sponsored a gay rights bill for the City as well as – famously – a pooper-scooper ordinance. He was also instrumental in defeating Proposition 6, backed by State Senator Briggs, which would have allowed openly gay men and lesbians who were teachers to be fired based on their sexuality. In November 1978, Proposition 6 was soundly voted down by Californians.

Milk was also successful in reaching out and making alliances among the city's ethnic populations and among labor union leaders but not among the rank and file members.

[edit] Assassination

Main Article: Moscone-Milk Assassinations

Mural on the second floor of Harvey Milk's former camera shop, Castro St, San Francisco.

Milk was assassinated on November 27, 1978 at City Hall, together with Mayor George Moscone, by former Supervisor Dan White. White had resigned only days before due to financial hardship and political frustration. Heeding the advice of his supporters, White sought to rescind his resignation and Moscone initially promised to re-appoint him. After an opinion from the city attorney indicating that White was ineligible for re-appointment, Moscone decided to appoint federal housing official Don Horanzy to White's former seat instead.

Learning of this, White entered City Hall through an open basement window in order to avoid detection of the gun he was carrying and 10 extra rounds of ammunition he carried in his pocket. After making his way to the Mayor’s office, confronting Moscone about his apparent betrayal, White shot Moscone. White reloaded his weapon and made his way to the opposite side of City Hall, where he confronted Milk. Milk allegedly smirked at White and told him "too bad" about the decision to appoint Don Horanzy instead. White shot him in the chest and head twice. Even though White carried a gun, 10 extra rounds, and crawled through a window to avoid metal detectors, White denied premeditation.

Thousands attended a spontaneous candlelight memorial vigil the night of Milk's funeral. Video of candlelight vigil, accompanied by a message Milk recorded preemptively "to be played only in the event of [his] death by assassination".

[edit] Trial

White was convicted of voluntary manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility and sentenced to seven years and eight months, a sentence widely denounced as lenient and motivated by homophobia. Lawyers had prevented anyone they deemed "pro-gay" from serving on the jury, and had brought in a psychologist to show evidence of the depression - namely that the consumption of junk food was out of character for the normally health-conscious White (leading to a common misunderstanding that junk food was blamed — see Twinkie defense).

White only served one year of parole, the first nine months of which he spent in Los Angeles. During his time in jail, his wife had given birth to another child but when the child was born disabled, White blamed it on retribution from God for his murderous actions. He then returned to San Francisco against Mayor Dianne Feinstein's public wishes, where he found himself hated, tormented, outcast, and alone. He committed suicide in the garage of his wife's house by asphyxiation from car exhaust.

Milk had foreseen his risk of assassination and had recorded several audio tapes to be played in that event. One of the tapes included his now-famous quote, "If a bullet should enter my brain, let that bullet destroy every closet door."

[edit] White Night Riots

After the sentence, the gay community erupted into what became known as the White Night Riots. As soon as the verdict was heard, word ran through the gay community and groups of people began walking quickly to the Civic Center and by 8:00 PM, there was a sizable mob formed. According to the documentary, "The Times of Harvey Milk", the enraged crowd started by screaming at police officers calling for revenge and death. Then, riots began to break out with the mob setting ablaze a number of police vehicles, disrupting traffic, smashing windows of cars and stores, buses had their overhead wires ripped down, and physical violence resulted against the outnumbered police officers.

Many rioters were arrested but the Chief of Police, Charles Gain, was blamed for being too weak in his response and holding back his officers when he should have been more proactive and defended lives and property. He defended himself by pointing out that no one was dead and only a few had minor injuries. More than 160 people were hospitalized because of the rioting.

[edit] Legacy

Harvey Milk is widely regarded as a martyr for the gay community and the gay rights movement. Many gay and lesbian community institutions are named for Milk, including the Harvey Milk Institute and the Harvey Milk Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Democratic Club in San Francisco, as well as a number of alternative schools in the United States, including Harvey Milk High School in New York City. A diner at the University of Warwick in the UK was named Harvey's in his honour, and the Leeds University Union named a nightclub the Harvey Milk Bar (although it has since been renamed).

An inscription at the Harvey Milk Plaza in San Francisco.

[edit] Academy Award Winning Documentary, Musical and Dramatic Portrayals of Milk's Life

The life of this politician is depicted in the Academy Award-winning documentary film, The Times of Harvey Milk in 1984, narrated by Harvey Fierstein. A 20th anniversary digitally remastered DVD of the documentary was released in 2004 and includes interviews with the film's director, Rob Epstein and Harvey's openly gay nephew, Stuart Milk, among others.

A number of pieces of music have taken Harvey Milk as their subject. Blue Gene Tyranny's Harvey Milk (Portrait) (1978) is a piece for magnetic tape which manipulates a recording of a speech Milk gave in 1978.

In 1987, punk band the Dead Kennedys released an acidic version of "I Fought the Law" with lyrics rewritten from Dan White's point of view. The chorus was altered to "I fought the law and I won," and lyrics include "I blew George and Harvey's brains out with my six gun" and "Twinkies are the best friend I ever had."

In the early 1990s a Southern sludge metal band named Harvey Milk was formed in Athens, Georgia. The group is still active today.

Harvey Milk is also mentioned by the band Concrete Blonde in their 1989 single "God is a Bullet": "John Lennon, Doctor King, Harvey Milk - all for goddamn nothing".

In 1995 the opera Harvey Milk by composer Stewart Wallace and librettist Michael Korie was premiered by the San Francisco Opera, and in 1996 it was recorded on CD under Donald Runnicles with the opera orchestra and chorus.

The 1999 film Execution of Justice based on the 1983 play (of the same title) written by Emily Mann re-lives the assassination.

In 2000 a TV film, American Justice: It's Not My Fault - Strange Defenses examined the assassination with archival footage of Milk and White.

In 2004, playwright and actor Jade Esteban Estrada portrays Milk in the solo musical comedy ICONS: The Lesbian and Gay History of the World, Vol. 2.

Director Bryan Singer will direct The Mayor of Castro Street, a feature film biography of Milk's life, scheduled for release in 2007.

Folk musician Zoe Lewis honors Milk with her song 'Harvey' on her 1998 album "Sheep".

[edit] References

Shilts, Randy, The Mayor of Castro Street. 1982.
Weiss, Mike Double Play--The San Francisco City Hall Killings 1984.
Turner, Wallace, "San Francisco Mayor is Slain; City Supervisor Also Killed; Ex-Official Gives Up to Police." The New York Times. November 28, 1978. A1.