A grip-and-grin with Harvey Milk
and Jimmy Carter at the San Francisco Hilton on May 21, 1976. Photo courtesy:
Uncle Donald's Castro |
The 1984 Academy
Award winning documentary The Times of Harvey Milk tells the story
of a revolution that rose on Castro Street from #575, the '70s camera
store of Harvey Milk. Milk's rise as the City's first openly gay Supervisor
is recounted here, as is Milk's murder with Mayor George Mosconi at the
hands of disgruntled pol, Dan White.
Harvey Milk promoted many progressive ideals, but his primary message was
about coming out. His calls to "Come out, come out wherever you are," and
his unflinching manner in successfully campaigning against the anti-gay
Briggs Initiative in 1978 are hallmarks of his career. Appealing to San
Franciscans of all stripes because he was fun, the charismatic Milk spearheaded
the pooper scooper law and was famously filmed stepping in it. Power, politics,
humor, devastation, rage and injustice - all extremes swirling around San
Francisco during times that changed the City's destiny as surely as any
earthquake. Because he is rightly considered a martyr of the gay rights
movement, many members of the gay community and other San Franciscans, consider
his to be guiding principals. A familiar refrain among longtime members
of the gay community is "What would Harvey think about...?" (Milk's successor
on the Board of Supervisors, Harry Britt, thinks
Milk would like "Will & Grace".) Britt was appointed by Mayor Dianne
Feinstein and was later reelected three times. Britt served 14 years in
all. Gays and lesbians have been represented on the board without interruption
since the time Milk was elected. The famous 'lavender sweep" came in 1990,
when gay teacher and comedian Tom Ammiano was
elected to the Board of Education the same year lesbians Robert Achtenberg
and Carole Migden were elected to the Board
of Supervisors. Donna Hitchens, also a lesbian, was elected Superior Court
Judge, rounding out the sweep. Of these, Ammiano has ascended as the President
of the Board of Supervisors who won the battle but lost the war to unseat
Mayor Willie Brown. Achtenberg was in the Clinton administration. Migden
is in turnaround, having been elected to the State Board of Equalization
in November, 2002 after a stellar career in the State Assembly. Many political
opportunities - including a possible run for Mayor of San Francisco in 2003
- lie ahead for Migden.
Detail:
Harvey Milk Mural
More
about The Times of Harvey Milk |
