Harvey Bernard Milk (1930 – 1978) is one of the main icons of the gay community. He was an American politician and the first openly gay man elected to public office in California, where he served as a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. Born and raised in New York, Milk accepted that he was a homosexual back in his teenage years, but kept his sex life private until he reached adulthood. Part of the 1960s counterculture, he relinquished his conservative views in favor of support for individual freedom and expression of sexuality.
In 1972, Milk moved to San Francisco, where he opened Castro Camera, a camera store. He settled in Castro District, a place chosen by many gays and lesbians as their neighborhood, although Milk changed many jobs and houses until then. In 1973, he decided to run for city supervisor, all the while encountering resistance from the already-established gay politicians. Political analysts have often compared his campaign strategies to a theater play. When running for office, Milk was brash, outspoken, animated and more often than not, downright outrageous. His campaigning style earned him much coveted and much needed media attention, but also quite a high number of voters. This, however, was not enough to get him the position he was running for. Milk was not one to quit, however. He continued to campaign during the following couple of city supervisor elections, even giving himself the title of “Mayor of Castro Street”. His loyal voters were many enough to guarantee his running for the California State Assembly. Given the incredible support he was receiving, Milk coordinated fierce political battles between his side, the gay politicians, and the anti-gay initiatives prompted by the conservative opponents.
Finally, in 1977, milk was elected supervisor, following an election procedure reorganization, which entailed that representatives be chosen from neighborhoods instead of city-wide ballots. During his seven months in office as city supervisor, Milk passed rigorous gay rights ordinances in San Francisco. Unfortunately, Milk and the then-Mayor of San Francisco, George Moscone, were both assassinated by Dan White, one of the other San Francisco city supervisors who had resigned but wanted his job back.
During these controversial times regarding Proposition 8, gay rights supporters roamed the streets, and one chant reminded everyone of the breakthrough of Milk and his election: “What would Harvey do?” No time seems better to release a film about Harvey Milk’s life, now does it? Next week “Milk”, a story based on the life, election and assassination of Harvey Milk - starring Sean Penn, will be resealed in theaters nationwide. The movie is directed by the famous Gus Van Sant (“Good Will Hunting”) back in January, when there was no Proposition 8 controversy. There are strong links, however, between the movie and Proposition 8. For instance, Focus plans to continue to open movies in Cinemark theatres, which also showed Brokeback Mountain.