He said that he would not live to the age of 50; he lived to the age of 48 until some nut case shot him to death.
He was an activist for gay rights at a time when the conservative right, religious, political views were a force to be reckoned with throughout the country. He became a cause celebre working endlessly for his mission, unafraid to stand up for civil rights, taking it one step at a time, never giving up. He ran three times for office until he was finally elected as a City Supervisor in San Francisco, the first openly gay man to be elected to a public office.
I saw the movie, Milk, last night. Sean Penn has been my favorite actor for decades. Everyone can remember him in Dead Man Walking where he won the Academy Award. He won the highest award for this film too. It could not have gone to a more deserving actor. This part was made for Sean Penn who gave it the sensitivity and emotion that it deserved. He was Harvey.
Harvey Milk arrived in California at about the same time as I when the political and gay movements were getting vitality and attention across our country. He preached being true to yourself and to stand up for that.
In today’s paper it was reported that the Army fired 11 openly gay soldiers in January and have discharged over 10,000 gays through 1997 and 2007 for violating the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy. Obama is trying to lift this ban in our military.
Everyone go see Milk. You will come away with feelings you have not before experienced and you will be remembering this movie for years to come.
