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Working Together
in com m on cause:
The le g a cy of
Harvey Milk
b y J a y B ro iu n
The lesbian and gay com m unity is a natural
coalition com posed of people of all ethnic,
socio-econom ic and age groups. That this
multifaceted com m unity can successfully re­
pel a m ajor assault on its civil liberties by
w orking with other minorities is the essential
message of The Times o f Harney M ilk.
The Times o f Harney M ilk should be of
particular interest to M ultnom ah County resi­
dents, as they will most probably face a right
wing offensive in the very near future — pos­
sibly at the next available election. A group of
people calling themselves Concerned Citizens
of Portland headed by form er State Repre­
sentative Drew Davis, is lending an assault by
iniative petition to repeal the protections g i­
ven gays and lesbians by the recently passed
am endm ents to the M ultnom ah County
Charter's hum an rights ordinance. C on­
cerned Citizens o f P ortland are credited with
handing form er Mayor Frank Ivancie 42,250
write-in votes in last November's election.
The film opens to the devastating televi­
sion news announcement by Diane Fenstein
(then President of the Board of Supervisors)
that both Mayor George Moscone and Super­
visor Harvey Milk had been shot and killed in
their offices at City Hall. The assassin was
Dan White, fellow Supervisor and former
policemen and fireman. Harvey Milk's journey
to that day is then recounted, beginning with
the voice of Milk, reading a will he drew up
and taped “ to be played only in the event of
m y death by assassination."
Milk ran for political office three times from
1973 to 1978 and lost each time. Yet he
became increasingly popular for his neigh­
borhood involvement, his grass roots
"m a ch in e " and his outrageous sense of
hum or. One o f his strongest assets was his
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with the blacks, the Filipinos not talking to the
Asians and they all hate the gays. Over the
years, we've all had to fight for the crumbs.
But because of district elections, we re over­
com ing these problems and there’s a tremen­
dous harm ony developing, it's essential that
ethnic minorities, gays and rank and file
union members link together." He began talk­
ing about the rights of senior citizens, the
drawbacks of high rise development, voting
machines for non-English speaking residents
and even a scooper ordinance.
The Times of Harvey Milk is a stunningly
em otional experience and not to b e
missed.
The issue closest to Milk's heart, however,
was a gay rights bill which, in 1978, passed
the Board of Supervisors and was enthusi­
astically signed into law by Mayor Moscone.
Dan White cast the only dissenting vote. White
also predicted a strong backlash to what he
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M U SIC
8
ability to bring together minorities, neighbor­
hood groups, the aged, rank and file union
m em bers and gays and lesbians in com m on
cause.
Parallel to M ilk’s spectacular ascension in
San Francisco politics is the emergence of
the Castro District as a vibrant and nationally
recognized "gay neighborhood" which drew
lesbians and gay men from across the
country. The election of progressive Mayor
George Moscone and the implementation of
his brand of coalition politics allowed the
election of public officials by district instead
of by city-wide voting. The predominantly gay
Castro District suddenly achieved new politi­
cal im portance and Harvey Milk decided to
run for a seat on the Board of Supervisors, his
fourth bid for public office.
At the age of 47, Harvey Milk finally won.
becom ing California’s first openly gay elected
official along with the first Chinese American,
the first black woman and the first women's
rights advocate to serve on the Board of
Supervisors. Lost in the excitement, was the
election of Dan White, another kind of popu­
list. White, elected from a blue collar neigh­
borhood. stood for the "old fashioned values
that built this country." Dan White and Harvey
M ilk became opposing symbols of the city's
new elections.
Milk lost no tim e explaining his philosophy
to the press. "In San Francisco, as anywhere
else," he said, you have the browns fighting
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term ed "the moral decay of the city" and
moved to stop the annual Gay Day Celebration.
Calling San Francisco "the m oral garbage
d u m p of the nation," State Senator John
Briggs introduces a statewide referendum
known as Proposition 6 which would deny
homosexuals their jobs teaching in public
schools.
Harvey Milk organizes a grass roots cam ­
paign against the Briggs initiative and is
thrust into the national spotlight as a gay
leader. Governor Ronald Reagan and Presi­
dent Jim m y Carter com e out against Propo­
sition 6 and in November of 1978, Briggs is
defeated by a surprising 2-1 m argin across
the state.
A few days later, citing financial problems.
Supervisor Dan White unexpectedly resigns
his seat on the Board of Supervisors. The
next day, he changes his m ind but legally, it is
too late for him to re-claim his office and it is
up to Mayor Moscone to decide whether or
not to re-appoint him. Harvey Milk lobbies
hard against White's re-appointm ent and
Moscone decides to appoint someone else to
represent White's district. Before Moscone
can make the announcem ent to the press,
Dan White, carrying a loaded revolver and ten
extra rounds of am m unition enters City Hall
through an open window to avoid the metal
detector and assassinates both George
Moscone and Harvey Milk.
On the evening of the assassinations,
45,000 people fill the streets in a silent can­
dlelight tribute to the two slain leaders, a
dem onstration Sally Gearhart calls “ one of
the m ost eloquent expressions o f a co m ­
m u nity’s response to violence I have ever
seen." Dan White goes on trial for m urder and
the prosecution argues a simple motive —
revenge. The defense portrays W hite as an
all-American Catholic fam ily man, an idealist
restrictions apply
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disgusted with the corruption of politics. The
jury selection process excludes gays, minority
residents and anyone whose politics are in
opposition to those of Dan White. After ele­
ven days, White is found guilty of voluntary
manslaughter by reason of dim inished cap-
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