Background

Harvey was born May 22, 1930, in Woodmere, New York. Harvey and his one sibling, Robert, worked in the family’s department store, "Milk's." His Lithuanian born father, William, served in the United States Navy and as did his spirited, independent mother Minerva, also of Lithuanian heritage, who was a "Yeomanette" during World War I. Harvey came from a small middle-class Jewish family that had founded a Jewish synagogue and was well known in the New York "Litvaks" community for their civic engagement.

Education

A well-rounded, well-liked student, Milk played football and sang in the opera at Bay Shore High School. Like his brother, Robert, he also worked at the family department store, "Milk's."

He knew he was gay by the time he attended high school, where he was a popular student with wide-ranging interests, from opera to playing football.

While in college at New York State College for Teachers (now the State University of New York) in Albany, where he studied math and history, Milk penned a popular weekly student newspaper column where he began questioning issues of diversity with a reflection on the lessons learned from the recently ended World War. He graduated in 1951 and enlisted in the Navy.

Career

In 1951 Harvey Milk enlisted in the Navy. He attended Officer Candidate School in Newport, Rhode Island, and subsequently was based in San Diego, where he served as a diving instructor. In 1955, he resigned at the rank of lieutenant junior grade after being officially questioned about his sexual orientation.

Following his time in the Navy, Milk entered the civilian working world in New York, as a public school teacher on Long Island, as a stock analyst in New York City, and as a production associate for Broadway musicals, including Jesus Christ Superstar and Hair. During the 1960s and early 70s, he became more actively involved in politics and advocacy and he demonstrated against the Vietnam War.

Late 1972, Milk moved to San Francisco, where he opened a camera store on Castro Street, in the heart of the city’s growing gay community. It quickly became a neighborhood center. Milk’s sense of humor and theatricality made him a popular figure. Little more than a year after his arrival in the city, he declared his candidacy for the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. He lost that race but emerged from the campaign as a force to be reckoned with in local politics.

After some area merchants tried to prevent two gay men from opening a store, Milk and a few other business owners founded the Castro Village Association, a first in the nation organizing of predominantly LGBT businesses, with Milk as president. He organized the Castro Street Fair in 1974 to attract more customers to area businesses. Its success made the Castro Village Association an effective power base for gay merchants and a blueprint for other LGBT communities in the United States.

In 1975, he ran again for the combined San Francisco City/County supervisor seat and narrowly lost. By now, he was established as the leading political spokesman for Castro’s vibrant gay community. His close friend and ally Mayor George Moscone, appointed him to the city’s Board of Permit Appeals, making Milk the first openly gay city commissioner in the United States.

Milk soon filed candidacy papers for the state assembly but lost his race to represent the Sixteenth Assembly District. Realizing that he would have a greater chance of political success if he relied on voters in the Castro, he then worked with his campaign manager, Anne Kronenberg, and Mayor Moscone for the passage of an amendment that would replace at-large elections for the Board of Supervisors with district elections. In 1977, he easily won his third bid and was inaugurated as a San Francisco City-County Supervisor on January 9, 1978. This was an important and symbolic victory for the LGBT community as well as a personal triumph for Milk. His election made national and international headlines.

On November 27, 1978, a disgruntled former city Supervisor assassinated Milk and Mayor George Moscone. Dan White sneaked into City Hall through a basement window, avoiding the metal detectors at the official entrances, went to Moscone’s office, killed him, then walked down the hall to kill Milk. That night, a crowd of thousands spontaneously came together on Castro Street and marched to City Hall in a silent candlelight vigil that has been recognized as one of the most eloquent responses to violence that a community has ever expressed.

Given the hatred directed at gay people in general and Milk in particular - he received daily death threats - he was aware of the likelihood that he may well be assassinated. He recorded several versions of his will, "to be read in the event of my assassination." One of his tapes contained the now-famous statement, "If a bullet should enter my brain, let that bullet destroy every closet door." His nephew, Stuart Milk, a teenager at the time, and close with his uncle, came out, along with countless others across the nation, on the day his uncle was killed. Shortly after Milk’s death, people marching for gay rights in Washington, D.C., chanted "Harvey Milk lives!"

Dan White, Milk’s assassin, was acquitted of murder charges and given a mild sentence for manslaughter, partly as a result of what became known as the "twinkie defense." His attorney claimed that White had eaten too much junk food on the day of the killings and thus could not be held accountable for his crimes. He was sentenced to less than eight years in prison on May 21, 1979 - the day before what would have been Milk’s 49th birthday - igniting what came to be known as the White Night Riots. Enraged citizens stormed City Hall and rows of police cars were set on fire. The city suffered property damage and police officers retaliated by raiding the Castro, vandalizing gay businesses, and beating people on the street.

Achievements

• 

  Harvey Milk remains the most famous openly gay person ever elected to office - an inspiration to the hundreds of men and women who can trace their own courageous forays into public service back to the historic election of Harvey Milk.
  
  In subsequent years, Milk’s name was attached to a series of schools, buildings, and public centers throughout California. He was the subject of another acclaimed film in 2008, with actor Sean Penn and screenwriter Dustin Lance Black earning Academy Awards for their contributions to director Gus Van Sant’s biography, "Milk."
  
  In 2009, the activist’s May 22 birthday was formally recognized in California as Harvey Milk Day, and he was posthumously honored with the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Barack Obama.
  
  The United States Navy, in recognition of Milk’s years with the Navy and his civil-rights activism, announced that a naval fleet oiler would be christened the USNS Harvey Milk.
  
  A statue of Milk was unveiled in the center rotunda at San Francisco City Hall in 2008.

Works

More photos

• book

  • An Archive of Hope: Harvey Milk's Speeches and Writings

    (An Archive of Hope is Milk in his own words, bringing tog...)

    2013

Religion

Milk was very critical of organized religion and did not attend religious services. Randy Shilts wrote in The Mayor of Castro Street (2008) that "Harvey never had any use for organized religion." In one of his recorded wills, Milk said of his funeral: "I hope there are no religious services. I would hope that there are no services of any kind, but I know some people are into that and you can’t prevent it from happening, but my god, nothing religious."

Politics

A commitment to serving a broad constituency, not just LGBT people, helped make Milk an effective and popular supervisor. His ambitious reform agenda included protecting gay rights - he sponsored an important anti-discrimination bill - as well as establishing daycare centers for working mothers, the conversion of military facilities in the city to low-cost housing, reform of the tax code to attract industry to deserted warehouses and factories, and other issues. He was a powerful advocate for strong, safe neighborhoods, and pressured the mayor’s administration to improve services for the Castro such as library services, and community policing. In addition, he spoke out on state and national issues of interest to LGBT people, women, racial and ethnic minorities, and other marginalized communities

One of these was a California ballot initiative, Proposition 6, which would have mandated the firing of gay teachers in the state’s public schools. State Senator John Briggs, seeking to marshal anti-gay sentiment and an agenda of hate and diminishment for political gain, spearheaded the initiative. With strong, effective opposition from Milk and others, it was defeated at a time when other political attacks on gay people were being successfully waged around the United States.

Attendance swelled at gay pride marches in San Francisco and Los Angeles as Milk and others campaigned against the Briggs Initiative.

In one of his eloquent speeches, Milk spoke of the American ideal of equality, proclaiming, "Gay people, we will not win our rights by staying quietly in our closets. ... We are coming out to fight the lies, the myths, the distortions. We are coming out to tell the truths about gays, for I am tired of the conspiracy of silence, so I’m going to talk about it. And I want you to talk about it. You must come out."

Many other qualities in addition to his eloquence made Milk a successful politician and leader. He pioneered the building of coalitions between diverse group - women, Asians, Hispanics, the disabled - and even brought together the teamsters and gay bar owners - in return for a pledge from the teamsters to hire more gay drivers, Milk asked bar owners to stop selling beer from certain distributors while drivers were striking.

Views

Milk’s unprecedented loud and unapologetic proclamation of his authenticity as an openly gay candidate for public office and his subsequent election gave never before experienced hope to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgendered (LGBT) people everywhere at a time when the community was encountering widespread hostility and discrimination. His remarkable career was tragically cut short when he was assassinated nearly a year after taking office.

Harvey Milk believed that government should represent individuals, not just downtown interests, and should ensure equality for all citizens while providing needed services. He spoke for the participation of LGBT people and other minorities in the political process. The more gay people came out of the closet, he believed, the more their families and friends would support protections for their equal rights. In the years since Milk’s assassination, public opinion has shifted on gay marriage, gays in the military, and other issues, and there have been hundreds of openly LGBT public officials in America, yet the work continues.

Quotations: "All men are created equal. No matter how hard you try, you can never erase those words."

"Hope will never be silent."

"I know that you cannot live on hope alone, but without it, life is not worth living."

"It takes no compromising to give people their rights. It takes no money to respect the individual. It takes no survey to remove repressions."

"I have tasted freedom. I will not give up that which I have tasted. I have a lot more to drink. For that reason, the political numbers game will be played. I know the rules of their game now and how to play it."

"Some people call me the unofficial mayor of Castro Street."

"It's not my victory, it's yours and yours and yours. If a gay can win, it means there is hope that the system can work for all minorities if we fight. We've given them hope."

"Here's to homogeneity."

Personality

In his school years, Harvey cultivated a tough image. It was a good disguise. In secret he could be an opera queen; but for the world he would be a man’s man, as much as he could. He played varsity football and basketball in high school. He ran track. He wrestled for the school team. His hypermasculine enthusiasm for sports was surely a way of placating Bill, who would not have been tolerant of effeminacy in his son.

And for good measure, he cultivated a persona as the class clown, always ready with a wisecrack - lest anyone think he was not talkative because he had something to hide.

In the years since the killings, Milk's legacy as a leader and pioneer has endured, with numerous books and films made about his life. In 2008, Sean Penn starred as Milk in the acclaimed biopic Milk. Penn ended up winning the 2009 Academy Award for best actor for his portrayal of the slain politician.

Quotes from others about the person

• "Though we tend to see our heroes as these mythic people, Harvey was an ordinary man, who faced challenges, defeats, and humiliations like the rest of us... but he took the heart of San Francisco." - Activist Cleve Jones.
  
  "What set Harvey apart... was that he was a visionary. He imagined a righteous world inside his head and then he set about to create it for real, for all of us." - Anne Kronenberg.
  
  "Harvey spent most of his life looking for a stage. On Castro Street, he finally found it." - Tom O'Horgan, theater director and a friend of Harvey Milk's.
  
  "A hardworking and dedicated supervisor, a leader of San Francisco's gay community, who kept his promise to represent all constituencies." - President Jimmy Carter, describing Harvey Milk in a statement after the City Hall killings.
  
  "Harvey was a pioneer of the 20th century. His struggle and his deeds will prove to history that there's no such thing as a gay way, there is only one way. ... The citizens of San Francisco can make Harvey live forever by continuing to do things his way, in the deeds and in the accomplishments of their daily efforts to make their great city live." - Harvey Milk's brother, Robert, quoted in "The Mayor of Castro Street."
  
  "Every movement needs its hero, and, by his death, Harvey became a symbol, a rallying cry of never, never again." - Jean O'Leary, director of the National Gay Rights Advocates, on the 10th anniversary of Harvey Milk's death.

Interests

• opera, musicals

• Sport & Clubs

  football, basketball, wrestling

• Music & Bands

  "Jesus Christ Superstar," "Hair"

Connections

Harvey Milk realized during his adolescence that he was gay. He had been in relationships with many men including Craig Rodwell, Joe Campbell, and Scott Smith.

Father:

William Milk

In his youth, Milk suffered his fair share, in silence. His father, Bill, a "chronically angry" shopkeeper and furrier on Long Island, didn’t hide his displeasure with his opera-loving son.

Mother:

Minerva Milk

Harvey's mother, Minnie, was more caring and had a sense of humor. Milk called her "the real freak of the family." He meant it as a compliment.

Brother:

Robert Milk

Partner:

Craig Rodwell

In 1962 Milk became involved with Craig Rodwell, who was ten years younger. Though Milk courted Rodwell ardently, waking him every morning with a call and sending him notes, Milk was discouraged by Rodwell's involvement with the New York Mattachine Society, a gay activist organization. When Rodwell was arrested for walking in Riis Park, and charged with inciting a riot and with indecent exposure (the law required men's swimsuits to extend from above the navel to below the thigh), he spent three days in jail. The relationship soon ended as Milk became alarmed at Rodwell's tendency to agitate the police.

Partner:

Joe Campbell

In 1956, Harvey Milk met Joe Campbell, at the Jacob Riis Park beach, a popular location for gay men in Queens. Campbell was seven years younger than Milk, and Milk pursued him passionately. Even after they moved in together, Milk wrote Campbell romantic notes and poems. Growing bored with their New York lives, they decided to move to Dallas, Texas, but they were unhappy there and moved back to New York, where Milk got a job as an actuarial statistician at an insurance firm. Campbell and Milk separated after almost six years; it would be his longest relationship.

Partner:

Jack McKinley

Milk started a romantic relationship with Jack Galen McKinley and recruited him to work on conservative Republican Barry Goldwater's 1964 presidential campaign. Their relationship was troubled: McKinley, aged 16, was 17 years younger than Milk and prone to depression, and frequently threatened to commit suicide if Milk did not show him enough attention. To make a point to McKinley, Milk took him to the hospital where Milk's ex-lover, Joe Campbell, was himself recuperating from a suicide attempt, after his lover - a man named Billy Sipple - left him. Milk had remained friendly with Campbell.

Milk and McKinley were among the thousands of gay men attracted to San Francisco. McKinley was a stage manager for Tom O'Horgan, a director who started his career in experimental theater but soon graduated to much larger Broadway productions. They arrived in 1969 with the Broadway touring company of Hair. McKinley was offered a job in the New York City production of Jesus Christ Superstar, and their tempestuous relationship came to an end.

Partner:

Scott Smith

Milk met Scott Smith, 18 years his junior, and began another relationship. Milk and Smith returned to San Francisco, where they lived on the money they had saved. In March 1973, after a roll of film Milk left at a local shop was ruined, he and Smith opened a camera store on Castro Street with their last $1,000.

Smith was instrumental to Milk's career as an activist and politician. He organized and managed Milk's campaigns for public office from 1974 to 1977 and his influence was widely in evidence after Milk was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1977. Smith was well known for orchestrating the Coors Beer boycott and putting Milk at the forefront of the issue, creating one of the first public displays of power by the gay community.

References

• Milk Foundation.org
• Milk Based on the true story, Academy Award - winner Sean Penn stars in this stirring celebration of Harvey Milk.
  2009
• The Mayor of Castro Street: The Life and Times of Harvey Milk The Mayor of Castro Street is Shilts's acclaimed story of Harvey Milk, the man whose personal life, public career, and tragic assassination mirrored the dramatic and unprecedented emergence of the gay community in America during the 1970s. Known as "The Mayor of Castro Street" even before he was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, Harvey Milk's personal and political life is a story full of personal tragedies and political intrigues, assassinations at City Hall, massive riots in the streets, the miscarriage of justice, and the consolidation of gay power and gay hope.
  2008
• The Times of Harvey Milk A true twentieth-century trailblazer, Harvey Milk was an outspoken human rights activist and one of the first openly gay United States politicians elected to public office; even after his assassination in 1978, he continues to inspire disenfranchised people around the world.
  1984
• Harvey Milk: His Lives and Death Harvey Milk - eloquent, charismatic, and a smart-aleck - was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1977, but he had not even served a full year in office when he was shot by a homophobic fellow supervisor. Milk’s assassination at the age of forty-eight made him the most famous gay man in modern history; twenty years later Time magazine included him on its list of the hundred most influential individuals of the twentieth century.
  2018