Who is Harvey Milk? [View All]

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and why is a school named after him? In all the discussion on the Harvey Milk School and why it is or isn't a good idea I think a little something which speaks volumes got lost in the shuffle. Just who Harvey Milk was.

Harvey Milk was a councilman in San Francisco who along with Mayor Muscone was assisinated by a fellow councilman named Frank White. Milk was San Francisco's first openly gay councilman and had just recently been elected when in 1977 he and Muscone were gunned down in cold blood. White was a very conservatve former cop turned councilman who decided to take by violence what he couldn't win electorally. White was tried for the crime.

He used the 'twinkie' defense. The theory was that since he loaded up on junk food and sugar he was not responsible for what he did. A jury of White's peers, but not Milk's, found him guilty of manslaughter and he served 5 years in prision. 5 years for the worst crime in a democracy that of assassination.

This wasn't back in the day but in the lifetime of most Americans. I was 10 when this happened. Things have gotten better of that there is no doubt. But for all too many gays and lesbians we find every day the evidence for why this school is a necessary evil. I would vastly prefer that people like me could go to schools and not be in fear of harrassment or bodily harm. I would much prefer that people like me couldn't be fired from our jobs, lose our apartments, and be bashed on the streets. That, sadly, isn't true yet. So, for now, the Harvey Milk School lives on as a bittersweet testiment to both how far we have come and how far we need to go. I just thought some perspective was in order.

Sorry two errors and thanks for pointing them out.

One the shooter was Dan White and two he served 6 years (I think it was 5 and some actually but rounding made 6)