Harvey Milk

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An anti-gay rights group has purchased hourly radio spots to urge parents to keep their children home from school on Harvey Milk Day, which honors the gay rights pioneer.
Randy Thomasson, president of the SaveCalifornia.com, said the group bought more than 100 time slots for a radio ad in Los Angeles and Sacramento. It urges parents to “protect your children from Harvey Milk indoctrination,” by keeping them home from school on Wednesday.
“This is harmful to children,” Thomasson said. “This is not academic, it’s brainwashing.”
John O’Connor, executive director of the group Equality California, said the radio spots “expose homophobia” and “encourage discrimination.”
Milk served less than a year on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors as the first openly gay elected official in California before he was fatally shot in 1978 along with Mayor George Moscone by colleague Dan White. In 2009, the Legislature designated Milk’s birthday, May 22, as a “day of special significance.”
The law encourages schools to have “suitable commemorative exercises” to mark Milk’s life.
Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, the San Francisco Democrat who co-authored the law, called SaveCalifornia.com’s efforts “pathetic.”
from The Sacramento Bee

Harvey Milk

SAN FRANCISCO — A San Francisco lawmaker on Tuesday planned to introduce legislation asking voters to rename the city’s airport after slain gay rights leader Harvey Milk.
A charter amendment sponsored by Supervisor David Campos would put the question of creating Harvey Milk-San Francisco International Airport on San Francisco’s November ballot.
If five of Campos’ colleagues agree to submit the proposed name change to voters and the amendment goes through in the fall, the city would become home to the world’s first airport honoring an openly gay person, said Milk’s nephew, Stuart Milk.
Milk, who runs an international gay rights foundation in his uncle’s memory, said that adding an airport to the list of public venues named for Harvey Milk would mark a milestone since flights to and from San Francisco International serve 68 countries where homosexuality is illegal.
“For young gay people in an illegal place looking up at a monitor and being able to point to this international airport named after an LGBT advocate, it gives them the green light to authenticity,” Milk said. “It’s a major representation that (they) are being celebrated somewhere in the world in a high-level way.”
About 41 million passengers pass through San Francisco International every year, “and the idea that millions of people can learn about Harvey Milk and what he represented is very moving,” Campos said.
“That no airport in this country has been named for an openly LGBT person is something I hope would be remedied, and what a better place than San Francisco for something like that to happen than SF and what better person than Harvey Milk,” he said.
Campos said the San Francisco Board of Supervisors could vote on the amendment in as little as two weeks.
Milk became one of the first openly gay men elected to public office in the United States when he won a seat on the board of supervisors in 1977, inspiring a generation of activists with his uncompromising call for gays to come out.
He was assassinated at City Hall, along with Mayor George Moscone, more than a year later. His life became the subject of the 2008 Oscar-winning film “Milk.”
The airport renaming, if it is approved, would make him the recipient of an honor most often reserved for former presidents.
from The Associated Press

Harvey Milk

ORANGE COUNTY, CALIFORNIA – In addition to Constitution Week, Cyber Security Awareness Month and Wear Red for Women Day, Harvey Milk Day will now be officially recognized by Orange County supervisors.
The decision marks a reversal for county supervisors, who twice previously refused to set aside a day to honor the birthday of the slain gay rights activist, who was a supervisor in San Francisco when he was gunned down.
On Tuesday, supervisors voted to adopt a yearly list of proclamations that included Harvey Milk Day. Supervisor Shawn Nelson, who helped activists get the day on the list of more than 90 proclamations, said he understands that the recognition is symbolic.
“He was a sitting supervisor,” said Nelson of Milk, who was killed in 1978. “The significance wasn’t lost on me.”
The state officially marked Harvey Milk Day in 2009, and this year San Diego named a street in his honor. Long Beach also broke ground on Harvey Milk Promenade Park earlier this year.
The issue was a sensitive one in Orange County, since one of Milk’s final battles was to take on then-state Sen. John V. Briggs, a Fullerton resident who pushed a state initiative that would have given school boards the authority to fire openly gay teachers.
The conflict was featured in the movie “Milk,” in which Sean Penn played the activist. The Briggs initiative was defeated in 1978.
After a May board meeting where supervisors declined to recognize the day, Supervisor Nelson said he would help local activists get it on the list.
He said it was simple, and that he expected that “it would go right through.”
Nelson said that in general, he is not in favor of proclamations because he believes that they don’t accomplish anything.
“I just found it extraordinary that they were never put on the list,” he said. “They just hadn’t had the timing down,” he said of activists.
Archer Altstaetter, a founder of the Orange County Equality Coalition, said the decision is meaningful for the county.
“We have a very, very, very conservative Board of Supervisors,” he said. “I think they are finally aware that it’s not a white conservative Orange County.”
He said the decision will also bolster future Harvey Milk events in Orange County. This year, the celebration of activist’s birthday was like a “mini gay pride” event with more than 1,000 people attending, he said.
“We’re just fully acknowledged,” he said. “We’re no longer ignored.”
from The Los Angeles Times

State lawmakers have no power to name U.S. Navy ships, but that didn’t discourage the state Senate on Monday from a long, passionate debate over a proposal to name a vessel after slain gay rights leader Harvey Milk.
State Sen. Christine Kehoe (D-San Diego) introduced a resolution urging the Navy to name a ship for Milk, a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors who was assassinated by a political rival.
Kehoe noted that Milk began his public service in the Navy, serving during the Korean War as a diver aboard the submarine rescue ship Kittiwake and later as a diving instructor before eventually leaving the Navy as a lieutenant.
“It’s more than appropriate to my constituents and to all of us that Harvey Milk be remembered for his service in the U.S. military,” Kehoe said.
But Republican senators opposed the resolution, saying Navy ships are traditionally named after states, cities, presidents and admirals. They said Milk’s military record did not rise to the level of justifying his name on a ship.
“This is political correctness moving a little farther out of control,” said Sen. Doug La Malfa (R-Richvale) during the floor debate. “I think it would be demoralizing to many of the folks who would be stationed aboard such a vessel.”
Kehoe noted that President Obama posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Milk, and that the state has designated May 22 annually as “Harvey Milk Day.” In the end, Senate Resolution 36 was approved on a 25-8 vote, with no Republicans voting in favor.
from The Los Angeles Times

Harvey Milk

SACRAMENTO – Capping a remarkable year for slain San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a bill to create a state day of recognition for Milk, making him only the second Californian, after naturalist John Muir, to receive the honor.Capping a remarkable year for slain San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a bill to create a state day of recognition for Milk, making him only the second Californian, after naturalist John Muir, to receive the honor.
The governor signed the measure late Sunday along with new laws to help gay and lesbian people in the state, including a measure giving same-sex couples legally married in other states all the rights of marriage in California.
While the governor vetoed the bill honoring Milk last year, President Obama’s awarding Milk the Presidential Medal of Freedom and an Academy Award-winning film about Milk’s life moved Schwarzenegger to sign the bill, spokesman Aaron McLear said.
“The bill is symbolic of the importance of the gay community to California, which is why he signed it,” McLear said, adding that Schwarzenegger wanted to “honor that community.” It is the only such day of recognition for a gay or lesbian person in the United States.
The measure was among 478 bills signed by Schwarzenegger on Sunday, the deadline for him to act on legislation passed by the Legislature before its session ended Sept. 11. The governor vetoed 229 bills.
Milk, one of the first openly gay people elected in the United States, and San Francisco Mayor George Moscone were shot and killed by Dan White, a former supervisor, at City Hall on Nov. 29, 1978.
The measure mandates that the governor proclaim each May 22 as Harvey Milk Day in the state, to coincide with Milk’s birthday. It will not be a state holiday. The bill signed by Schwarzenegger encourages public schools in the state to conduct lessons “remembering the life of Harvey Milk, recognizing his accomplishments and familiarizing pupils with the contributions he made to this state.”
Formal recognition of Milk and the action on out-of-state same-sex marriage add to Schwarzenegger’s legacy of having approved more legislation expanding gay rights than any other governor in state or national history, despite his vetoes of bills to extend marriage rights to same-sex couples.
In August, Schwarzenegger accepted the nomination of Milk to the California Hall of Fame, to which he will be inducted in December.
Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, who authored the legislation declaring a day honoring Milk, praised the governor for his action, saying it was an idea “whose time had come.”
“This will go a long way to better inform Californians as to the nature of the civil rights struggle in the LGBT community,” Leno said.
The measure was backed by Equality California, the largest gay-rights organization in the state. Geoff Kors, executive director of the group, said it would develop curriculum for schools and teachers to use on Milk’s birthday.
Schwarzenegger’s staff said the office heard from tens of thousands of people, for and against the bill.
The Campaign for Children and Families, which opposed the law, called it “the strongest impetus yet for loving parents to remove their children from anti-family public schools.”
In addition to the Milk bill, Schwarzenegger signed another Leno bill affecting same-sex couples legally married outside of California.
The measure ensures that couples who wed before the passage of Proposition 8 in November retain their status as “married,” while those who wed after the measure passed will retain all rights of marriage save the name. That means married couples who move to California will not have to register as domestic partners to have their relationships recognized by the state.
The governor also signed a bill that will expand funding for domestic violence programs targeting the gay and lesbian communities. He vetoed a measure to direct the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to consider sexual orientation and gender identity in the housing of inmates, which the governor said occurs already.
Schwarzenegger vetoed a measure allowing transgender people who have left the state to request a new birth certificate reflecting their change in gender. He said a recent court ruling made that legal, making a law unnecessary.
from The San Francisco Chronicle