The day I heard about his murder (along with the murder of San Franciscos Mayor), I had a mixed response of outrage and profound sadness. I believed Harvey Milk was becoming the national, unifying leader our young movement needed; he was charismatic, had boundless energy and defined the importance of coming out in clear, eloquent terms. Then in a moment he was literally blown away. When the sentence for the man who killed Milk and Mayor Mosconi at point blank range was announced-five years-because the Twinky defense-the guy had eaten too much junk food was apparently convincing-my rage far outweighed that of my sadness. As it did the gay/lesbian community in SF and elsewhere. Dan White-the killer-took his own life eventually; I take no joy in that now. But I still feel that Milks murder led to a costly and horrible loss for our civil rights movement. (And of course more so for those who loved and knew him up close and personally). But I do suppose the triumphs weve achieved make his death not totally in vain. I hope it also serves to remind us that we are not finished-we have many more battles to fight before we are equal citizens under the law. Heres to a great man who was also a really good man-and a hero of mine when I needed heroes desperately
Posted on: Sun, 03 Nov 2013 22:25:12 +0000
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