HARVEY MILK DAY 2011
SAN FRANCISCO - May 22, 2011 marks the second annual Harvey Milk Day, honoring the gay activist who was born 81 years ago today.
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger passed the law making May 22 the official day to remember Milk in 2009 after vetoing it the previous year.
Schwarzenegger’s spokeperson, Aaron McLear, says “Harvey
Milk symbolizes the importance of the gay community in California and the Governor wanted to honor that community.”
Democratic state senator Mark Leno says the Governor “clearly evolved in his thinking” since the previous year.
Schwarzenegger has approved more legislation for gay rights than any other US governor in history.
As a San Francisco Supervisor, Milk supported a bill that he hoped would eliminate discrimination against homosexuals. He, as well as Mayor George Moscone, was shot by former Supervisor Dan White on November 27, 1978, while at a meeting at City Hall.
White was charged with murder, but was convicted on the lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter.
This was the second tragedy San Francisco faced that month, as over 900 members of the Peoples Temple religious group, previously based in San Francisco, died in Guyana on November 18, 1978. Initially there was speculation that the two tragedies were connected, but there remains no clear link between them.
The official Harvey Milk Day website suggests that a proper celebration of today may be serving milk and cookies to friends while watching the 2008 film ‘Milk’ starring Sean Penn and James Franco.
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger passed the law making May 22 the official day to remember Milk in 2009 after vetoing it the previous year.
Schwarzenegger’s spokeperson, Aaron McLear, says “Harvey
Milk symbolizes the importance of the gay community in California and the Governor wanted to honor that community.”
Democratic state senator Mark Leno says the Governor “clearly evolved in his thinking” since the previous year.
Schwarzenegger has approved more legislation for gay rights than any other US governor in history.
As a San Francisco Supervisor, Milk supported a bill that he hoped would eliminate discrimination against homosexuals. He, as well as Mayor George Moscone, was shot by former Supervisor Dan White on November 27, 1978, while at a meeting at City Hall.
White was charged with murder, but was convicted on the lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter.
This was the second tragedy San Francisco faced that month, as over 900 members of the Peoples Temple religious group, previously based in San Francisco, died in Guyana on November 18, 1978. Initially there was speculation that the two tragedies were connected, but there remains no clear link between them.
The official Harvey Milk Day website suggests that a proper celebration of today may be serving milk and cookies to friends while watching the 2008 film ‘Milk’ starring Sean Penn and James Franco.