Harvey Milk ~ The Open Door For The LGBTQIA+ Community By Jennifer Kate

Hey guys, it's Jennifer from Slap Shots Fired, and today's blog is another LGBTQIA+ story. But this one has no connection to the three-part series I’m currently writing. I just genuinely think this is a great story, and with Pride Month approaching, I thought sharing this story would be a good start.

First off, people are probably wondering who Harvey Milk is. Harvey Milk was the first openly gay male to be elected to public office in San Francisco. Milk was elected into office on January 8th, 1978 and served until November 27th of that year, when he unfortunately was assassinated.

During his almost 11 months in office, he sponsored a bill banning discrimination in public accommodations, housing, and employment based on sexual orientation.

Now before I move on to tell you guys about the impact Harvey Milk still has on the LGBTQIA+ community, I want to briefly talk about his untimely death. Milk was assassinated by Dan White, his former workmate on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. What is interesting about White’s story leading up to his assassinating Milk is that White resigned from his position on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors because his annual salary of $9,600 was not enough to support his family.

Just days later, White requested that his resignation be withdrawn and that he wanted to be reinstated to his position. Here’s the ironic part of this story: the reason White assassinated Milk was that he didn’t like the bill Milk sponsored, as White was the sole vote against the bill.

Now before I wrap this blog up, I want to tie this whole blog together with the impact that Milk still has to this day on the LGBTQIA+ community. The City of San Francisco has paid tribute to Milk by naming several locations after him. One of the locations is called Harvey Milk Recreational Art Center, which is the headquarters for the drama and performing arts programs for the city's youth. Where Market and Castro Streets intersect in San Francisco flies an enormous Gay Pride flag, situated in Harvey Milk Plaza. There is one final location named in honor of Milk, and that is the Harvey Milk LGBTQ Democratic Club.

In addition, there is a cool program here in New York named after him, which is simply titled Harvey Milk High School. This program is a school program for at-risk youth that concentrates on the needs of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender students.

So as you can see Harvey Milk has made quite an impact on the LGBTQIA+ community, and his name and legacy continue to be associated with the LGBTQIA+ community. In my personal opinion, Harvey Milk has had one of the biggest impacts on the LGBTQIA+ community ever to exist.