Stuart Milk, Harvey Milk’s nephew, with Speaker Pelosi. Milk also spoke at the event. PHOTO BY RINK

Kicking off a weekend of Harvey Milk Day activities, including a mass rally Saturday in San Francisco, the Honorable Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the US House of Representatives, appeared at an Equality California fundraiser on May 21 at the SF LGBT Community Center to help elect LGBT candidates and allies to office. Joining Pelosi were three openly gay leaders: State Senator Mark Leno, Stuart Milk (nephew of Harvey Milk and founder of the Harvey Milk Foundation), and former US Ambassador James Hormel. Unfortunately there was a power outage at The Center, so speakers had to shout out their addresses to the audience. The crowd strained to hear, but did not lose spirit over the audio misfortune. 

“We should be celebrating Harvey Milk’s 80th birthday today in person, but he was taken from us too soon by assassination,” said EQCA Executive Director Geoff Kors. “As we celebrate his life on this historic day, we will draw strength and inspiration from Harvey’s courage in our ongoing struggle to achieve our collective dream of full equality.” He said, “After several years of hard work, we have succeeded in making Harvey Milk’s birthday an official State Day of Recognition, honoring his incredible legacy and invaluable contributions to our state and to our nation.” He announced one way of celebrating was their plan to go door-to-door, as Milk would do, sharing stories across the state in neighborhoods that do not yet support full equality.

He said if we are to achieve equality, we have to get over our fear of rejection. “We will redouble our efforts to elect only those candidates who will be champions for complete equality,” said Kors. “We will continue standing shoulder to shoulder with our allies fighting for social justice across the spectrum, just as Harvey taught us to.” EQCA will be creating a slate of those candidates who do in fact support social justice. Kors stressed, “We have to do everything we can to stop Meg Whitman from becoming California’s governor!” 

“Thirty-one years ago, San Francisco passed a verdict that said if you kill an LGBT activist in cold blood, it is less than murder,” said Stuart Milk, regarding the unbelievably light sentence Supervisor Dan White had received for assassinating his uncle and Mayor George Moscone. “We need to think back where we have come from and where we are going.” He was 16 when his uncle won the election for supervisor. He said there would be celebrations of Milk all over the nation, with 22 cities holding official events in California alone. “The message is going forth that nobody wants to be tolerated; we want to be celebrated,” he said. He praised Senator Leno for successfully pushing the bill (twice) in State Legislature to recognize Milk Day, as well as the 50,000 people who signed the petition that got Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to eventually sign it into law. He said it was an honor to personally attend the ceremony when President Barack Obama posthumously awarded Milk the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor, “a symbol of strength, where we could send the message that there is no community that will be diminished and not fully included.” He concluded, “We are all doing the work for equality.” 

Ambassador Hormel said, “I want to welcome all my fellow second-class citizens.” He added, “Harvey Milk is the very first second-class citizen to be given a special day.” He said Milk would be pleased with the way the political landscape has “changed monumentally” since his day. He would be happy with the many, diverse coalitions that queers have made for social justice and equality. Hormel said three categories [12 capital letters] are keeping queers as second-class citizens: the passage of DOMA (the Defense of Marriage Act), the delay of an inclusive ENDA (Employment Non-Discrimination Act), and the DA/DT (Don’t Ask/ Don’t Tell) military ban of queers. “It’s time to change these mean, hurtful laws that should have no place on the books or in our democracy,” said Hormel. He said, “I know in my heart, my soul, and my head that Speaker Pelosi is here for us and will do what is possible to move us forward toward first-class citizenship.” 

“This is exactly what the LGBT Community Center is all about: a place where we can celebrate,” said Senator Leno. “A community center was at the top of Harvey’s to-do list.” Leno, as chief author, said passing the Harvey Milk Day bill in State Legislature was a collaborative effort, no small part of which was Stuart Milk’s presence. He noted in Harvey Milk’s era, gay people were not just second-class citizens but were considered mentally ill sexual outlaws. Not until 1972 did the American Psychiatric Association take homosexuality off the list of mental diseases. Years later, sexual identity was added to the acceptable list, followed many more years later by gender identification. “Just imagine how Harvey as a sexual outlaw was able to achieve greatness and constantly put his life at risk for his beliefs,” Leno said, and gave Milk’s famous quote: “If a bullet should ever enter my brain, let it shatter every closet door.” Which is how Milk died indeed – with multiple bullets to the brain. Only that ghastly, grisly act could deter and finally silence him. Leno questioned why wouldn’t California legislators pass unanimously (instead of the simple majority) the celebration of an American hero as part of the history of California. “These are American values,” Leno emphasized. “Why would we NOT want to recognize that?” He warned, “Our adversaries want to drag us back to a dangerous, homophobic, trans-phobic 20th century; but we’re going forward into the 21st century as first-class citizens!” Leno spoke of Representative Pelosi as “another true American hero, who took San Francisco values to the nation’s Capitol on her very first day there.” 

Pelosi reminisced back to the first groundbreaking for the Community Center and marveled how it has grown since then. Regarding LGBT rights and Legislature, she said, “It’s not about tolerance; it’s about respect. We should be taking pride in the blessing that we have in the LGBT community.” She said she does not believe in discrimination in any way, and that includes discriminating against same-sex marriage, fully inclusive employment protection, and openly serving in the armed forces. She promised she would do everything she could this legislative session to make Don’t Ask/ Don’t Tell a mere bad memory, and she would fight for inclusive workplace protection and the end of the Defense of Marriage Act. And from her first speech in Congress to the present and into the future, she will continue in the battle against HIV/AIDS and fight for funding. “Mark Leno has been such a champion with such courage fighting right alongside us for all of this,” she said. 

“I believe Harvey Milk is here with us in our hearts today,” she said. “All of you have benefited from the life and leadership of Harvey Milk, and many generations to come will also benefit.” She said as Milk always preached, the way to equality is through coalitions. Until everyone is free, no one is free. Justice and equality is for all. “Harvey’s spirit pervades all of us,” she said. “This election gave us pride and gave us hope,” she said. “So we’re going to go up to the gate and push it open; if it’s locked, we’re going to climb over the fence; and if that doesn’t work, we’re going to parachute in!” She reiterated, “We’re going to get to the other side of the fence with all these issues: Don’t Ask/ Don’t Tell, ENDA, and marriage.” She concluded, “This victory will be a green light to move forward, and the doors will open for everyone!”