“Harvey spent most of his life looking for a stage. On Castro Street he finally found it.”
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Harvey Milk
Harvey Bernard Milk was an American politician and the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in California, as a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.
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culture · American gay rights activist (1930–1978) · politician · naval officer · human rights defender · LGBTQ rights activist · civil rights advocate · writer · also Harvey Milk, Harvey Bernard Milk, Milk
Born 22 May 1930 · Died 27 November 1978 · Q17141
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2026· 2 entries
Public attention spiked: 4,155 Wikipedia readers in one day, 3.5× the usual 1,202, with 0 article edits.
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2019· 1 entry
Harvey Milk Terminal 1 is the world's first airport terminal named after a leader of the LGBTQ community
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2016· 1 entry
Generating some controversy considering Milk's antiwar stance later in his life
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2014· 1 entry
The United States Postal Service issued a postage stamp honoring Harvey Milk, the first openly LGBTQ political official to receive this honor
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2012· 1 entry
Into the Legacy Walk, an outdoor public display in Chicago which celebrates LGBTQ history and people
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2010· 1 entry
Radio producer JD Doyle aired the two-hour Harvey Milk Music on his Queer Music Heritage radio program
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2009· 2 entries
Awarded California Hall of Fame (2009).
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Won Presidential Medal of Freedom presented by Barack Obama (2009).
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2002· 1 entry
Milk was called "the most famous and most significant openly LGBTQ official ever elected in the United States"
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1985· 1 entry
White was found dead in a running car in his wife's garage, having committed suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning
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1982· 1 entry
Freelance reporter Randy Shilts completed his first book: a biography of Milk, titled The Mayor of Castro Street
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1980· 1 entry
San Francisco ended district supervisor elections, fearing that a Board of Supervisors so divisive would be harmful to the city and that they had been a factor in the assassinations
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1979· 1 entry
But found guilty of voluntary manslaughter of both victims, and he was sentenced to serve seven and two-thirds years
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1978· 8 entries
Milk and Moscone were assassinated by Dan White, a disgruntled former city supervisor who cast the sole vote against Milk's bill
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Died 1978-11-27.
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(10 months after he was sworn in), Dan White resigned his position on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, saying that his annual salary of $9,600 (equivalent to $47,388 in 2025) was not enough to support his family
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The proposition lost by more than a million votes, astounding gay activists on election night
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Milk wrote a letter to President Jimmy Carter defending cult leader Jim Jones as "a man of the highest character" when asked
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“a man of the highest character”
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And was impressed with the voter turnout he saw in Miami
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(it is currently named the Harvey Milk LGBTQ Democratic Club) and boasts that it is the largest Democratic organization in San Francisco
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1977· 3 entries
A gay man named Robert Hillsborough died from 15 stab wounds while his attackers gathered around him and chanted "Faggot
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A few well-connected gay activists in Miami, Florida, were able to pass a civil rights ordinance that made discrimination based on sexual orientation illegal in Dade County
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After San Francisco began to choose neighborhood representatives rather than city-wide ones
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1976· 2 entries
Making him the first openly gay city commissioner in the United States
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Told friend Michael Wong, "Well fuck him
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1975· 2 entries
President Gerald Ford, while visiting San Francisco, walked from his hotel to his car
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State senator George Moscone was elected mayor
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1973· 4 entries
And his oratory skills only improved after he became City Supervisor
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But the existing gay political establishment resisted him
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Two gay men tried to open an antique shop, but the Eureka Valley Merchants Association (EVMA) attempted to prevent them from receiving a business license
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A state bureaucrat entered Milk's shop, Castro Camera, and informed him that he owed $100 as a deposit against state sales tax
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1972· 1 entry
When Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon obtained Feinstein's support for an ordinance outlawing employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation
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1971· 3 entries
SIR members Jim Foster, Rick Stokes, and Advocate publisher David B
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2,800 gay men were arrested for public sex in San Francisco
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Showed the political clout of the gay community
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1970· 2 entries
Nearly 90 people in the city were arrested for having sex in public parks at night
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Increasingly frustrated with the political climate after the U
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1969· 1 entry
With the Broadway touring company of Hair
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1962· 1 entry
Milk became involved with Craig Rodwell, who was 10 years younger
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1961· 1 entry
Campbell and Milk separated after almost six years
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1957· 1 entry
And moved to Dallas; after they struggled to find employment and were disappointed with the city's social scene compared to New York, they moved back to New York
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1956· 1 entry
Met Joe Campbell at the Jacob Riis Park beach, a popular cruising location for gay men in Queens
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1955· 1 entry
Resigned from the Navy at the rank of Lieutenant (junior grade), forced to accept an "other than honorable" discharge and leave the service rather than be court-martialed because of his homosexuality
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1951· 1 entry
Studied at State University of New York at Albany (1947–1951).
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1947· 1 entry
And attended New York State College for Teachers in Albany (now the State University of New York at Albany) from 1947 to 1951, majoring in mathematics
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1930· 1 entry
Born 1930-05-22.
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