Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Harvey Milk (1930 - 1978)


Harvey Milk was the first openly gay politician in California. He was born and raised in New York. He's been a hero of mine ever since I read The Mayor Of Castro Street (1982) by Randy Shilts, and saw The Times of Harvey Milk (1984). Sean Penn stars as Harvey Milk and Gus Van Sant is director of the stunning new film, Milk (2008) with a script by Dustin Lance Black.

The power of the film "lies in its uncanny balancing of nuance and scale, its ability to be about nearly everything — love, death, politics, sex, modernity — without losing sight of the intimate particulars of its story. Harvey Milk was an intriguing, inspiring figure. 'Milk' is a marvel." - from The New York Times

Where would we be today without Harvey Milk? How would the AIDs crisis have unfolded differently if he did not get killed in 1978. Will lousy Proposition 8 in California stand, or will it be invalidated by the California Supreme Court?


I will always feel indebted to, and inspired by, Harvey Milk!

No comments:

Post a Comment