We all know the story, or have seen the movie, about Harvey Milk, the first openly gay man to win elected office in a major U.S. city--a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.
In 1978, when he and Mayor George Moscone were assassinated at City Hall by former supervisor Dan White, nobody expected that murder to have the far-reaching significance it still holds.
This past weekend, commemorative events were held across the country to observe what would have been Milk's 80th birthday. Californians are still trying to establish May 22 as Harvey Milk Day.
"The creation of the first official day of recognition for any openly gay person in the history of this country has really touched people, many of whom have been closeted in life or faced rejection or government discrimination which continues to this day," said Geoffrey Kors, executive director of the gay-rights group Equality California.
I hope there is a Harvey Milk Day. I hope parents of gays support it and continue to "come out of the closet" themselves and fight for the rights of their children. We're more powerful than we realize.
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