“Harvey Milk and His Legacy” In 1974, Harvey Milk was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, becoming the first openly gay elected official in California history. On November 27, 1978 he was shot and killed, along with beloved Mayor George Moscone, by Dan White, another city supervisor. Since his landmark years of service, San Franciscans have been represented in City Hall and the state legislature by out and proud LGBTQ+ officials, including people like Mark Leno, David Campos, and Scott Weiner. Two of the city’s most important political organizations are focused on LGBTQ+ issues, and are named in honor of local queer icons: Harvey Milk himself and Alice B. Toklas. These groups wield tremendous influence, meaning that the LGBTQ+ community always has a seat at the table when major decisions are being made in San Francisco.
“The hardest part about my work is the fact that most people don’t want a real relationship with God. Yeah sure, they’ll pray to a man nailed to a cross, but they’ll ignore the gay kid who gets strung up, or the black man who gets dragged behind a car, or someone’s mother living in a box.”
