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The Assassination of Harvey Milk

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The Assassination of Harvey Milk
Celia Fitch
Research paper The Assassination of Harvey Milk Harvey Milk was the very first openly gay man to be elected to office in the U.S’, he was elected to San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors in1977. Less than a year after taking office, Harvey Milk and Mayor George Moscone were murdered. The man who murdered Milk and Mayor Moscone was a political opponent and former member of the
Board, Dan White. White climbed through a window at City Hall to avoid the metal detectors downstairs, and went into each man’s office and shot him to death. Milk’s legacy as a martyred hero has inspired many books, plays, and movies. Most recently the 2008 Gus Van Sant film “Milk.” Harvey Bernard Milk was born on May 22, 1930, in Woodmere, New York. He graduated in 1951 from New York State Teachers College at Albany. He joined the Navy and was honorably discharged in 1955. First he taught high school, and then went to work on Wall Street for Bache and Company in 1963. In the late sixties Harvey began dabbling in off-Broadway theater production, and moved with his lover Jack McKinley to San Francisco. Milk worked in finance until he publicly burned his BankAmericard and was fired. Harvey left Jack and went back to New York in 1970. Two years later with his new lover Scott Smith, Milk decided to give San Francisco another try. Harvey opened a camera store on Castro Street in 1973 called “Castro Camera.” Harvey Milk soon became known as “The Mayor of Castro Street.” He envisioned a path to equal human rights for gay people everywhere. He dedicated himself to lead the community of the Castro District in the struggle to attain that goal. Harvey Milk was an activist, and led many protests and marches in the streets for equal rights for gay people. Harvey Milk had

never intended to enter politics until he moved back to San Francisco in 1972. Gay people have been slandered nationwide, which means a gay official is needed not just for

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