Harvey Milk

Harvey Milk (1930-1978)
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The USA’s first openly gay elected official.

Harvey Milk was an American politician and activist who, in 1977, became one of the world’s first openly gay elected officials. Milk was born in New York City and knew from an early age that he was gay, though he kept it hidden. As he grew up, he began to have relationships with other men in New York throughout the 1950s and into the 1960s, but had to keep it strictly separate from his work on Wall Street. In 1969, Milk – much like thousands of other American gay men at the time – was attracted to San Francisco, which had become the USA’s, and the world’s, gay capital, moving to the Castro District. He moved in with his boyfriend and eventually set up a camera store on Castro Street in 1973.

During this period, homosexual activity was illegal in the USA along with many other countries, with some states banning sodomy until 2003. Adding to the significant social stigma attracted to homosexuality, LGBTQ+ people could be fired for their sexuality, something that continues in some states until this day.

The Gay Liberation Movement took place at the end of the 1960s, continuing until the AIDs epidemic of the 1980s and 90s, alongside the Black Power, Feminist, and anti-war movements. During this period, Milk became increasingly involved with gay activism and liberation in San Francisco, and became so exasperated by the state of politics that he said: "I finally reached the point where I knew I had to become involved or shut up". In 1977, he was elected as a Democrat San Francisco City Supervisor, the first openly gay elected official in the USA, and has since become known around the world. On the eve of his election, he said "if a bullet should enter my brain, let that bullet destroy every closet door".

In 1978, Harvey Milk was assassinated alongside Mayor George Moscone by another of the city’s supervisors.

Since his death, Harvey Milk has become an LGBTQ icon and martyr, breaking boundaries for LGBTQ people around the world and paying the ultimate price for it. He was committed to ensuring that gay people could come out and not live in fear of their sexuality being ‘outted’, seeking to end discrimination and ensure equality. While discrimination has mostly ended in the Western world, in many countries this still exists; despite Harvey Milk’s early death, his legacy outlives him as a trailblazer for gay representation and rights, who can inspire us all to live authentically in the face of adversity, and to ensure we never forget to involve ourselves in politics, ensuring that the closet is opened for others.