LGBTQA Group Books discussion
The Mayor of Castro Street
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"Harvey Milk lives!" (Looking at Part IV - The Legend Begins)
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So for years after Harvey's death, when dull moments fell over a gay demonstration and the old slogans felt thin, someone would shout, "Harvey Milk lives," and it would not be hollow rhetoric; Harvey Milk did live, as a metaphor for the homosexual experience in America.

I think many people have forgotten that after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. the violent phase of the civil rights/black power movement took off, because his people felt the same despair.
But times do change, and whenever I feel discouraged, especially after the Prop 8 vote, I remind myself how far we've come in my lifetime.

What was it like listening to Harvey in person? He sounds like an amazingly charismatic man.

I did see the news footage at the time, including the pride parade, and I remember thinking that he was the perfect face for the mostly faceless minority he represented. He was just an ordinary guy, engaging, jovial, welcoming. Not at all the stereotype the "moral majority" portrayed. He was difficult to hate, because he clearly didn't hate anybody.

The response to the assassination was a candlelight march the evening of the same day. It was a peaceful march from the Castro up Market Street to City Hall. I was riding on the news van in the midst of the crowd and the candles stretched up and down the street as far as I could see. It was a non-violent response to violence. It was all about grief, not revenge, and it made me very proud of my community.


However, after reading the whole book, I felt very inspired. It makes me want to do something to help the cause in some way.


after reading the whole book, I felt very inspired. It makes me want to do something to help the cause in some way. "
The cause right now is gay marriage, and the most important thing people can do is speak up in the debate that's going on right now. I doubt that Harvey Milk could have imagined in his wildest dreams that within what should have been his natural lifetime gay people would have the right to marry. Back then we just wanted to keep our jobs, our apartments, our lives. There's a reason there were so many gay people in San Francisco then. Most of the rest of the country was DANGEROUS for us. Marriage equality would go a long way to proving what the religious right hopes people never find out--that we love no differently than they do.
The trial of Dan White was a scandal, and a real travesty of justice. I was incensed at the way the jury was composed of people with religious and cultural views more disposed to Dan White. I was shocked and appalled at the behaviour of the SFPD, more criminal thugs than city protectors. And I cheered at the anger vented by the gay community during the White Night Riots.