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Harvey Milk (1930 - 1978)
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 The
Mayor of Castro Street : The Life and Times of Harvey Milk by
Randy
Shilts
When Randy Shilts's The Mayor of Castro
Street appeared in 1982, the very idea of a gay political
biography was brand-new. While biographies of literary and
artistic figures (both living and dead) were a popular genre,
there had been no openly gay political figure who merited a
full-length book. Harvey Milk--a gay political organizer who
became the first openly gay city supervisor in San Francisco and
was then assassinated (along with liberal mayor George Moscone)--was
the obvious choice for such a book. And Randy Shilts--a young
reporter who had risen up through the gay press to become the
first openly gay reporter with a gay "beat" in the
American mainstream press--was the perfect person to write it.
While his later works such as And
the Band Played On and Conduct
Unbecoming were based on hard-hitting, fact-driven
reportage, Shilts's tone in The Mayor of Castro Street is
softer, more focused on the narrative of Harvey Milk's political
rise from running a small business on Castro Street, to organizing
local gay men and lesbians around grass-roots issues, to winning
an elected office. But in many ways this is also a forceful and
engaging story of the gay rights movement in the second half of
the 20th century. Thus, Shilts follows the growth of the Castro as
a gay neighborhood and the growth of San Francisco's gay community
from a ragtag collection of people who socialized and sexualized
together into a vibrant and political force. --Michael Bronski
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By Tom Sullivan
Excerpt:
Harvey Bernard Milk was born on May 22, 1930 at
Woodmere Hospital in Long Island, New York. His official name,
derived from his Lithuanian ancestry, was Glimpy Milch. He
graduated from Albany State College in 1951 where he had majored
in math and minored in history. Milk entered the Navy shortly
after he finished college and advanced to the rank of chief petty
officer on the U.S.S. Kittyhawk, only to be dishonorably
discharged when his homosexuality was discovered.
His life travels took him to Dallas, Texas and
back to New York before he finally ended up in California. Like
thousands of other Gay people, Milk migrated to San Francisco in
the early 1970's...
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Harvey Milk Civil Rights Academy is a small
alternative elementary school located in the heart of the Castro
District. We are dedicated to achieving academic excellence,
teaching tolerance and nonviolence.
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A picture gallery and stories about San Francisco's Mayor of Castro Street, Harvey Milk, the first openly gay San Francisco Supervisor.
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The mission
of the Harvey Milk Institute (HMI) is to foster the development
and examination of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer
culture and community in the Bay Area and beyond. HMI conducts
programs that present and interpret works by contemporary and
historical queer artists and critical thinkers that explore
community and personal issues within the context of queer culture.
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From "94114"
---the unpublished recollections and history of the early
Castro by Ron Williams.
Excerpt:
I don't remember the exact year that the Castro
actually took hold and became the central Gay neighborhood in the
City outdoing Polk and the South of Market, but I believe it was
1971. Many of the important dates have slipped my mind, but I do
remember the era, the people, the street and many of the
characters. I was living in a big flat just above 19th and Castro
with four others. Our flat was huge, $165 a month, complete with a
back yard and one lonely redwood tree.
January of 1973, I had ventured out on my own as
a graphic artist and tried freelancing. I had a small storefront
studio in front of the print shop on Castro between 18th and 19th.
It was a convenient setup and I had just leased a new typesetting
computer for $200 a month and had no idea how I was going to pay
for it. But many of the local gay business kept me busy and I
prospered...
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Essay By Gregory
J. Rosmaita
Excerpt:
Despite the clarity of his populist vision, his
piercing assessment of the socio-economic crisis confronting
contemporary America, and his eloquent defense of personal
liberties, Harvey Milk has been forgotten by the majority of
Americans. His is not a household name, invoking only blank stares
or the faintest glimmer of recognition. It is tragically ironic
that the notorious "twinkie defense" of his assassin is
better remembered by Americans than the mercurial Milk himself.
Those who do remember Milk remember him only as a
"minor" footnote in American history--the first openly
homosexual man to be popularly elevated into elective office in
the United States. To remember Milk solely for his sexual
orientation, however, is not only to misunderstand him, but his
concept of gay pride as well. Harvey Milk was one of the most
charismatic and pragmatic populists of the past half-century, a
man of remarkable organizational talent who never compromised his
vision of "a city of neighborhoods" nor sought to hide
his homosexuality...
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