In the 70s, Harvey Milk was elected as the first major politician that was openly gay. While he was assassinated in 1978, he was able to make a huge splash in the political world despite his brief time in office. He was very pro-LGBT rights and fought hard to represent the community, which was still incredibly oppressed at the time. He was assassinated at a conference by a man who previously worked closely with him and San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and was upset about not getting reappointed to his position.
Having such a major gay rights leader getting killed so early in his career was a crushing blow to those in the gay community both in and out of San Francisco. This led to a very large amount of backlash from the community and a march that went all the way through the city.
In addition to the immediate influence that he had on society, he also had a Milk Foundation built that helped to advocate for not only the LGBT community but also the minorities as well. According to the Milk Foundation, Harvey Milk was described as "a visionary civil and human rights leader who became one of the first openly gay elected officials in the United States when he won a seat on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1977.", which the foundation bases their focus on, a similar goal as Milk's in the first place to honor him for his deeds to help many in the LGBT community.
ReplyDeleteI think that this event is what caused for a lot of people to realize the oppression that LGBT community members were faced with. This event brought together allies and community members to fight for the same cause and opened people's eyes to the importance of equal rights.
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