Harvey Milk Profiles of Courage Essay

A persuasive essay about Harvey Milk.

Courage means many things to many different people. I chose to do this essay on Harvey Milk because, in my opinion, he is the most courageous person of the twentieth century. He fought for what he believed in and died to help change the lives of others.

While others pick family, actors, and musicians as people of courage, I have picked Harvey Milk because he fought for something that truly means something to me, gay rights. I’m a gay teen living in Missouri, and even here, I can feel the effects of something that someone did in the seventies in San Francisco. 

The time was the 1970’s; the place was San Francisco, California. Harvey Milk had been living in the homosexual neighborhood for five years and had witnessed the unfair treatment of homosexuals in the community. Gay friendly and oriented bars, clubs, and stores were being raided and closed down as homosexual sex and oral sex were still considered felonies. 

Facing eviction if caught having homosexual sex in a rented apartment, and unwilling to face arrest in gay bars, some men turned to having sex in public parks at night. Mayor Alioto, the then mayor of San Francisco, asked the police to target the parks.   In 1971, 2,800 gay men were arrested for public sex in San Francisco. By comparison, New York City recorded only 63 arrests for the same offense that year.  Any arrest for a morals charge required registration as a sex offender.

 

Because of these injustices, Harvey Milk decided to run for a spot on the Board of Supervisors of San Francisco. Milk's reception by the gay political establishment in San Francisco was icy. Some gay bar owners, still battling police harassment and unhappy with what they saw the rest of the government doing to fix it, decided to endorse him.

 

Having had many jobs up until now, it seemed as if Milk had finally found his calling. According to journalist Frances FitzGerald, he was described as "born politician".  At first however, his inexperience showed. He tried to do without money, support, and staff, and instead relied on his message of conservative financial management, promoting individuals over large corporations and government. He also ran on a socially liberal platform, opposing government interference in private sexual matters and favoring the legalization of marijuana. Milk's fiery, flamboyant speeches and savvy media skills earned him a significant amount of press during the 1973 election. He earned 16,900 votes, sweeping the Castro District and other liberal neighborhoods, coming in 10th place out of 32 candidates. Had the elections been reorganized to allow districts to elect their own supervisors, he would have won.

 

After many loses, in 1977 he finally won a seat on the board. He became the first openly gay man elected to any substantial political office in the history of the world. Thousands of astounded people wrote to him, many from the GLBT community exclaiming their astonishment, surprise, and joy at finally having one of their own in an office.

In his short time in office, he began his tenure by sponsoring a civil rights bill that outlawed discrimination based on sexual orientation. The ordinance was called the "most stringent and encompassing in the nation", and its passing demonstrated "the growing political power of homosexuals", according to The New York Times. The only one to vote against it was San Francisco Supervisor White.

 

On November 10, 1978, ten months after being sworn in, Supervisor White resigned his position on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, claiming that his annual salary of $9,600 was not enough to support his family. Within days White requested the position again, and Mayor Moscone initially agreed.  However, further consideration, and intervention by other supervisors, convinced the mayor to appoint someone more in line with the growing ethnic diversity of White's district and the liberal leanings of the Board of Supervisors.

 

 Moscone planned to announce White's replacement days later, on November 27, 1978.  Half an hour before the press conference, Dan White entered City Hall through a basement window to avoid metal detectors and made his way to Mayor Moscone's office. Witnesses heard shouting between White and Moscone, then gunshots. White shot the mayor once in the arm, then three times in the head after Moscone had fallen on the floor.  White then quickly walked to his former office and intercepted Harvey Milk, asking him to step inside for a moment.  Milk was then found face down on the floor, shot five times, including twice in the head at close range.

 

Within an hour, he had turned himself in. After what has been perceived as an unfair trial by many he was sentenced to up to seven years in prison. While during the trail he seemed to show no remorse, he cried when he heard the verdict. The night that his verdict was announced riots broke out all around San Francisco which would later be known as “The White Night Riots”.

 

Since that horrific day in 1978 many tributes have been set up to commemorate Harvey Milk’s memory. One of the most famous tributes can be found not in San Francisco but in New York City.  The Harvey Milk High School is a school program for at-risk youth that concentrates on the needs of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender students and operates out of the Hetrick Martin Institute. Milk was included in the "Time 100 Heroes and Icons of the 20th Century" as a symbol of what gays can accomplish and the dangers they face in doing so. The Advocate also listed Milk third in their "40 Heroes" of the 20th century issue.

 

To me Harvey Milk was not just a man and not just a politician, he was a hero. He stood up for his rights and the rights of every man, woman, and unborn child like him. I truly believe that because of him I have a better life. A life where I am more accepted and have many of the same rights as my heterosexual peers. I own many things to Harvey Milk and it is because of him that I truly know the meaning of courage.