Harvey Milk
Harvey Milk
Harvey Bernard Milkwas an American politician who became the first openly gay person to be elected to public office in California, when he won a seat on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. Politics and gay activism were not his early interests; he was not open about his homosexuality and did not participate in civic matters until around the age of 40, after his experiences in the counterculture of the 1960s...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionCivil Rights Leader
Date of Birth22 May 1930
CityWoodmere, NY
CountryUnited States of America
More people have been slaughtered in the name of religion than for any other single reason. That, my friends, that is true perversion.
I have tasted freedom. I will not give up that which I have tasted.
My name is Harvey Milk and I'm here to recruit you.
If a bullet should go through my head let that bullet go through every closet door.
Out of the bars and into the streets!
I finally reached the point where I knew I had to become involved or shut up.
A reading of the Declaration of Independence on the steps of a building is widely covered. The events that started the American Revolution were the meetings in homes, pubs, on street corners.
The American Dream starts with the neighborhoods.
We will not win our rights by staying quietly in our closets.
If it were true that children mimicked their teachers, you'd sure have a helluva lot more nuns running around.
San Francisco can start right now to become number one. We can set examples so that others will follow. We can start overnight. We don't have to wait for budgets to be passed, surveys to be made, political wheelings and dealings.......for it takes no money......it takes no compromising to give the people their rights......it takes no money to respect the individual. It takes no political deal to give people freedom. It takes no survey to remove repression.
It's not my victory, it's yours and yours and yours. If a gay can win, it means there is hope that the system can work for all minorities if we fight. We've given them hope.
I would like to see every gay doctor come out, every gay lawyer, every gay architect come out, stand up and let that world know. That would do more to end prejudice overnight than anybody would I urge them to do that, urge them to come out. Only that way will we start to achieve our rights.
I have tasted freedom. I will not give up that which I have tasted. I have a lot more to drink. For that reason, the political numbers game will be played. I know the rules of their game now and how to play it.