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
Freedom is too enormous to be slipped under a closet door.
Hope is never silent.
I was born of heterosexual parents. I was taught by heterosexual teachers in a fiercely heterosexual society. Television ads and newspaper ads — fiercely heterosexual. A society that puts down homosexuality. And why am I a homosexual if I'm affected by role models? I should have been a heterosexual. And no offense meant, but if teachers are going to affect you as role models, there'd be a lot of nuns running around the streets today.
If you are not personally free to be yourself in that most important of all human activities... the expression of love... then life itself loses its meaning.
If I turned around every time somebody called me a faggot, I'd be walking backward - and I don't want to walk backward.
Gay brothers and sisters... You must come out. Come out to your relatives... come out to your friends... Come out to your neighbors... to your fellow workers... to the people who work where you eat and shop... break down the myths, destroy the lies and distortions. For your sake. For their sake. For the sake of the youngsters who are becoming scared...
If I do a good job, people won't care if I am green or have three heads.
Rights are won only by those who make their voices heard.
We don't want sympathetic liberals, we want gays to represent gays... I represent the gay street people-the 14-year-old runaway from San Antonio. We have to make up for hundreds of years of persecution. We have to give hope to that poor runaway kid from San Antonio. They go to the bars because churches are hostile. They need hope! They need a piece of the pie!
We are coming out to tell the truths about gays, for I am tired of the conspiracy of silence, so I'm going to talk about it. And I want you to talk about it.
Politics is theater. It doesn't matter if you win. You make a statement. You say, "I'm here, pay attention to me
If we wish to rebuild our cities, we must first rebuild our neighborhoods.
I fully realize that a person who stands for what I stand for, an activist, a gay activist, becomes the target or the potential target for a person who is insecure, terrified, afraid, or very disturbed with themselves.
Never take an elevator in city hall.