Communication Techniques Of Harvey Milk

I attended “Queer Brown Voices Platica” at the Esperanza Peace and Justice Center in San Antonio, Texas, on October 10, 2015. “Queer Brown Voices, Personal Narratives of Latina/o LGBT Activism” delves into the personal discrimination experiences inflicted upon them not only from the population at large but also from within their own Hispanic communities and their struggle to disrupt the cycle of sexism, racism and homophobia. One of the three books editors, Letitia Gómez (Leti), is my sister-in-law. To fully comprehend their fights to survive and be relevant in mainstream America is awe inspiring. Their activism was not only to negate the prejudices but also for equal access to healthcare particularly during the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the 1980’s.

American rhetoric about LGBT+ issues underwent major changes in the late 60s and early 70s. While for years homophile groups such as the Mattachine Society dominated queer rhetoric, in 1969 Carl Wittman’s “Gay Manifesto” redefined the LGBT+ rights movement’s voice and goals (380). Using shocking language, his authority as a gay man, and emotional appeals to his queer audience, Wittman and his “Gay Manifesto” utilized a confrontational, liberationist tone to communicate his views on sexual identity and heteronormative culture. While opponents may argue that Wittman’s profane language and emotional appeals weaken his argument and alienate the audience, his rhetorical choices prove perfect for engaging queer readers. Wittman’s “Gay Manifesto” spoke to queer people and offered a new perspective in LGBT+ rhetoric.

The debate between Crocker Jarmen and John McKay was dry. John McKay expressed his opinions on how this campaign should be run. He thinks that you need leadership to get the job done, he says “we have the money there is no need to raise taxes”, and he wants a program for crime. Jarmen expresses a face of fear as McKay debates his views; beginning to feel threatened Jarmen tries to step up his game but fails. McKays ending statement was the climax of his campaign, it caught the attention of his father which excited the media and voters. McKay pushed the point that politicians never focus on the problems in need. If they seem too complicated to handle or control they push it into the trash, if it is not brought to the peoples attention then they most likely will not think about it or be concerned about it. The media was the most important part of this debate helping the rest of California view Crocker Jarmen and John McKay battle their opinions.

Supervisor Dianne Feinstein was shaking as she delivered the fateful line that would set an entire state ablaze. "Today San Francisco has experienced a double tragedy of immense proportions. As President of the Board of Supervisors, it is my duty to inform you that both Mayor Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk have been shot and killed," then adding after being drowned out by shouts of disbelief, "and the suspect is Supervisor Dan White." Uproar. Gays and pro-gays screamed out, be it in disbelief, terror, or for the blood of Daniel White. No one could believe it: the champion of gay rights, Harvey Milk, had been shot and killed. Harvey Milk, who had taken a stand as the first openly gay politician

In the 1980’s and 1990’s, society wasn’t the most accepting of places for people who were different from the “social norms”. Now I know, people today still struggle with trying to fit in and be “normal” but it was different. Being a gay man living in San Fransisco at the time, which had a large gay population, Richard Rodriguez had a hard time dealing with the discrimination he faced. Richard Rodriguez was an American journalist who wrote and published a memoir about his life as a gay man. In October of 1990, Rodriguez published his memoir “Late Victorians” in Harper’s Magazine, a critically acclaimed publication of the time. In his memoir, Rodriguez describes what it was like to realize he was gay and watch as the country changed to become a more accepting place. He does this by setting up how things can change and then explaining the actual ways things change for the gay population.

Homosexual people have been misrepresented and refuted their basic civil rights in America over the years, especially during the late 1970s. During this time, Harvey Milk, the first openly gay elected official in California, was one of the most prominent spokesman on the issues surrounding gay rights. In 1978 he gave a speech impacting the gay citizens of San Francisco and America, the anti-gay right wing movement supporters, straight allies of the gay movement, and politicians in general. His speech known as the “Hope Speech” resonates with people even today as Milk attempted to address gay rights and the importance of electing gay officials in office, using various rhetorical strategies such as pathos, logos, and elevated diction.

“[W]orking-classes people in the capital of black America were stunningly open about their homosexuality” as it was “evident in urban blues lyrics of the time,” but it was not accepted in the middle-class and upper-class communities (Russell 103, 105). Some influential, elite/upper- or middle-class people during the Harlem Renaissance, such as Claude McKay, George Chauncey, Alain Locke, and others were “extraordinarily open about homosexuality and about the repressive nature of heterosexual norms” (103). Even James Baldwin was open about his sexuality and “claimed to have felt accepted as a homosexual” in Harlem (108). However, this did not stop the elitists, middle- and upper-class individuals, and the media from having their say. Under government policy, “President Eisenhower banned homosexuals from federal jobs, prospective employees were required to undergo screenings of their sexual histories,

Due to the increasingly negative view of homosexuality in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s, the LGBTQ community was facing a world altering decision; they could either shrink into the background, and allow the world to continue to draw its opinions based on speculation, or claim the spotlight and allow themselves to be judged based on their own merit. Harvey Milk, “the first openly gay elected official in the United States” (Hope Speech, Commentary) saw a need for an uprising of the latter. When addressing a crowd of his supporters and the Lesbian, Gay, Bi-Sexual, Transgender, Queer (LGBTQ) people in “The Hope Speech” at San Francisco City Hall on Gay Freedom Day in 1978, Harvey Milk uses the I-You/Us-Them relationships as defined by Martin Buber, pathos appeals, and shared experiences to establish an emotional bond with the LGBTQ community. This relationship of comradery and mentorship, deeply rooted in shared values, best prepared the crowd to absorb his message of activism and hope.

Throughout Milk we can see that Harvey, though a very passionate gay-rights activist, is not only looking out for the queer folk. He holds dear to the ideal that everyone is equal. In a way he embodies what Kinsey and Freud say. He did not believe in just one norm. In his fight for gay-rights he isn’t trying to one-up the vast heterosexual majority by over throwing them and getting homosexuals to run the world, he is merely trying to get them to see that homosexuals are no different from any other person. Harvey Milk was trying to break down the social barriers that led to narrow minded thinking of just one social norm. In Milk during one of the public rally’s he had, Harvey said that “all men are created equal. No matter how hard you try, you can never erase those words” – he believed these words with all his heart. To Harvey Milk, he wasn’t just fighting for gay-rights; he was fighting for a way of life that did not constrict its citizens to conform to just one social norm.

Harvey Milk said, “If a bullet should enter my brain, let that bullet destroy every closet door.”(Aretha 83). Harvey Milk was the first gay politician that moved people’s hearts. He changed the way people thought about gay people back in the 1970’s. Defending homosexuals from criticism, he civilized them with the people. Since the background of homosexuality was harsh which affected Harvey Milk’s early life, he took the action to process of becoming civilized as an officer, and he left many legacies.

The climate of the 1960s was turbulent. This decade was marked by many political movements, which reflected support for non-establishment themes. During this time the “sexual liberation movement” became a popular cause. This intensified social and political interest helped many disadvantaged groups to receive support and attention that previously had never been received. As part of the nation’s desire for sexual political liberation, gay liberation became visible.

Over the next two decades, half the states decriminalized homosexual behavior, and police harassment grew less frequent and obvious to the public. Also in 1975, it became legal for gays to hold federal jobs. However all this headway also made room for more opposition. In 1977, Anita Bryant was so successful at obtaining a repeal of a recent gay ordinance in her home state of Florida that by 1980, a league of anti gay clubs had come together to make a force, led in part by Jesse Helms. The AIDS scare that began in the eighties did not help the gay image either, but more citizens joined their ranks in order to combat the oppression and fund a search for the cure, so in the end it actually made the movement stronger. According to the Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia (2000), by 1999, the anti-sodomy laws of 32 states had been repealed, and in 1996 Vermont granted its gay citizens the right to same sex marriages. Gay rights has come a long way as a social movement, and though it still has a long way to go, it makes a good topic to analyze the process of the social movement.

How are gay activist approaching the school system? Activist are able to approach schools by repackaging the gay movement as a safety issue Stated by Kevin Jennings, Director of the Office of safe and Drug Free schools. Reform the movement by saying schools are not safe for gay and lesbian youth. Gay and lesbian youth will be subjected to bullying, name-calling, suicide and other violent problems. Making schools safe has now transitioned to the Teaching students the normalcy of homosexuality and the acceptance of Homosexuality as a culture. Instead of teaching the health risk of homosexuality, Schools are now acknowledging the history of homosexuality. California has now passed a law the makes May 22 “gay Day”. The day is officially called Harvey Milk Day, in honor of Harvey Milk an activist and first openly gay men to be elected

Gross’s intent was to begin a conversation about the political landscape in the United States, raising

For the past couple of years, America has attempted to mend the issues in our society that kept homosexual people from being treated as equals. Between 2% and 10% of the U.S. population identifies as homosexual (McFarland). The statistical gap between a hetero-normative society and homosexual citizens creates effectively creates a minority for homosexuals. Unfortunately, there still exists a great divide between the treatment of heterosexuals and homosexuals to this day. Ironically, in the land of the free not everyone is free to be themselves. Harvey Milk, the first openly homosexual man to be elected to the public office of California agrees, by stating, “It takes no compromise to give 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