Communication Techniques Of Harvey Milk

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.

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, though he had “known since high school that he was gay” (Biography), was initially outwardly ambivalent to legislation passed against the LGBTQ community. This all changed after he befriended a group of “gay radicals” in his mid-forties. They propelled him into the politically charged world of activism, in which he developed his voice, and stood out as a leader in the LGBTQ community. Milk stood on the steps of the San Francisco’s City Hall to celebrate Gay Freedom, but also to

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.

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.

Gays were forced to stay under the shadow. They were afraid to show their own true colors. Harvey Milk was a gay activist who had encouraged people to come out of the closet and join their organization to fight for their rights. He says “Burst down those closet doors and stand up once and for all, and start to fight.” (Document G) In the the quote he explains that people who are scared and haven’t come out of the closet should and help join the movement for equal rights for homosexuals. Harvey Milk’s encouragement had a big impact in the past organizations, his voice and words have impacted the LGBT society in a big way. In document H it shows how people were doing riots to express how they felt. This helped make people aware of their movement and what they want. They were able to express how they felt through these riots. Today, all these riots and LGBT activist work have made an everlasting impact. They had finished their goal and had legalized gay marriage, something they have been fighting for a long time. Even though they face discrimination, they have had made a huge step for equality because of their hard work in the past and

Harvey Milk was one of the first openly gay officials in the U.S in 1977 who was unjustly assassinated because of jealousy and his lifestyle;however, others that disagree with his choices think he deserved to die. Harvey Milk was murdered do to political reasons and differences in opinion. Some people argue that he was murdered instead of assassinated.

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.

California Proposition 6 was an initiative in the 1978 election, and was more commonly known as The Briggs Initiative. Sponsored by John Briggs, a conservative state legislator from Orange County, the initiative would have banned gays and lesbians, and possibly anyone who supported gay rights, from working in California's public schools. (Briggs Initiative. From Wikipedia) Milk spearheaded the entire No on 6 campaign, with gays and lesbians shouting "Come out! Come out! Wherever you are!" as well as canvassing their local neighborhoods to tell people the harm of the bill. It worked: The bill was crushed; even Briggs home county, Orange, voted no on the bill. Harvey Milk's nonviolent practices prevailed after his death. After the lenient sentence levied against Dan White for coldblooded murder, this sparked the White Night riots, a violent series of protests in Castro and the Civic center, a warning to police that homosexuals may be dangerous. That following evening, May 22, City officials had considered revoking the permit for a rally planned for that night, but decided against it for fear of sparking more violence. Officials stated that the rally could channel the community's anger into something positive.. Officers monitored the crowd from a distance, however the crowd engaged in a peaceful celebration of Milk's life. Attendees danced to popular disco songs, drank beer, and sang a tribute to

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.

He did most of this work in the Midwest, a very different environment from Harvey Milk’s San Francisco. While Milk turned the already urban and liberal Castro into a haven for the gay community, Kieschnick was one of the first to promote gay rights in the Midwest. Part of the reason so many gays were out in San Francisco was that Milk encouraged them to come out, believing that their cause would be aided if everyone realized they knew someone gay. This had not reached the Midwest, and for many students, Kieschnick was the first gay person they had ever met. The San Franciscans in Milk really did know about gays, but they cannot be compared to rural Midwesterners.

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