Harvey Milk Essay

Civil Rights activist Harvey Milk was praised by many, and was influential to the LBGT community while it wasn’t accepted by many, Milk has plenty of characteristics that make him an over all an amazing leader: Courage, integrity, along with served justice. Harvey Milk lived up to being a good leader until his very last day.

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

Life for most homosexuals during the first half of the Twentieth century was one of hiding, being ever so careful to not give away their true feelings and predilections. Although the 1920s saw a brief moment of openness in American society, that was quickly destroyed with the progress of the Cold War, and by default, that of McCarthyism. The homosexuals of the 50s “felt the heavy weight of medical prejudice, police harassment and church condemnation … [and] were not able to challenge these authorities.” They were constantly battered, both physically and emotionally, by the society that surrounded them. The very mention or rumor of one’s homosexuality could lead to the loss of their family, their livelihood and, in some cases, their

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.

According to Sullivan (2008), same-sex attraction has not always been considered a deviation. However, post-war societal reaction to prohibition, gay bathhouses and other establishments were adverse and a new war on immorality arose, which was supported by American individuals, religious and governmental institutions. This outlook prevailed throughout the 1950's and led to blatant anti-gay attitudes. The persecution of the gay life style brought on renewed shame and guilt for the homosexual community as gay men were forced to cope with the stigmatization by "passing" as heterosexuals and thus become invisible. This resulted in the development of their own discriminatory social construct, with a hierarchy where males who were able to prove their masculinity through assimilation were held in the highest regards, while those that did not were looked down upon by their own gay communities

1. What are the main themes, politically and socially, that are portrayed in the film?

Throughout the 1950’s, the United States belonged to the Leave It To Beaver era. Families were structured around a strong, hard working father and a wonderful homemaker mother. Children were brought up with solid ideologies on what society expects from them and were warned about living a different and dangerous life. Only one-year separates Tennessee William’s Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and James Baldwin’s Giovanni’s Room from there publishing dates during this decade of unwavering beliefs. These texts were seen as extremely controversial during their time due to their themes of homosexuality. Sexual orientation was an awkward topic during such a “to the book” time period and these texts pushed the limits, making them remarkable and memorable works. Both Tennessee Williams and James Baldwin explore the panic men experience while trying to comprehend what sexual orientation they belong to and highlight the masculine gay man. These texts also examine the woman’s role in the mist of it all.

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

“Sex was something mysterious which happened to married couples and Homosexuality was never mentioned; my mother told me my father did not believe it existed at all ‘until he joined the army’. As a child, I was warned about talking to ‘strange men’, without any real idea what this meant. I was left to find out for myself what it was all about.” Mike Newman, who was a child during the 1950s America recalls how homosexuality was perceived during the post-World War II era (F). This sexual oppression was not only in Newman’s household, but in almost everyone’s. While the civil rights movement began in the mid-1950s and ended late 1960s, the LGBT community started to come out of the closet slowly. The gay rights movement stemmed from the civil rights movement

The first homosexual to speak out publicly in defense of homosexuality was a writer named Karl Heinrich Ulrichs on August 29, 1867. So while most people say the gay rights movement is something that's fairly recent, that is untrue. People have been judged for being homosexual for a very long time. Prejudice is something that can cause people to be violent, hateful, and act differently towards certain people to fit in, as shown in To Kill A Mockingbird and in society today towards supporters of gay and trans rights.

Vining had a social sphere consisting of predominantly homosexuals due to his metropolitan location. Vining, a gay male living in Manhattan, had a very complex social life that consisted mainly of gay, white men. Vining frequently went to the theater, parties, and dinner with his gay friends, and he would constantly be in contact with at least one of his friends (Vining Diary, p. 9, February 5 1947). World War II placed men in all-male, close quarters and allowed them to sexually explore, so men in the postwar period sought an extension of this freedom to explore. Fortunately, cities in the postwar period afforded men this continuation (Allan Berube, Coming Out Under Fire). Rather than being trapped in a small town with community policing, cities allowed men to be

Harvey Milk was born May 22, 1930 in Woodmere, New York. He was a popular kid in his High School, and did many activities from football to opera. He knew he was gay when he was in high school, but that didn’t stop him. Milk took on a lot of tasks, one being him working in his

Identifying as LGBT in the 1800s tagged a person as a deviant individual. In 1870, homosexuals quickly became the target of medical, psychiatric, and legal intervention; during World War II, hundreds of thousands of homosexual people

During the Cold War, the Soviets were trying to spread communism throughout Europe and Asia by exalting its achievements, and undermining democracy. Part of their approach was by launching ‘Hate-America’ propaganda. “As the Cold War intensified, the Truman administration launched an aggressive “Campaign of Truth” […] to counter the Soviet Union propaganda machine (Ubah, 2012).” The Campaign of Truth was created to help convince the world that the United States has “no purpose of going to war, except in the defense of freedom. (Vaccaro, 1950)” Truman encouraged the media to show the world that the United States was ‘wholly dedicated to the cause of peace (Vaccaro,

In the seventies, big conservatives made it there best effort to eliminate gays from the public. One such initiative was to ban homosexuals from teaching within public schools. Luckily this proposition was disbanded thanks to Milk and gay activists at the time. As mentioned earlier, Dan White killed Harvey Milk. However, the court gave him a slap on the wrist and was given only a limited time in jail. Thus, causing one of the largest riots in San Francisco history occurred in the Civic Center Plaza, The White Riot (Stewart-Winter, 2009). Years after Dan was released he committed suicide.