Although California is presently the only state with an official Harvey Milk Day, cities all across the country will be holding rallies and events today to honor the first openly gay man to be elected to public office and an icon of the gay-rights movement. Milk, who would have been 81 years-old, gave us his life 32 years ago, knowing that the first of any civil rights movement, who clearly and loudly proclaim their right to equality, most often meets a violent and sudden end. Harvey Milk was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1977. He fought to end discrimination against gays and lesbians and built coalitions of gay-rights groups, labor unions and small-business owners. He was 48 when he was killed a year later by a former supervisor, Dan White.
“The Times of Harvey Milk,” a documentary film, won the 1984 Academy Award for Documentary Feature. The movie “Milk,” was released in 2008, directed by Gus Van Sant and starring Sean Penn as Milk and Josh Brolin as Dan White. “Milk” received two Academy Awards, for Best Original Screenplay and Best Actor. In August 2009, President Barack Obama posthumously awarded Harvey Milk the Presidential Medal of Freedom for his contribution to the gay rights movement stating, “He fought discrimination with visionary courage and conviction.”
This piece includes a number of high-resolution photographs, a photo-gallery and four videos, including the full version of the Academy Award-winning documentary “The Times of Harvey Milk.”
http://disembedded.wordpress.com/2011/05/22/harvey-milk-day-2011-youve-got-to-gi…
-
added by:
disembedded
- 0 comments
« Brad Pitt’s Movie Wins Top Prize in Cannes Vin Diesel is The Machine »