Harvey Milk was an American politician who became ‘the first openly gay person to be elected’ in California to a public office. During his schooldays, he was great at both academics and sports and went on to serve the US Navy as a diving instructor. He further did various small jobs like that of a school teacher and stock analyst but was not happy with life. He is believed to have realized to be a gay during his teenage and kept it as a secret but he began to accept the fact after meeting some gay radicals during his last days in New York. He moved to San Francisco and opened a camera shop in an area which was majorly populated by gays. There he was actively involved in politics and soon gained a reputation as a leader of the gay community. His reputation got him the pseudonym as ‘Mayor of Castro Street’ which encouraged him to contest elections. He lost a couple of times but with the help of his federal connections, he managed to win a seat in the ‘San Francisco City-County Board’ to become the first gay official. During this time homosexuality was believed to be a mental disorder and he was seen as a threat to the society. This influenced his rival Dan White at the ministry to assassinate him. His significant contributions to the U.S were acknowledged by the U.S Navy and a tanker was named after him. His radical views and thoughts made headlines and are quite often quoted and shared. Here is a collection of thoughts and quotes by Milk which have been excerpted from his work and life. Read on the sayings and quotations by Harvey Milk which will inspire you to stand firmly for your rights.
If a bullet should enter my brain, let that bullet destroy every closet door.
Harvey Milk
The fact is that more people have been slaughtered in the name of religion than for any other single reason. That, that my friends, that is true perversion!
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 remove repression.
It's not my victory, it's yours and yours and yours. If a gay can win, it means there is hope that the system can work for all minorities if we fight. We've given them hope.
I know you can't live on hope alone; but without hope, life is not worth living. So you, and you and you: you got to give them hope; you got to give them hope.
