Briggs Initiative (Proposition 6), Harvey Milk, & The White Night Riots
Harvey Milk was a gay rights activist who played an important role in the fight for equal rights for LGBTQ in the late 1970s. As one of the first openly gay American politicians to be elected into office as a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, Milk sought to help with political reform that San Francisco was in desperate need of. Milk was a strong advocate for the community and promoted a friendly culture of cooperation, peace, and equal rights for all. He recognized a crucial need for change and helped with the progression of the Gay Liberation Movement and equality in general.
In the short time that Milk served in office, he faced growing rhetoric of anti-gay sentiment in the late 1970s. This is specifically seen in California Proposition 6, (also known as the Briggs Initiative) which was an initiative that was attempting to ban gay and lesbian people from working in California public schools. Prop. 6 is strikingly similar to the Florida bill 1557 that resulted in the "don't say gay" protests. With the recent Florida bill 1557 being a point of stagnation in the fight for equal rights for LGBTQIA+, I'm happy to be sharing with you a moment in history where a victory was made in the ongoing fight, that is the fact that Prop. 6 was defeated.
*Link to most recent gallery entry https://editions.covecollective.org/chronologies/dont-say-gay-walt-disney-company* Check out Jacob's entry "Don't Say Gay & The Walt Disney Company" to learn more about the recent "Don't Say Gay Bill" and take a look at how similar it is to The Briggs Initiative of the 1970s.
*Link to yet another related gallery entry https://editions.covecollective.org/chronologies/clause-28-prohibition-promoting-homosexuality-teaching-or-publishing-material* Also, take a second to dig Ashley's gallery entry on clause 28(Another bunk piece of anti-gay legislation from across the pond).
Harvey Milk's legacy brought people together in unity. His career is highlighted by a victory over oppression. Milk knew that the fight for equal rights could not be won from the closet and thus organized and inspired people to 'come out' literally and metaphorically to publically oppose Prop. 6. "Specifically, LGBTQ activists formed coalitions with unions, low-income workers, and oppressed groups, they organized visible mass demonstrations, and thousands of LGBT came out of the closet and directly confronted the homophobic arguments of their opponents" (Khalil pg. 4). Not only did Milk work directly with the community, but he also wrote a letter to President Carter calling for a response to the following: "On November 1978, California ballot will be an initiative, which would prohibit gay persons from teaching and would have other serious infringements on individual rights. Though it is a state ballot issue, it is also of great national importance and we hope you will strongly oppose it" (Milk's letter). The letter was well received and resulted in President Carter's condemnation of Prop. 6. This, along with countless other efforts of activism by Harvey Milk, brought forth a win over Prop. 6 in a landslide. This moment in history gives me hope that Florida's "don't say gay" bill will be nonexistent in the near future.
Milk's heroic life met a bitter end shortly after the victory over Prop. 6. Harvey Milk and San Francisco mayor, George Moscone were both shot and killed by a right-wing politician named Dan White. Dan White was a bigot who referred to people in the LGBTQ community as radicals, social deviants, and incurables. Harvey Milk was only 48 years old when he was murdered. Dan White was sentenced to 7 years and 2 months in jail for the two murders he committed in broad daylight. The fact that Dan White received this sentence is disgusting. It looks as though Dan White was given this measly sentence for murdering two men because one of these men was gay. What does this say about our justice system? It's saying that it's okay to murder people who are gay. It also says that the lives of LGBTQ matter less, or simply don't matter at all. If Dan White would've murdered two white men who were not associated with the LGBTQ community, then he would've gotten the death penalty. I don't believe in capital punishment; I also don't believe that someone who commits a hate crime of this magnitude should be released back into society after only 5 years as Dan White was. This, in a way, resembles certain aspects of the current Black Lives Matter Movement. Police are getting sentences for murdering people of color that are in no way even close to the life sentences they deserve. A similarity can also be seen between the White Night Riots that came after the unjust sentencing of Dan White, and the Black Lives Matter protests that came after the murder of George Floyd. Both sets of protests came necessarily as a result of hate crimes, systematic injustices, bigotry, and murder. All of this brings an analogical question to mind. What would a one-way ticket to justice cost? The cost, as in terms of what is being paid, is centuries of oppression and counting, sadly.
Some may look at Harvey Milk's death as an impedance to the Gay Rights Movement, as we've yet to see not one member of public office with a comparable drive, tenacity, and commitment to the fight for equal rights for LGBTQ. However, Milk did leave us with some powerful and righteous ideas that we can look to for guidance. Despite his tragic end, Milk's legacy inspired and showed countless people that they can and should be proud of who they are, which is something that continues to this very day. Harvey Milk's life positively influenced society for the better. He embodied the spirit of change in a way that brought people together through accepting others while encouraging people to simply be proud of who they are. Harvey Milk famously said, "If a bullet should enter my brain, let that bullet destroy every closet door." I'm ending this entry with two hopeful poems I wrote while wrapped in inspiration over Harvey Milk and what he stood for.
In Light of and for the Sake of Love
Take all the fear.
Take all the hate.
Take all the bigotry
and send it back where it came.
Give in to peace.
Give in to love.
Be proud of who you are
and in unity, we will all rise above.
Do Something
Do Something.
People are being murdered.
Our Friends,
Our Sisters,
Our Brothers,
Our Families,
They are dying.
The loss of our loved ones
In the name of what?
Some ass-backward justice,
Some racist legal system,
Some crooked police force
Of fascists and bigots and pitchforks.
What kind of animalistic justice is this?
Cops who murder for nonviolent offenses,
Or for Being Black!
Cops who kill
Our Friends,
Our Sisters,
and Our Brothers..
Our Families, they are crying.
Do something for sake of your duty,
For sake of moral obligation to your fellow man.
For your fellow man needs you to Do Something.
Things can change,
and things will get better,
If you, yes you,
Do Something.
Black Lives Matter.
-MZR
Works Cited
Bettmann, Getty. Archive Image. "Harvey Milk." A and E Television Networks, June 19, 2020.
https://www.history.com/topics/gay-rights/harvey-milk
Khalil, Ramy K. "Harvey Milk and California Proposition 6: How the Gay Liberation Movement Won two Early Victories." Western Washington
University Masters of Arts Thesis, Vol. 1, No. 1, pp. 1-147, May 2012.
Milk, Harvey. "Letter from Harvey Milk to President Carter Regarding the Briggs Initiative." Board of Supervisors City Hall San Francisco 94102,
District 5, June 28, 1978. https://www.docsteach.org/documents/document/harvey-milk-carter?tmpl=component&print=1