​​​​​​​"Hope Will Never Be Silent:" Harvey Milk's Crusade for LGBTQIA+ Rights

Image courtesy of the San Francisco Public Library

     Many dishonorably discharged gay veterans stayed in San Francisco due to the city's tolerant reputation. Castro Street became the epicenter of San Francisco’s gay community and homosexuals were 17% of the population by 1980. San Francisco set the scene as a place that crossed just as many frontiers as the people in it.

"Gold in Peace, Iron in War"
~ The San Francisco City Motto

"When we deny people the chance to serve because of their sexual orientation, we deprive them of their rights of citizenship.​​​​​​​"
~ Dianne Feinstein

"To talk about the 'rights'​​​​​​​ of someone who has chosen to rebel against responsible living is nonsense. It is simply not true that all human beings have the same rights."
~ Anti-gay activist Anita Bryant.

     Before Milk, only three openly gay candidates had run for any American office, but they lost due to pervasive religious and cultural homophobia. LGBTQIA+ people were seen as too different and radical to possibly be representatives.

     Because of this opposition, gay politicians created The Alice Club, helping fund campaigns for gay-friendly politicians like George Moscone and Dianne Feinstein. This conservative perspective preferred electable gay-friendly politicians over homosexual ones.

"The issues associated with gay liberation are not partisan issues...They are human issues and as such they deserve support from all people, regardless of their political philosophies...We do not come to you pleading for your understanding or begging for your tolerance. We come to you affirming our pride and our lifestyles, affirming our right to seek and to maintain meaningful and emotional relationships, and affirming our right to participate in the life of this country on an equal basis with every other citizen​​​​​​​."
~ Jim Foster