knowhomo:

LGBTQ* Events and People You (Should) Pause and Remember

Harvey Milk (May 22, 1930 – November 27, 1978)

After Harvey Milk became one of the first out gay people elected in 1977, he put up a sign in his store window that just said, “Thank You.” It would take another thirty-five years for the first out lesbian, Tammy Baldwin, to be elected to the US Senate.

“And you have to give them hope. Hope for a better world, hope for a better tomorrow, hope for a better place to come to if the pressures at home are too great. Hope that all will be all right. Without hope, not only gays, but the blacks, the seniors, the handicapped, the us’es, the us’es will give up. And if you help elect to the central committee and other offices, more gay people, that gives a green light to all who feel disenfranchised, a green light to move forward. It means hope to a nation that has given up, because if a gay person makes it, the doors are open to everyone.

So if there is a message I have to give, it is that I’ve found one overriding thing about my personal election, it’s the fact that if a gay person can be elected, it’s a green light. And you and you and you, you have to give people hope. Thank you very much.”

— Harvey Milk

Remembering Harvey Milk, killed on this day in 1978.

We love you. We miss you. We thank YOU.

For more on Harvey Milk, watch the documentary THE LIFE AND TIMES OF HARVEY MILK (which can be found on Netflix and sometimes Hulu).