Harvey Milk Forty Years Later (Audio)

This year on November 27th marks the 40th anniversary when Supervisor Harvey Milk & Mayor George Moscone were assassinated by a deranged gunman at City Hall Plaza in San Francisco, California. It was a day that changed the course of our LGBTQ history forever & a day that I personally will never forget. San Franciscans were still in shock by news of the Jonestown Massacre which took the lives of 900 members of their community when the news broke after San Francisco Board Member Dianne Feinstein heard gunshots & called police & then found Milk face down on the floor shot five times, including twice in the head. Soon after she announced to the press stating, "Today San Francisco has experienced a double tragedy of immense proportions. As President of the Board of Supervisors, it is my duty to inform you that both Mayor Moscone & Supervisor Harvey Milk have been shot & killed & the suspect is Supervisor Dan White." Milk was 48 years old & Moscone was 49. White turned himself in at the police station where he was formerly an officer & the term "Twinkie defense" came from his murder trial that convicted him of the lesser crime of manslaughter. Outrage over White's lenient sentence caused a riot by angry protestors. After White was released from prison he committed suicide shortly afterwards in 1985. On Tuesday November 27th at 5P the Castro Theatre will host a free screening of the Oscar-winning documentary “The Times of Harvey Milk” & at 7P there will be a memorial vigil at Harvey Milk Plaza in the Castro organized by the Harvey Milk LGBTQ Democratic Club & contemporaries of Milk followed by a candlelight procession to City Hall where there will be additional community reflections. Listen: Cleve Jones Talks About Harvey Milk:
For More Info: milkfoundation.org
LISTEN: Peter Tatchell Talks LGBTQ Equality & Human Rights