HARVEY MILK
May 22, 1930-November 27, 1978
Harvey Milk Plaza is named in honor of San Francisco Supervisor Harvey
Milk, California's first elected official to be openly gay.
In 1973, Harvey Milk opened Castro Camera at 575 Castro Street and
moved in to the apartment upstairs. Harvey's store soon became a center for
political meetings and voter registration drives. Through his involvement in
neighborhood issues, Harvey earned the title "The Mayor of Castro Street."
As the influx of gay men and lesbians revitalized the neighborhood, Harvey
assumed leadership of the Castro Village Merchants Association. In 1974 he
organized the original Castro Street Fair.
In January 1976, Mayor George Moscone appointed Harvey to the Board
of Permit Appeals as San Francisco's first openly gay Commissioner. In the
1977 District Election of Supervisors, Harvey was elected to the Board from this
District.
Harvey Milk was a representative of a despised minority, yet his lasting
triumph is that he championed the rights of all people. In his tragically short
term as Supervisor, Harvey Milk authored San Francisco's Gay Rights Ordinance
and fought for the causes of women, the elderly, ethnic minorities, renters,
environmentalists, union members and neighborhood residents. He also
worked to establish district elections and improve public transit. Muni riders
remember him as the first city official to use a Muni Fast Pass every day.
Harvey Milk and George Moscone were assassinated on November 27,
1978. That night 10,000 San Franciscans gathered at this site and proceeded
to City Hall in a candlelight march.
Harvey Milk Plaza was dedicated on September 15, 1985 by Mayor Diane
Feinstein, Board of Supervisors president John L. Molinari and Harvey's suc-
cessor, Supervisor Harry Britt.
"I am all of us!" -- Harvey Milk
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