What Harvey Milk Tells Us About Proposition 8 Filed by:
Guest Blogger November 23, 2008 7:00 PM
Editors' Note: Guest blogger Rob Epstein is the director of the Oscar winning film "The Times of Harvey Milk", and is this years' recipient of the International Documentary Association's Pioneer Award. Thirty years ago on election night
Harvey Milk gave an electrifying speech at the "No on Proposition 6" headquarters in the Castro neighborhood of San Francisco. The results were in: Proposition 6 was going down to defeat.
In 1978,
Proposition 6 ( "the Briggs Initiative") was the California ballot measure aimed at preventing gay people and supporters from working as teachers in public schools. Harvey Milk was a San Francisco city council member who had been in office for a mere ten months. Through his role in this campaign he proved himself to be more than just an "elected gay official." He was a leader at the height of his powers. When introduced to the crowd that night by Sally Gearhart (another important figure in the fight against Proposition 6), the response to Harvey was thunderous. He proceeded to give one of the greatest speeches of his relatively short political career.
