SF, Sacto events celebrate Harvey Milk's life and legacy

San Francisco LGBT leaders threw a grandiose celebration last year in honor of the late openly gay Supervisor Harvey Milk and Mayor George Moscone to mark the 30th anniversary of the progressive politicians' assassinations on November 27, 1978 inside City Hall. Both men were gunned down by Dan White, a disgruntled ex-supervisor who wanted his job back.

The annual commemoration of the gruesome killings came nearly a month after the local star-studded premiere of the Oscar-winning biopic Milk, starring Sean Penn in the title role and directed by gay film auteur Gus Van Sant. The rally in the Civic Center and march to where Milk had his camera shop in the Castro drew a thousand people, including Dan Jinks, an out Hollywood producer who backed the film.

In a marked contrast, this year's Milk march the night after Thanksgiving will be humbler and more low-key. The vigil is being moved back to the Castro, where it will kick-off Friday, November 27 at Harvey Milk Plaza with speeches before proceeding down the street to the building where Milk worked and lived.

Anyone looking for some Hollywood glitz this year will have to turn to Sacramento, where Milk will be inducted next week into the California Hall of Fame by former actor-turned-politician Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and his wife Maria Shriver, the former TV journalist and member of the Kennedy clan.

The induction ceremony takes place Tuesday, December 1 and includes a red carpet entrance and after-party in the state capital. Along with Milk, the other inductees this year include comedic actress Carol Burnett, San Francisco-based novelist Danielle Steel, sports announcer and former Oakland Raiders football coach John Madden, and film director and producer George Lucas.

The public is invited to line up on the red carpet that night starting at 5 p.m. The inductees start walking the carpet around 6, and the ceremony begins at 7.

The event takes place at the California Museum located at the corner of 10th and O streets in downtown Sacramento. The following day, Tuesday, December 2, an exhibit on this year's inductees will go on display to the public at the museum.

As the Bay Area Reporter reported in October, the section about Milk will include the contents of an urn friends of the lawmaker had sent to a Washington, D.C. cemetery following his death but was turned over to his family this fall.

"Their being in a moldy vault for 20 years puts an interesting twist on them. These are items that at least [Milk's lover] Scott Smith thought was important to keep," said Harvey's gay nephew, Stuart Milk, who had the urn sent to museum officials and is planning to attend next week's festivities.

Stuart Milk has been working with archivists to dig up items the public has never seen before for the special exhibit on his uncle's life.� Among the artifacts is the 1978 San Francisco ordinance banning discrimination based on sexual orientation that Milk pushed through the board prior to his untimely death.

"This is probably the first time we will have this assortment of objects together in one place. Certainly, we can be guaranteed this is an assemblage of items that together have never been seen before," said Amanda Meeker, the museum's deputy director. "What is really exciting is we have so many schoolchildren, about 60,000 school kids a year, who come through here to learn about California history. I think it is great they will be coming here to learn about Harvey Milk."

The exhibit runs through October 31, 2010. For information on entrance times and admission prices, visit www.californiamuseum.org.

While organizers of the San Francisco event are expecting a far smaller crowd this year, they said Milk's legacy is still relevant today and that the movie, which currently is airing on HBO, has had a lasting impact. And as seen by the marriage equality defeat in Maine earlier this month and the passage of Proposition 8, the anti-same-sex marriage constitutional amendment passed by California voters last fall, they say the fight for LGBT rights begun by Milk and his cohorts has yet to be fully realized.

"I don't know if it has worn off. I think more people think about Harvey Milk on a regular basis than probably did three years ago," said Rafael Mandelman, president of the Harvey Milk LGBT Democratic Club, which organizes the yearly vigil for Milk and Moscone. "In the wake of Maine, and still in the wake of Prop 8, we clearly have not achieved full equality and I think people will want to come around together on that."

The Milk Club has joined with One Struggle, One Fight to hold this year's vigil, which will begin at 6 p.m. Friday. Former openly gay Supervisor Harry Britt, who was appointed to Milk's seat on the Board of Supervisors after his assassination, is expected to be on hand, along with former supervisor and Milk ally Carol Ruth Silver.

Members of the Milk and Moscone families have also been invited, Mandelman said.

Later that evening, an interfaith service will take place at 7 p.m. at Saint Francis Lutheran Church, 152 Church Street (at Market). Father Tommy Dillon is organizing the service. Afterwards, there will be a procession with full "smells and bells," Dillon said. The procession will head up Market Street to the Castro.

The event is being planned by members of Or Shalom Synagogue, the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, San Francisco Night Ministry, Saint Francis Lutheran Church, Saint Aidan's Episcopal Church, Milk Memorial Education Committee, and the Milk Club.

For more information contact Dillon at [email protected] or (415) 285-9540.