Should Harvey Milk Day Be Repealed in California?

[WarmPotato]

Harvey Milk was a San Francisco politician in the 1970s well known for activism in the LGBT movement. We've named a Navy ship after him, made him a postage stamp, and Obama even gave Harvey Milk the presidential medal of freedom! Why? Because the LGBT movement is attempting to whitewash history.

Harvey Milk was an LGBT icon, who had a love of young boys. I encourage you to read the book "Mayor of Castro Street" for more information. Randy Shilts explains himself, how Milk had a long history of pursuing boys as young as 16. He was a near 50 year old man pursuing teenage boys. According to Gerard Dols and others, he would get into contact and convince them to run away from home to be with him in San Francisco. More than a few boys who had liasons with Harvey Milk, ended up suicidal soon after.

Harvey was purposefully putting these boys into a situation where they'd be susceptible to coercion, isolating them from their families. He would give them a place to sleep and food to eat, with the expectation of sex soon after. And it wasn't as if the boys could easily return home a day later. No, Harvey started relationships with them. And in the case of Jack Galen McKinley, Harvey would eventually tire of them and pursue other men.

If this was a 50 year old man pursuing 16 year old girls, the world would be in an uproar. But because the victims were boys, society has given Harvey Milk a free pass. Sexuality and gender are no excuse for sexual assault. Harvey Milk was a sexual predator. And his support for Jim Jones is just another reason why Harvey Milk Day, must be cancelled.

 

[btthegreat]

I won't speak to these accusations because I haven't done much research on them but he was not convicted of any crime involving minors. I will say he is the most over-hyped figure in the gay civil rights movement. There are so many great LBGTQ men and women who did so much more than he did.

 

[btthegreat]

I won't speak to these accusations because I haven't done much research on them but he was not convicted of any crime involving minors. I will say he is the most over-hyped figure in the gay civil rights movement. There are so many great LBGTQ men and women who did so much more than he did. His gift to us was mostly to provide us a blueprint to provide headlines to a nascent movement all across America's major metropolis. He got us in the newspapers and on televisions on days that did not correspond with pride marches.

Missed the deadline to edit the above with this link. https://debatepolitics.com/threads/historical-figures-in-lgbtq-rights-other-than-milk.347028/

 

[maquiscat]

Harvey Milk was a San Francisco politician in the 1970s well known for activism in the LGBT movement. We've named a Navy ship after him, made him a postage stamp, and Obama even gave Harvey Milk the presidential medal of freedom! Why? Because the LGBT movement is attempting to whitewash history.

Harvey Milk was an LGBT icon, who had a love of young boys. I encourage you to read the book "Mayor of Castro Street" for more information. Randy Shilts explains himself, how Milk had a long history of pursuing boys as young as 16. He was a near 50 year old man pursuing teenage boys. According to Gerard Dols and others, he would get into contact and convince them to run away from home to be with him in San Francisco. More than a few boys who had liasons with Harvey Milk, ended up suicidal soon after.

Harvey was purposefully putting these boys into a situation where they'd be susceptible to coercion, isolating them from their families. He would give them a place to sleep and food to eat, with the expectation of sex soon after. And it wasn't as if the boys could easily return home a day later. No, Harvey started relationships with them. And in the case of Jack Galen McKinley, Harvey would eventually tire of them and pursue other men.

If this was a 50 year old man pursuing 16 year old girls, the world would be in an uproar. But because the victims were boys, society has given Harvey Milk a free pass. Sexuality and gender are no excuse for sexual assault. Harvey Milk was a sexual predator. And his support for Jim Jones is just another reason why Harvey Milk Day, must be cancelled.

I can get behind you position, assuming that good solid evidence comes up, the social climate of the time is accounted for (we consider teens today less adult than we used to), and this is not intended to be a reflection on LBGT+ as a whole. There are way too many people who would try to say that Milk, as you portray him, is the common example of LBGT+

 

[btthegreat]

I can get behind you position, assuming that good solid evidence comes up, the social climate of the time is accounted for (we consider teens today less adult than we used to), and this is not intended to be a reflection on LBGT+ as a whole. There are way too many people who would try to say that Milk, as you portray him, is the common example of LBGT+

This then falls within the same parameters as a Robert E Lee statute for me. If the voters and taxpayers in a given jurisdiction no longer feel that they want a publicly owned street/statue/building/theater named after Milk or Lee because their tastes have changed, or the statue is now seen as offensive by many, or architecture is ugly, or their values no longer are represented, or they want to honor someone else more, they get to change their minds. Its entirely possible that Portland will make a different call on Milk Boulevard than San Francisco will about their Plaza, and Parisians will on Place Harvey Milk ( a town square in the gay district in Paris France) on their own timetable, for their own reasons, and that is how it should be. A previous community decision, is not binding on the next generation. San Francisco can worry about their Plaza and their statue. California can worry about Harvey Milk Day. I will only worry about that Military Sealift Oiler the navy is building.

I have not seen much proof of this pattern of victimization yet.

 

[CLAX1911]

I won't speak to these accusations because I haven't done much research on them but he was not convicted of any crime involving minors. I will say he is the most over-hyped figure in the gay civil rights movement. There are so many great LBGTQ men and women who did so much more than he did.

I agree with your evaluation here of Harvey milk being overhyped. I think the only reason he holds a standard within LGBT rights movement it's because he was one of the first to really gain notoriety.

 

[btthegreat]

I agree with your evaluation here of Harvey milk being overhyped. I think the only reason he holds a standard within LGBT rights movement it's because he was one of the first to really gain notoriety.

Its not like he did not have a real impact. He did.
He created a blueprint to bring media coverage and coalition politics to gay rights with urban centers like San Fran as the focal point. He knew how to grab a headline, and he learned how develop coalition partnerships with women's groups, unions, and other 'liberal' interests. It was a very effective strategy to change the politics around gay rights all over the country. But he was not the be- all of gay rights. We would have gotten there anyway and he is overhyped. .

 

[CLAX1911]

Its not like he did not have a real impact. He did.
He created a blueprint to bring media coverage and coalition politics to gay rights with urban centers like San Fran as the focal point. He knew how to grab a headline, and he learned how develop coalition partnerships with women's groups, unions, and other 'liberal' interests. It was a very effective strategy to change the politics around gay rights all over the country. But he was not the be- all of gay rights. We would have gotten there anyway and he is overhyped. .

I agree he is overhyped. And there is controversy surrounding him. How much of it is true doesn't really matter.