The Mayor of Castro Street (59 page)

We also have another issue that we've started in some of the north counties and I hope in some of the south counties it continues. In San Francisco elections we're asking—at least we hope to ask—that the U.S. government put pressure on the closing of the South African consulate. That must happen. There is a major difference between an embassy in Washington which is a diplomatic bureau, and a consulate in major cities. A consulate is there for one reason only—to promote business, economic gains, tourism, investment. And every time you have business going to South Africa, you're promoting a regime that's offensive.

In the city of San Francisco, if everyone of 51 percent of that city were to go to South Africa, they would be treated as second-class citizens. That is an offense to the people of San Francisco and I hope all my colleagues up there will take every step we can to close down that consulate and hope that people in other parts of the state follow us in that lead. The battles must be started some place and CDC is the greatest place to start the battles.

I know we are pressed for time so I'm going to cover just one more little point. That is to understand why it is important that gay people run for office and that gay people get elected. I know there are many people in this room who are running for central committee who are gay. I encourage you. There's a major reason why. If my non-gay friends and supporters in this room understand it, they'll probably understand why I've run so often before I finally made it. Y'see right now, there's a controversy going on in this convention about the governor. Is he speaking out enough? Is he strong enough for gay rights? And there is a controversy and for us to say it is not would be foolish. Some people are satisfied and some people are not.

You see there is a major difference—and it remains a vital difference—between a friend and a gay person, a friend in office and a gay person in office. Gay people have been slandered nationwide. We've been tarred and we've been brushed with the picture of pornography. In Dade County, we were accused of child molestation. It's not enough anymore just to have friends represent us. No matter how good that friend may be.

The black community made up its mind to that a long time ago. That the myths against blacks can only be dispelled by electing black leaders, so the black community could be judged by the leaders and not by the myths or black criminals. The Spanish community must not be judged by Latin criminals or myths. The Asian community must not be judged by Asian criminals or myths. The Italian community should not be judged by the mafia, myths. And the time has come when the gay community must not be judged by our criminals and myths.

Like every other group, we must be judged by our leaders and by those who are themselves gay, those who are visible. For invisible, we remain in limbo—a myth, a person with no parents, no brothers, no sisters, no friends who are straight, no important positions in employment. A tenth of a nation supposedly composed of stereotypes and would-be seducers of children—and no offense meant to the stereotypes. But today, the black community is not judged by its friends, but by its black legislators and leaders. And we must give people the chance to judge us by our leaders and legislators. A gay person in office can set a tone, can command respect not only from the larger community, but from the young people in our own community who need both examples and hope.

The first gay people we elect must be strong. They must not be content to sit in the back of the bus. They must not be content to accept pablum. They must be above wheeling and dealing. They must be—for the good of all of us—independent, unbought. The anger and the frustrations that some of us feel is because we are misunderstood, and friends can't feel that anger and frustration. They can sense it in us, but they can't feel it. Because a friend has never gone through what is known as coming out. I will never forget what it was like coming out and having nobody to look up toward. I remember the lack of hope—and our friends can't fulfill that.

I can't forget the looks on faces of people who've lost hope. Be they gay, be they seniors, be they blacks looking for an almost-impossible job, be they Latins trying to explain their problems and aspirations in a tongue that's foreign to them. I personally will never forget that people are more important than buildings. I use the word “I” because I'm proud. I stand here tonight in front of my gay sisters, brothers and friends because I'm proud of you. I think it's time that we have many legislators who are gay and proud of that fact and do not have to remain in the closet. I think that a gay person, up-front, will not walk away from a responsibility and be afraid of being tossed out of office. After Dade County, I walked among the angry and the frustrated night after night and I looked at their faces. And in San Francisco, three days before Gay Pride Day, a person was killed just because he was gay. And that night, I walked among the sad and the frustrated at City Hall in San Francisco and later that night as they lit candles on Castro Street and stood in silence, reaching out for some symbolic thing that would give them hope. These were strong people, people whose faces I knew from the shop, the streets, meetings and people who I never saw before but I knew. They were strong, but even they needed hope.

And the young gay people in the Altoona, Pennsylvanias and the Richmond, Minnesotas who are coming out and hear Anita Bryant on television and her story. The only thing they have to look forward to is hope. And you have to give them hope. Hope for a better world, hope for a better tomorrow, hope for a better place to come to if the pressures at home are too great. Hope that all will be all right. Without hope, not only gays, but the blacks, the seniors, the handicapped, the us'es, the us'es will give up. And if you help elect to the central committee and other offices, more gay people, that gives a green light to all who feel disenfranchised, a green light to move forward. It means hope to a nation that has given up, because if a gay person makes it, the doors are open to everyone.

So if there is a message I have to give, it is that if I've found one overriding thing about my personal election, it's the fact that if a gay person can be elected, it's a green light. And you and you and you, you have to give people hope. Thank you very much.

IV. “That's What America Is.”

The Gay Freedom Day Parade of June 25, 1978 was the signal event of the gay emergence in San Francisco during the late 1970s. Estimates of crowd size ranged from a quarter million to 375,000 as confident throngs marched against the imminent threat of the Briggs Initiative. No other single political event of the decade drew such a crowd in San Francisco, if not the nation. Though hounded by an onslaught of assassination threats, Harvey Milk saw the rally at City Hall as one of the most important opportunities to spell out his anger against the coalescing New Right which had so effectively begun to take up the anti-homosexual crusade. What follows is a rendering of the notes from which he read his speech. (Notes provided by the Estate of Harvey Milk.)

MY NAME IS HARVEY MILK—AND I WANT TO RECRUIT YOU. I WANT TO RECRUIT YOU FOR THE FIGHT TO PRESERVE YOUR DEMOCRACY FROM THE JOHN BRIGGS AND THE ANITA BRYANTS WHO ARE TRYING TO CONSTITUTIONALIZE BIGOTRY.

WE ARE NOT GOING TO ALLOW THAT TO HAPPEN. WE ARE NOT GOING TO SIT BACK IN SILENCE AS 300,000 OF OUR GAY BROTHERS AND SISTERS DID IN NAZI GERMANY. WE ARE NOT GOING TO ALLOW OUR RIGHTS TO BE TAKEN AWAY AND THEN MARCH WITH BOWED HEADS INTO THE GAS CHAMBERS. ON THIS ANNIVERSARY OF STONEWALL I ASK MY GAY SISTERS AND BROTHERS TO MAKE THE COMMITMENT TO FIGHT. FOR THEMSELVES. FOR THEIR FREEDOM. FOR THEIR COUNTRY.

HERE, IN SAN FRANCISCO, WE RECENTLY HELD AN ELECTION FOR A JUDGESHIP. AN ANTI-GAY SMEAR CAMPAIGN WAS WAGED AGAINST A PRESIDING JUDGE BECAUSE SHE WAS SUPPORTED BY LESBIANS AND GAY MEN. HERE, IN SO-CALLED LIBERAL SAN FRANCISCO, AN ANTI-GAY SMEAR CAMPAIGN WAS WAGED BY SO-CALLED LIBERALS.

AND HERE, IN SO-CALLED LIBERAL SAN FRANCISCO, WE HAVE A COLUMNIST FOR THE
SAN FRANCISCO EXAMINER
, A COLUMNIST NAMED KEVIN STARR, WHO HAS PRINTED A NUMBER OF COLUMNS CONTAINING DISTORTIONS AND LIES ABOUT GAYS. HE'S GETTING AWAY WITH IT.

THESE ANTI-GAY SMEAR CAMPAIGNS, THESE ANTI-GAY COLUMNS, ARE LAYING THE GROUNDWORK FOR THE BRIGGS INITIATIVE. WE HAD BETTER BE PREPARED FOR IT.

IN THE
EXAMINER
, KEVIN STARR DEFAMES AND LIBELS GAYS. IN THE
SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE
, CHARLES McCABE WARNS US TO BE QUIET, THAT TALKING ABOUT GAY RIGHTS IS
COUNTER-PRODUCTIVE
. TO MR. McCABE I SAY THAT THE DAY HE STOPS TALKING ABOUT FREEDOM OF THE PRESS IS THE DAY HE NO LONGER HAS IT.

THE BLACKS DID NOT WIN THEIR RIGHTS BY SITTING QUIETLY IN THE BACK OF THE BUS. THEY GOT OFF!

GAY PEOPLE, WE WILL NOT WIN THEIR RIGHTS BY STAYING QUIETLY IN OUR CLOSETS.… WE ARE COMING OUT! WE ARE COMING OUT TO FIGHT THE LIES, THE MYTHS, THE DISTORTIONS! WE ARE COMING OUT TO TELL THE TRUTH ABOUT GAYS!

FOR I'M TIRED OF THE CONSPIRACY OF SILENCE.

I'M TIRED OF LISTENING TO THE ANITA BRYANTS TWIST THE LANGUAGE AND THE MEANING OF THE BIBLE TO FIT THEIR OWN DISTORTED OUTLOOK. BUT I'M EVEN MORE TIRED OF THE
SILENCE
FROM THE RELIGIOUS LEADERS OF THIS NATION WHO
KNOW
THAT SHE IS PLAYING FAST AND LOOSE WITH THE TRUE MEANING OF THE BIBLE.
I'M TIRED OF THEIR SILENCE MORE THAN OF HER BIBLICAL GYMNASTICS
!

AND I'M TIRED OF JOHN BRIGGS TALKING ABOUT FALSE ROLE MODELS. HE'S LYING IN HIS TEETH AND HE KNOWS IT. BUT I'M EVEN MORE TIRED OF THE SILENCE FROM EDUCATORS AND PSYCHOLOGISTS WHO KNOW THAT BRIGGS IS LYING AND YET SAY NOTHING.
I'M TIRED OF THEIR SILENCE MORE THAN OF BRIGGS' LIES
!

I'M TIRED OF THE SILENCE. SO I'M GOING TO TALK ABOUT IT. AND I WANT
YOU
TO TALK ABOUT IT.

GAY PEOPLE, WE ARE PAINTED AS CHILD MOLESTERS
. I WANT TO TALK ABOUT THAT. I WANT TO TALK ABOUT THE
MYTH
OF CHILD MOLESTATIONS BY GAYS. I WANT TO TALK ABOUT THE
FACT
THAT IN THIS STATE SOME 95 PERCENT OF CHILD MOLESTATIONS ARE HETEROSEXUAL AND USUALLY THE PARENT.…

I WANT TO TALK ABOUT THE
FACT
THAT ALL CHILD ABANDONMENTS ARE HETEROSEXUAL.

I WANT TO TALK ABOUT THE
FACT
THAT ALL ABUSE OF CHILDREN IS BY THEIR HETEROSEXUAL PARENTS.

I WANT TO TALK ABOUT THE
FACT
THAT SOME 98 PERCENT OF THE SIX MILLION RAPES COMMITTED ANNUALLY ARE HETEROSEXUAL.

I WANT TO TALK ABOUT THE
FACT
THAT ONE OUT OF EVERY THREE WOMEN WHO WILL BE MURDERED IN THIS STATE THIS YEAR WILL BE MURDERED BY THEIR HUSBANDS.

I WANT TO TALK ABOUT THE
FACT
THAT SOME 30 PERCENT OF ALL MARRIAGES CONTAIN DOMESTIC VIOLENCE.

AND FINALLY, I WANT TO TELL THE JOHN BRIGGS AND THE ANITA BRYANTS THAT
YOU
TALK ABOUT THE
MYTHS
OF GAYS BUT TODAY
I'M
TALKING ABOUT THE
FACTS
OF
HETEROSEXUAL VIOLENCE
AND WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU GOING TO DO ABOUT THAT?????

CLEAN UP YOUR OWN HOUSE BEFORE YOU START TELLING LIES ABOUT GAYS. DON'T DISTORT THE BIBLE TO HIDE YOUR OWN SINS. DON'T CHANGE FACTS TO LIES. DON'T LOOK FOR CHEAP POLITICAL ADVANTAGE IN PLAYING UPON PEOPLE'S FEARS! JUDGING BY THE LATEST POLLS, EVEN THE YOUTH CAN TELL YOU'RE LYING
!

[calmer] ANITA BRYANT, JOHN BRIGGS: YOUR UNWILLINGNESS TO TALK ABOUT YOUR OWN HOUSE, YOUR DELIBERATE LIES AND DISTORTIONS, YOUR UNWILLINGNESS TO FACE THE TRUTH, CHILLS MY BLOOD—IT REEKS OF MADNESS!

AND LIKE THE REST OF YOU,
I'M TIRED
OF OUR SO-CALLED FRIENDS WHO TELL US THAT WE MUST SET STANDARDS.

WHAT STANDARDS?

THE STANDARDS OF THE RAPISTS? THE WIFE BEATERS? THE CHILD ABUSERS? THE PEOPLE WHO ORDERED THE BOMB TO BE BUILT? THE PEOPLE WHO ORDERED IT TO BE DROPPED? THE PEOPLE WHO PULLED THE TRIGGER? THE PEOPLE WHO GAVE US VIETNAM? THE PEOPLE WHO BUILT THE GAS CHAMBERS? THE PEOPLE WHO BUILT THE CONCENTRATION CAMPS——RIGHT
HERE
, IN CALIFORNIA, AND THEN HERDED ALL THE JAPANESE-AMERICANS INTO THEM DURING WORLD WAR II.… THE JEW BAITERS? THE NIGGER KNOCKERS? THE CORPORATE THIEFS? THE NIXONS? THE HITLERS?

WHAT STANDARDS DO
YOU
WANT
US
TO SET? CLEAN UP YOUR ACT, CLEAN UP YOUR VIOLENCE BEFORE YOU CRITICIZE LESBIANS AND GAY MEN BECAUSE OF THEIR SEXUALITY.… IT IS
MADNESS
TO GLORIFY KILLING AND VIOLENCE ON ONE HAND AND BE ASHAMED OF THE SEXUAL ACT, THE ACT THAT CONCEIVED YOU, ON THE OTHER …

THERE IS A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MORALITY AND MURDER
. THE
FACT
IS THAT MORE PEOPLE HAVE BEEN SLAUGHTERED IN THE NAME OF RELIGION THAN FOR ANY OTHER SINGLE REASON. THAT, THAT, MY FRIENDS,
THAT IS TRUE PERVERSION
! FOR THE STANDARDS THAT WE SHOULD SET, SHOULD WE READ YOUR NEXT WEEK'S HEADLINES?…

WELL, I'M TIRED OF THE LIES OF THE ANITA BRYANTS AND THE JOHN BRIGGS.

I'M TIRED OF THEIR MYTHS.

I'M TIRED OF THEIR DISTORTIONS.

I'M SPEAKING OUT ABOUT IT.

GAY BROTHERS AND SISTERS, WHAT ARE
YOU
GOING TO DO ABOUT IT? YOU MUST
COME OUT.
COME OUT … TO YOUR PARENTS … I KNOW THAT IT IS HARD AND WILL HURT THEM BUT THINK ABOUT HOW THEY WILL
HURT YOU
IN THE VOTING BOOTH!
COME OUT … TO YOUR RELATIVES.
I KNOW THAT IS HARD AND WILL UPSET THEM BUT THINK OF HOW THEY WILL
UPSET YOU
IN THE VOTING BOOTH.
COME OUT TO YOUR FRIENDS
 … IF THEY INDEED THEY ARE YOUR FRIENDS.
COME OUT
TO YOUR NEIGHBORS … TO YOUR FELLOW WORKERS … TO THE PEOPLE
WHO WORK
WHERE YOU EAT AND SHOP.…
COME OUT
ONLY TO THE PEOPLE YOU KNOW,
AND WHO KNOW YOU.
NOT TO ANYONE ELSE. BUT ONCE AND FOR ALL, BREAK DOWN THE MYTHS, DESTROY THE LIES AND DISTORTIONS.

FOR YOUR SAKE.