Harvey Milk

“Let me tell you right now. I’ve got a real surprise for the gay community. A real surprise.”
- Dan White speaking to gay San Francisco newspaper reporter Charles Morris November 1978

“Ah - Life is worth living.”
- Part of a thank you note Harvey Milk wrote to a friend November 24, 1978 ( from the book “The Mayor of Castro Street” by Randy Shilts )

"Kill A Queer For Christ"

- Bumper sticker during the campaign to repeal gays rights in Florida 1977


“All over the country, they're reading about me, and the story doesn't center on me being gay. It's just about a gay person who is doing his job.”

- Harvey Milk, 1977


“More people have been slaughtered in the name of religion than for any other single reason. That, my friends, that is true perversion.”

- Harvey Milk 1977

“Rights are not won on paper. They are won only by those who make their voices heard.”

- Harvey Milk after his election to San Francisco City Supervisor 1977

"We must destroy the myths once and for all. We must continue to speak out and most importantly every gay person must come out. As difficult as it is, you must tell your family, you must tell your relatives, you must tell your friends, you must tell your neighbors, you must tell the people you work with, you must tell the people in the stores you shop in, and once they realize that we are indeed their children and that we are indeed everywhere, - every myth, every lie, every innuendo will be destroyed once and for all. And once you do you will feel so much better."

- Harvey Milk, San Francisco November 7, 1978


“One third of San Francisco teachers are homosexual. I assume most of them are seducing young boys in toilets.”

- California Senator John Briggs 1978 who initiated The Briggs Initiative to outlaw homosexual teachers in California in 1978


"If a homosexual in Altoona will never have to be invisible again I will have done my job."

- Harvey Milk 1978

"As president of the board of supervisors, it's my duty to make this announcement. Both Mayor Moscone and supervisor Harvey Milk have been shot and killed."
- Diane Feinstein’s announcement to the press 11:20 a.m. November 27, 1978

"In Memory of Harvey Milk and Mayor George Moscone, Life’s greatest gifts".

- Black bordered sign in the window of a Castro Street café the day Milk and Moscone were assassinated in San Francisco November 27, 1978

"OPEN SEASON - COP KILLS FAG - GOES FREE"

- protest sign in San Francisco after the Dan White Verdict 1979

“Get out you goddamn queers!”

- Verbal assaults by cops raiding a the Elephant Walk Bar on Castro Street during the White Night riots May 1979

“He got away with murder! He got away with murder!”

- chants by a crowd of gays and lesbians in front of San Francisco City Hall May 21, 1979

“Just tell people that we ate too many Twinkies.”

- a rioter as he torched a cop car in San Francisco May 21, 1979

“Kill Dan White!”

- Shouted by an angry mob of gays on their way to protest at San Francisco City Hall after hearing Dan White’s verdict for murdering Harvey Milk May 21, 1979

“Squad cars burn in the streets during a six-hour riot by thousands of homosexuals in San Francisco.”

- caption under photo in Newsweek Magazine May 1979

“I know feelings are running high in the city and I understand and I share them. But there is no excuse for this kind of violence.”

- Mayor Diane Feinstein pleading with rioters in San Francisco May 22, 1979

"Kill fags! Dan White for Mayor!"

- graffiti in San Francisco late 1978


“All Fags Must die!”

- Message written in toothpaste in apartment of Les Benscoter a gay man murdered in St. Paul, Minnesota June 1979

"Homosexuals - You devils are not welcome here"

- Sign greeting people arriving for the 1979 March on Washing for Lesbian and Gay Rights October 14, 1979

"Street rioting in San Francisco that left 140 people injured demonstrates the rising militancy of homosexual activists in American politics."

- from an article in US News and World Report June 4, 1979

"If a bullet should enter my brain, let that bullet destroy every closet door."

- Harvey Milk - 1978


I got these from here and that person got them from here and I highly recommend you guys read the rest of that thread, too, because there's some great stuff in there.

Anyway...yeah. Thanks, Harvey, for everything (even all the mistakes you made...especially for those). You left a legacy and give a lot of grateful people a reason to hope every day.