In a time of great change we must not forget Harvey MIlk

San Francisco is one crazy place with one crazy past, trust me on this one.
SF has not always been the gay loving, open-minded city it claims to be now. The story of Harvey Milk marked a step forward in U.S. politics and also a giant step backward with his murder in the later 1970s.

Before you see the movie (which will star Sean Penn as Harvey Milk) you should know about what happened.
Harvey Milk was an American politician and the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in California, as a member of the SF Board of Supervisors. Now, Harvey did not win with open arms. San Francisco was still quite conservative.
Change did not come easily to the political authorities in San Francisco. Oral sex was still a felony, and in 1970, nearly 90 people were arrested for it. And that's not all.
Even though Harvey Milk exploded into the public eye and got much praise for his work as a politician, many did not approve of his ways in or outside of office.
The Castro and the surrounding areas of SF were made up of mostly blue-collar Irish Catholics back in the 1970s. My dad says whatever you think the Castro is now, it was not like that back in the day.
Someone in particular, Dan White was so upset he took to drastic measures.
The Moscone-Milk assassinations were the killings of SF Mayor George Moscone and Harvey Milk who were shot and killed in SF City Hall by former Supervisor Dan White in November, 1978.
White was pissed he couldn't get his job back and so after a night of eating a lot twinkies (no joke) he went in and shot both men dead.
Here is the messed up part. White was only convicted of voluntary manslaughter (as opposed to first degree murder) because of the infamous "Twinkie Defense."

Ok, so now you know that SF was not always the most liberal city ever. Click on the red fonts to learn more about this horrific incident and the events leading up to it. It's quite controversial.
Nevertheless, the point I am trying to make is that even though travesties happen, we move forward. Harvey Milk stood for what Obama is trying to stand for now: Change!

Watch this to hear a portion of Harvey Milk's speech. His words are as important today as they were back in the 1970s. These words invoke the spirit of change and the belief that good people come in all shapes, colors and sizes.