Make a Difference Introduction

To be perfectly honest, my decision to research Harvey Milk is majorly attributed to my viewing of Gus Van Sant's recent film Milk. And to be even more honest, my main incentive for going to that movie was because I had a pretty big crush on James Franco (the actor who plays Milk's boyfriend). Now that I've come clean about that, I want to stress the fact that after walking out of the theater I could have cared less about James Franco; instead, I was completely blown away by the story of Harvey Milk, by what the man had accomplished and by what he had done for others. It has been an amazing experience to delve deeper into the history of Harvey Milk and learn more about who he really was. Harvey Milk was the first openly gay male to be elected into public office in California as a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. The journey to reach the office was a rigorous one, and along the way he inspired many gay males and females to come out of the dark and stop hiding who they really were. He has been remembered for his defeat against Proposition 6; a proposition that, if passed, would make firing openly gay teachers- and any public school employees who supported gay rights- mandatory. Harvey Milk was eccentric and passionate, he was never one to stand back and let things happen. He sought out to make a change and he really did.