What Harvey Milk Tells Us About Prop 8:
In light of the passage of Proposition 8, Harvey’s message of thirty
years ago remains as vital today as it was then. It is our
responsibility to let our loved ones, co-workers, friends, and
neighbors know who we are, so that those who vote in favor of
discrimination have our names and faces in their minds eye when doing
so.
Although Proposition 8 wasn’t exactly a re-make of Proposition 6, it’s
the same disaster movie storyline pitch: any recognition of
constitutional rights for gay and lesbian citizens will somehow destroy
the natural order and as a result America’s institutions — be they
schools or marriage–will crumble.
Harvey pitched a different storyline: an accommodating democratic society based on constitutional principles, including theseparation of church and state,
and equality for all its citizens will make our country stronger and
freer. But Harvey was more than just a good pitchman. He had an innate
sense of history, and as a result he made his mark on history. Three
weeks after his Proposition 6 victory speech Harvey was killed, and
we’re still waiting for another leader of his ilk to emerge. While we
may not be able to predict from where or when real leaders come,
eventually they do. In the meantime, as we celebrate the election of a
man whose own parents’ interracial marriage would not have been legal
in sixteen states prior to 1967, Harvey we’re still waiting.