by the San Francisco LGBT Pride Celebration Committee<\/p>\n\n\n\n
image no longer available<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n May 22 marks what would have been former San Francisco City Supervisor Harvey Milk’s 78th birthday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Milk has been widely referred to as a martyr for the LGBT movement, but it is not his death that first launched Harvey into the public’s eye.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Milk’s election to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1978 was an historic moment. His win came after two unsuccessful bids in 1973 and 1975.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In 1977, when voting for San Francisco City Supervisors transitioned from city-wide elections to district elections, Milk managed to win a seat on the Board and in so doing became the first openly gay elected official of any major U.S. city.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When Milk addressed a crowd of supporters after his victory, he noted the significance of his election for the LGBT community, “This is not my victory — it’s yours. If a gay man can win, it proves that there is hope for all minorities who are willing to fight.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n As a supervisor, Milk rallied the city council in 1978 to pass the city’s landmark Gay Rights Ordinance, which barred employers from firing employees because of their sexuality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Milk’s fellow supervisor Dan White resigned from the Board in opposition to Milk’s bill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n White would later return to City Hall and shoot then-Mayor George Moscone and Milk, killing them both.<\/p>\n\n\n\n