This is Harvey Milk speaking on Friday, November 18th.
This is only to be played in the event of my death by assassination.
During one of my early campaigns,
I began to open speeches with a line and it became kind of a signature.
My name is Harvey Milk and I want to recruit you.
If I was speaking to a slightly hostile audience
or a mostly straight one, I might break the tension with a joke.
I know. I know I'm not what you expected,
but I left my high heels at home.
I fully realize that a person who stands for what I stand for,
an activist, a gay activist,
makes himself the target for someone who is insecure,
terrified, afraid and disturbed themselves.
It's a very real possibility you see, because in San Francisco,
we have broken a dam of major prejudice in this country.
...room 200. I'm in the mayor's office.
We are trying to ascertain what is happening.
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.
I wish I had time to explain all the things that I did.
Almost everything was done with an eye on the gay movement.
Hey. Hey.
I'm Harvey.
Okay, Harvey.
Today's my birthday.
No, hey, actually it is my birthday. At midnight.
Really?
And, believe it or not, I don't have any plans.
Some people took me out after work.
Hmm. And that would be at, let me guess, Ma Bell or AT&T.
The Great American Insurance Company.
Oh.
I'm part of that corporate establishment that,
let me guess, you think is the cause of all the evil in the world,
from Vietnam to diaper rash.
You left out bad breath.
Just kidding.
You're not gonna let me spend my birthday all by myself, are you?
Listen, Harvey,
you're pretty cute,
but I don't date guys over 40.
Well, then, this is my lucky night.
Why is that?
I'm still 39.
It's only 11:15.
Come on.
What's your name?
I'm Scott.
Very nice to meet you, Mr. Harvey, insurance man.
Where are you from?
Jackson, Mississippi.
This isn't Jackson. You can't respond to just every strange man
that picks you up on a subway platform.
It's too dangerous.
Hmm, now you tell me.
The New York Police are the toughest.
They're arrogant and they're everywhere.
I'll show you all the cruising spots,
but you have to be very careful, little Scotty-san.
Are you on some uppers or something?
No. This is just plain me.
And you're scared of the cops?
I'm just discreet. I know a lot of people.
If they see me, I could lose my job.
Oh, you're one of those.
Well, I think you need to find a new scene. Some new friends.
I need a change. I know.
Yeah, you're 40 now.
Oh.
Forty years old and I haven't done a thing I'm proud of.
You keep eating this cake and you're going to be fat by the time you're 50.
That's if I ever get to 50. Oh!
Happy birthday, old man.
Why don't we run away together?
Where to?
HARVEY/ In the past, and still now,
San Francisco was the place where everyone wanted to go.
To drop out, to fall in love.
But by 1972, the Haight was boarded up. Drug filled, crime filled.
The new place for us refugees
was a little Irish Catholic neighborhood in the Eureka Valley,
six blocks square,
the Castro.
I cashed my last unemployment check yesterday.
Well, I hope you did something useful with it.
I bought an ounce of pot.
Don't move for a second.
I suppose I can wait tables.
I don't want you to go anywhere.
I want you right here with me.
I was thinking about a little shop.
What kind of shop?
Just a little shop with a little overhead.
Not too much work.
Just like Morris and Minnie Milk of Woodmere, New York.
Did you see the little place downstairs for rent?
Yeah.
What do you think about that?
I think it sounds great.
A little bit up on the left.
Oh, it looks great. Looks great.
Yeah.
You're the new renters?
Well, hello. Harvey Milk.
McConnely. Welcome to Castro Camera.
Scott.
Yeah. Like, you know, I would like
to join the, what's it called, The Eureka Valley Merchants Association.
I'm not an interloper.
A Jew, perhaps, but I hope you'll forgive that.
If you open those doors,
the Merchants Association will have the police pull your license.
Under what law?
Excuse me?
There's man's law and there's God's law in this neighborhood
and in this city.
You know, we pay taxes.
The San Francisco police force is happy to enforce either.
Have a good day.
Yeah, thank you for the warm welcome to the neighborhood!
Schmuck!
Well.
Hey.
Okay. Customers, come on in.
We'll form our own business association.
We'll start with the gay businesses.
We'll get the addresses of every customer that comes in the store for a roll of film
and we'll ask them what they want, what they need changed.
We'll get some money rolling in here. Revitalize the neighborhood.
Can I come in now?
One more minute.
And I can go to the neighborhood banks.
They must have some gay customers.
Look, Harvey, what's with all this political activist crap?
I mean, I thought you were a goddamn Republican.
I'm a businessman, Scott.
And businesses should be good to their customers.
Even if their customers are gay.
For God's sake, it's San Francisco!
Yeah. Well, it's just like any other city in the country.
They hate us. Real surprise.
We should have at least one block in one city, right?
We start there and then we'll take over the neighborhood.
Maybe.
I'm coming in.
Okay, you can come in now.
Finally. This better be good.
Oh!
Happy birthday!
I had to do it! I had to do it! I had to do it!
Sanctuary, sanctuary! Harvey Milk!
Sanctuary!
And Castro became destination number one.
Hundreds of gay men were coming every week from all over the world.
It was our area. Our own neighborhood.
The police hated us. And we hated them right back.
They would come in and attack us and beat us just for fun.
But that wouldn't stop us.
I made a list of shops that were friendly to us and shops that weren't.
Those shops that worked with us thrived.
Those that didn't, went out of business.
Closed their doors.
Excuse me, ladies and gentlemen.
Mr. McConnely, I just came by to see how business was doing.
Just fine, Harvey.
You don't mind having all these homosexuals in here?
Kidding, everybody. He loves our kind. Spend away.
Tell your wife I said hello.
But people started hanging around our store.
Not customers. Activists, kids,
young people who were looking for a home away from home.
There was Danny Nicoletta,
cute art student that I picked up at Toad Hall, who worked in the shop.
Harvey, come on. Opera is so passé.
You're not understanding the spectacle of it,
the bigger than life emotions.
The bigger than life emotions?
Jim Rivaldo, a great mind.
Harvard graduate, which nobody cared about in those days in the Castro.
Including himself.
And somewhere along the line, Jim picked up a protégé,
a cute political kid from Wisconsin, Dick Pabich.
And of course, there was Dennis Peron,
who ran a very successful business with the young kids.
And it wasn't only the gays who noticed what was happening.
Also the straight people.
There were some very unexpected ones.
Teamster leader Allan Baird walked right into my shop
and asked me if I could get my people to help boycott Coors beer.
And the Coors beer boycott had not been too successful.
But I got my people to get all the Coors beer out of all the gay bars,
and immediately Coors fell from number one and they caved.
A week later, the Teamsters union, for the very first time,
hired openly gay drivers.
We weren't just a bunch of pansies anymore.
We had had our first taste of power.
And it was about that time that someone first called me
the Mayor of Castro Street, or I may have invented the term myself.
The fucking cops, man.
Cops are pulling people out of Toad Hall.
Why? What did they do?
They're sweeping the streets. It's happening right now.
Come on. Come on.
Through the door there, the front door there,
was just an explosion of police charging in here.
I ran into the bathroom to hide with some other people.
All we could hear was screaming and crunching and smashing.
It was frankly the most terrifying experience I've had in my life.
If we had someone in government
who saw things the way that we see them,
like the black community has black leaders that look out for their interests.
Politics is theater.
It doesn't matter so much about winning.
You make a statement.
You say, "I'm here. ' ' You get their attention.
I mean, it'll be fun.
Even though the Castro was firmly our area by 1973, it wasn't safe for us.
We would have to wear whistles on our necks or in our pockets.
And if you ever heard a whistle, you would run to help.
Fruit was walking home with his trick when he got jumped.
Name's Robert Hillsborough. Did you know him?
He used to come into my shop. Are there any witnesses?
Yeah, just the trick, Jerry Taylor.
Jerry's not his trick, he's his lover.
Hey, call it what you will.
All we know is he's our only witness and he said he can't identify the attackers.
Oh, you'd have a dozen witnesses if they thought you boys had any
real interest in protecting them.
SCO TT ON PA/ Hey, come on. Come over. Everyone gather around.
Hey, Milk, good job on Coors.
Thank you and we were very happy to do that. We were very happy to do that.
Everyone over here, gather around.
Hello. I'm Harvey Milk.
A week ago,
police officers came into our area with badges covered.
They sent 14 of our people to hospitals and to jail.
The charges, "Blocking the sidewalk. "
Let's let our tax money go to our protection, not our persecution.
Worry about gun control, not marijuana control.
School supplies, seniors, not the books we read!
My fellow degenerates,
I would like to announce my candidacy for San Francisco City Supervisor!
How are you, Lee? Fine, thank you.
Oh, I bought you some flowers to brighten up your day.
Could I leave some flyers for your customers?
Hello, everyone.
Harvey Milk, running for supervisor.
We need your support.
Are you registered to vote?
Let me just give you that. It's for Harvey Milk for supervisor, all right?
He's running for the Board of Supervisors. Right. Thank you.
Take care. Have a good day.
Harvey Milk for supervisor! Excuse me, ma'am, are you registered to vote?
Sir, are you registered to vote?
I'm Harvey Milk, sir. I'm running for supervisor.
I want you to know that my campaign is very interested
in taking care of seniors in the area.
We've been doing a lot about reaching out.
I'm Harvey Milk. Will you register here if you're not registered?
Hey, I like the way those pants fit! Where are you from, kid?
Sorry, old man, not interested.
Where's home?
Phoenix.
Come here. Just come here a minute.
I'm Harvey Milk. I'm running for supervisor.
What's your name?
Cleve Jones.
You're adorable.
We should get you over here and get you registered, Mr. Jones.
Fuck that. Elections of any kind
are fucking bourgeois affectation.
Is that right? Mmm-hmm.
What do you do, trick up on Polk Street?
If I need the cash.
But I'm a little bit more selective about my clients than you are.
Okay, let me ask you one thing before you go back to work.
What was it like to be a little queer in Phoenix?
Did all the jocks beat you up in gym class?
I faked a lung disease to get out of P.E.
So what, what are you? Some kind of street shrink?
Sometimes.
But what I'm talking about is that we can change Phoenix.
But we have to start with our street.
Police abuse, rent control, pot, parks, seniors issues.
Good luck with all that.
Good luck.
You know what I think, Cleve Jones?
That you're gonna get somewhere if you keep talking.
No. I think you should do what you do well.
You should be a prick.
But come with us and be a prick. Fight City Hall. Fight the cops.
Fight the people that made you come here to do what you do.
Sorry, old man, I'm leaving for Spain tomorrow. Europe.
All the cash I need is in my back pocket.
I'm just saying that at this point, it looks like all the big guns,
all the gay money, the real money,
is gonna get behind Feinstein
and all the straight candidates they consider "gay-friendly. ' '
Who cares about those old queens?
Well, you need them to get elected.
Why isn't my campaign manager leading this meeting?
'Cause I'm exhausted. I've been handing out pamphlets for seven hours.
Yeah, in a bathhouse.
And who are these so-called gay leaders anyway?
Who appointed them? What are you suggesting, Jim?
That I go down there and solicit their endorsement?
I mean, we're down here trying to help people on the streets. Where are they?
Yeah, I know, but... You need an endorsement, Harvey.
Take this.
Checking the exposure.
They're nice pictures.
Is he your boyfriend? Sort of.
Harvey, David Goodstein is a publisher from The Advocate.
Harvey. He's got a house...
Harvey, I think you got to see this.
"Harvey Milk will have a dream journey
"and nightmare to hell, a night of horror.
"You will be stabbed and have your genitals, cock, balls and prick cut off. ' '
I'm calling the police.
They probably wrote it. Look, think of it this way.
If they try to kill me, I'll get the sympathy vote.
That might be just the push we need.
You think this is funny? Look at it.
It's a total joke.
I mean, it's got no rhythm, no humor. It's insulting.
Don't do that.
No, if you put it away, you put it in a drawer,
it just gets bigger and scarier.
Here, it's right here. We see it every day. It can't get us.
Gonna spend all this energy to make yourself a target?
For something you're not gonna even win?
I keep telling you, it's not just about winning.
HARVEY/ The top gays in San Francisco were David Goodstein
and his civil rights lawyer sidekick, Rick Stokes.
David was a rich old queen who had bought the biggest gay magazine, The Advocate.
Hello. Hello, welcome to Mr. Goodstein's.
Milo.
I worked for a financial institution in New York.
I was very discreet.
One night I went to the Metropolitan Opera,
II Trovatore, Verdi.
I was sitting in a box, next to my lover.
Someone spotted us. Next day I was fired.
So I decided to do something about it.
Came out here to San Francisco, I bought The Advocate.
I use my money and my influence, in very subtle and quiet ways, to do what I can.
So you think that backing straight candidates
is the best way to help us?
Yeah, if they're friendly to our cause.
Supervisor is a citywide office.
Political alliances have to be built.
You can't just move here from across the country and run for that office.
But I am running for office.
I'm on the ballot.
I have the union rank and file, I have the seniors.
And I would like to have your magazine's endorsement.
Harvey, we're like the Catholic church.
We welcome converts, but we don't make them Pope the same day.
Why haven't you run yet?
Too early. Especially from the Castro.
What's wrong with the Castro?
Nobody works there. It's all about sex and drugs and more sex.
David, we need one of our own in office.
Harvey, you can't demand acceptance overnight.
Why not?
The more "out" you make us, the more you incite them.
Harvey, step back and quiet down.
You're suggesting we should go back in the closet?
Is that what you're saying?
I spent more years in the closet than I care to remember.
Let's go, Scott. Yeah.
I don't need your magazine's endorsement.
And I'm not asking for anyone's acceptance. I don't have time.
For you, politics is a game, a lark.
It's like putting on a rock festival or staging a love-in.
You're too old to be a hippie, Harvey Milk.
I am not a candidate. I am part of a movement.
The movement is the candidate. There is a difference.
You don't see it, but I do.
Sorry, I, uh, pissed in the pool.
So, on election day, out of 32 candidates vying for six seats,
we came in tenth. We lost.
But only a few votes shy of my becoming the first big eared, cock-sucking,
queer as a three-dollar-bill-man
to be elected to public office.
So we decided to try it again in 1975.
Only this time, with a few adjustments.
No. No, not cute. I hate the shoes.
I hate the hair. You're not fooling anybody.
I'm not gonna let those little Pacific Heights biddies
write me off anymore because of a ponytail. I like it.
No more bathhouses, no more pot, for me and my little poo.
Speak for yourself. Come on.
We ran and lost the supervisor's race for the second time in 1975,
but with more votes than ever before.
So in 1976, against everyone's advice,
I really pissed off the political power houses
in the Democratic party by running against their man,
Art Agnos, who was part of their political machine.
And this time, not for supervisor, but for a bigger job,
for the California State Assembly.
I don't think that State Assembly seats should be the reward
for service to the Democratic party machine.
Machines run on oil and grease. They're dirty.
They're dehumanizing. And they tend to be entirely unresponsive
to the needs of anybody, but those of their operator.
Mr. Milk, I've been a social worker in this city for years.
I know Sacramento.
I know how to get done what we all need done there.
Tell me something, Mr. Agnos, right here in the Castro,
Robert Hillsbourough was murdered for walking home with his longtime partner.
He was stabbed 15 times.
The last words he heard were, "Faggot, faggot, faggot. ' '
Now, you say you're outraged.
Why then does your liberal establishment refuse to answer our calls?
Why do they not bring these murderers to justice?
My God, you're handsome up close.
Can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to licking you,
in the polls.
You know, Harv, your whole rap's a real downer.
You talk a lot about what you're against.
But what are you for?
In this town, you got to give them a reason for optimism, or you're cooked.
See you around.
Okay, Art.
You're gonna wanna read that entire thing.
Okay, I'll take a look at it.
Excuse me.
Guys. Don't touch that.
Harvey. Harvey, dinner. Have to get some union boys in there.
They love me, they love me.
Excuse me. Excuse me.
Harvey, you have to eat.
Everyone, the apartment is now off limits!
Good night. Good night.
Whose jacket is this?
Right here. Here you go. Good night.
Down the stairs. Thank you. Thank you.
Good night. Thank you.
I think you got to call the guy, 'cause I can't talk to that guy.
Sit.
Don't say anything.
Can I just tell you...
If you say anything about politics or the campaign,
or what speech you have to give or anything,
I swear to God I'm gonna stab you with this fork.
I just wanted to say that this is the most wonderful dinner I have ever had.
If we lose this, it'll just be you and me again.
I promise.
I'm sorry, I just...
No, I know. I know, I know.
Phoenix.
At least now you look gay.
Let's go inside.
Are you staying up with me?
The election's tomorrow. I won't sleep anyway.
Was he handsome?
Oh, no! He was hideous.
Usually when my lovers leave, they cheat with even more attractive men.
I actually thought we were gonna spend the rest of our lives together.
Well, guess what, Cleve Jones.
What?
You're going to meet the most extraordinary men,
the sexiest, funniest, brightest men.
You're going to meet so many of them, fall in love with so many of them,
you won't know till the end of your life
which ones were your greatest lovers and which were your greatest friends.
Is that supposed to help?
Maybe a little. Or not.
I went to Spain last month.
Long story.
In Barcelona, there was this memorial march
for gay people that had died under Franco.
Of course, the police tried to break it up.
But these queens didn't run. No.
They turned around and they started a fucking riot.
I saw a bullet, one of those big rubber bullets
rip through a drag queen's scalp, but she kept on fighting.
She was screaming, but she kept on fighting.
I mean...
Our lives.
There was blood literally running in the gutter.
In a gutter.
We could have a revolution here.
But you can't use the Castro just to cruise.
You have to fight.
You really think you'll win?
Winning is not my strong suit.
Well,
I don't do losing, ever.
Maybe I should run for office and you can work for me.
I mean, if you can do it...
Can you assemble a thousand people in an hour?
Fuck, yeah.
Well, if I run again, you're gonna be my man.
Lf?
You're so adorable.
The polls are open in 3 hours.
How about you and I hit the bus stops?
Okay.
Yes, Jesus
Loves me
Anita Bryant was once known as an orange juice saleswoman.
Hi, I'm Anita Bryant.
Hello, I'm Anita Bryant.
With a religious fervor that has made her America's most
controversial woman overnight,
her group is crusading to repeal a new Dade County law,
which protects homosexuals in jobs and housing.
I believe that more than ever before, that there are evil forces
round about us,
even perhaps disguised as something good,
that would want to tear down
the very foundation, the family unit, that holds America together.
There are those people who say that it is
kind of an eye for an eye law that is at work here,
that you're denying homosexuals many of their rights as well.
You see, if homosexuals are allowed their civil rights,
then so would prostitutes or thieves or anyone else.
God puts it in a category of morality.
Doesn't that necessarily follow that you believe that
homosexuality ought to be illegal?
ANITA/ I do believe that it should be illegal.
Well, we lost, but we didn't lose by much.
More votes than ever!
That used to make you laugh.
Harvey, I got to show you something.
This is incredible.
If we can get that new initiative on district elections to go through,
and we can, we can,
the boundary for the new supervisor district
is gonna go right down Market Street,
right around the Haight like this,
and right around the Castro.
The Haight and the Castro. That's it.
If these are the only people we have to convince, the hippies and the gays,
you win, you win.
You win by a landslide.
You'll be the first openly gay man elected to major office in the U.S.
I don't know if I have another one in me.
Or Scotty.
Yeah, well.
Relentless man. Oh, you're a relentless man.
This is the CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite.
The battle over homosexual rights in Dade County, Florida.
The battle pitting singer Anita Bryant
against gay rights activist comes to a vote there Tuesday.
The issue was whether or not to repeal a four-month-old ordinance,
which prohibits job and housing discrimination against homosexuals.
In anticipation of the vote,
the gay community has staged protests
in New York and other major cities across the country.
The vote is going now 18,930 for repeal.
Oh, give me a fucking break.
Eighty eight hundred sixty nine against repeal.
Virgil, is that enough for you to make a projection?
Yes, I think very definitely that the ordinance is going to be repealed.
With this margin, it's over.
Tonight, the laws of God
and the cultural values of man have been vindicated.
The people of Dade County, the normal majority,
have said, "Enough, enough, enough. "
Singer Anita Bryant's well publicized...
Scotty?
I'm sorry, sir, I read about you in the paper.
I'm sorry. I can't talk right now.
Sir, I think I'm gonna kill myself.
No. You don't want to do that.
Where are you calling from?
Minnesota.
You saw my picture in the paper in Minnesota?
How did I look?
My folks are gonna take me to this place tomorrow. A hospital. To fix me.
There's nothing wrong with you. Listen to me.
You just get on a bus to the nearest biggest city.
Los Angeles or New York or San Francisco,
it doesn't matter, you just leave.
And you are not sick,
and you are not wrong and God does not hate you.
Just leave.
I can't. I can't walk, sir.
Paul, I need you to come out here.
Hello?
Harvey!
Hello?
Oh, shit.
Harvey, you better come down, there's going to be a riot.
Harvey, you should get to the stage.
Bring him the stage, guys.
If you can't control them, we will.
Just get me permission to march them.
Where?
Anywhere.
Out of the bar and into the streets!
Anita Bryant's coming for you!
Out of the bar and into the streets!
Anita Bryant's coming for you!
We have vowed to fight back!
I know you are angry.
I am angry!
Let's march the streets of San Francisco and share our anger!
Gay rights now!
Gay rights now! Gay rights now! Gay rights now!
Gay rights now! Gay rights now!
Gay rights now!
My name is Harvey Milk and I want to recruit you.
I am here tonight to say
that we will no longer sit quietly in the closet.
We must fight.
And not only in the Castro,
not only in San Francisco,
but everywhere the Anitas go.
Anita Bryant did not win tonight.
Anita Bryant brought us together!
She is going to create a national gay force!
And the young people in Jackson, Mississippi,
in Minnesota, in the Richmond,
in Woodmere, New York,
who are hearing her on television,
hearing Anita Bryant on television,
telling them they are sick, they are wrong,
there is no place in this great country for them,
no place in this world,
they are looking to us for something tonight.
And I say
we have got to give them hope!
Hope!
...for a better world. Hope for a better tomorrow.
Hope for a better place to come into if the pressures at home are too great.
Hope for the worker who awakens from the American dream
only to find that all the jobs have left the country.
We've got to give them hope.
When San Francisco changed its voting rules,
so that people could elect people from their own neighborhood,
so that the blacks could elect a African-American supervisor,
and in Chinatown, they could elect a Chinese supervisor,
and in the Castro, they could choose between myself and Rick Stokes.
But decent art begs balance, right?
So, little district eight, two miles south of the Castro,
still very much the same. Irish Catholic, conservative.
And with just the right amount of poetry,
they found themselves a handsome ex-cop.
See, I'm not going to be forced out of San Francisco
by splinter groups of social radicals, social deviants, and incorrigibles.
Now you must realize that there are thousands upon thousands of frustrated,
angry people, such as yourselves,
just waiting to unleash a fury that will eradicate
the malignancies that blight our beautiful city.
Just one more. We can't let Rick Stokes take this one.
Let Rick Stokes take it.
Sorry.
I can't do another one.
Oh, God damn it.
Bring out the old, bring in the new.
This is over. Done.
I don't want to see one more thing that says fucking Assembly on it.
'Cause this three time faggot loser is running for supervisor.
There she is. Who the heck is that?
That's our new campaign manager.
She called last week to volunteer and I asked for her help.
Help or take over? What about Scott?
We need new blood.
Gentlemen, Anne Kronenberg. A woman.
A woman who likes women. And that's odd, isn't it?
Hi, guys.
Mr. Milk, Rick Stokes isn't pulling out.
He's officially filed to run against you.
My friend at The Advocate says David Goodstein is backing him.
So, a gay candidate against a gay candidate.
That's unfortunate.
Let's find out when they are going to announce.
So you replaced Scott with a lesbian?
Anne worked on a recycling campaign up north.
She's very, very organized. We need that.
How do you know she's not a plant for Rick Stokes?
Are you guys always this paranoid?
Yes. We take after Harvey.
Don't you have someone's laundry to do?
Shouldn't you be at a hairdressing convention?
Sir, my girlfriends say you guys don't like women.
I'm just asking.
Is there a place for us in all this or are you all scared of girls?
Okay, gentlemen,
we've already got a tinker bell, a lotus blossom.
We've got Jim and Dick in their three-piece suits.
We need someone to manage things. A woman this time.
Plus, she's the right price,
and she's got bigger balls than anybody else in here.
Just give me whatever is in the register at the end of the day.
So should I call The Chronicle about getting us an actual endorsement this time?
No?
Yeah, call The Chronicle, sweetheart. Tell them I said hi.
Please call. In fact, don't drive down there.
You'll scare the shit out of them.
Call.
All right.
Hi, I'm Cleve.
Anne. Good to meet you.
I was telling Harvey we needed some tough dykes around here, so...
Well, you got one.
All right.
First ever newspaper endorsement.
And we got the Bay Guardian,
The Sentinel and The Bay Area Reporter.
You are pulling your weight. Oh, this is sensational!
They endorsed you for being a good businessman?
Oh, my gosh, you really are a miracle worker.
Scott has got to read this. He's just gonna piss himself.
Yeah, you should show him.
You know what you should do, Cleve,
you should get yourself a boy to celebrate with, just in case we win.
Anybody want to buy me a drink?
Oh, I will buy you a drink.
How about a bottle of champagne?
We are going to The Stud right fucking now.
Harvey, are you going to come? You're gonna miss out?
Go, go, go, go. I want to be with my newspaper.
Come on, let's go. Come on, I'm buying.
You're not buying. You don't have any money.
Gonna win this time, Milk?
You look more handsome in the poster.
Oh, thank you.
You know, palominos are my favorite horse.
They're smart.
But they're compact and fast.
I like that.
You think I'm more like a palomino,
or a stallion?
You know, with big balls and...
Oh, oh, oh, oh! Here, let me help you.
You okay?
Yeah, it's... Come in.
Here, just lean on me.
Thank you. What happened?
I don't know, these boots are too big for me.
Oh, well, let's get you in and get those off your feet.
Where you going?
I have some things to do.
I got to go and meet some friends. No, no, no.
My father beat me when he found out.
So, that's why I came here.
But, I'm living with this guy that... I don't know.
I don't like him.
Nobody will ever beat you again.
I love you. I love you.
Do you even remember my name?
No.
Harvey.
I'm Harvey.
Harvey, I love you.
Thanks.
Thank you.
For the first time, it all came together.
The union boys, women, the seniors, the gays and minorities.
All of the "us's" showed up.
We can hear it, we can't really see too much,
but it looks and sounds to you and to me
like New Year's Eve on Market Street.
We did it!
I love you all!
We are the movement. We are the movement. Thank you so much.
Come on, we just want to congratulate him.
No, I understand, but right now we're all full.
Harvey!
Hey, Harvey!
Hey.
Sorry, it's just so crowded.
Come in, sorry, sorry.
It's so crowded. It's just so crowded.
Harvey, man!
Scotty!
Is this all for you, Harvey? Are you this famous, baby?
No, we do this all the time. You like it?
Yeah.
The new Mrs. Milk. I give it a week.
Gordon Lau, Carol Ruth Silver. It's the most liberal board in years. In history!
What about Dan White? Did he win?
We'll deal with him tomorrow. Oh, God.
Does this mean, as many straights are concerned,
maybe the gays are taking over San Francisco?
Are you going to be a supervisor for all the people?
Well, I have to be. That's what I was elected for.
I have to be there to open for the dialogue,
for the sensitivities of all people and all their problems.
The problems that affect this city, affect us all.
Okay, well, congratulations.
Thank you. Thank you, San Francisco!
And that's Harvey Milk,
celebrating his election to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.
For Channel Five news, I'm Mary Dilts.
I, Harvey Milk, do solemnly swear...
That I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States...
During such time as I hold the office of supervisor,
City and County of San Francisco.
During such time as I hold the office of supervisor,
City and County of San Francisco.
Congratulations, Harvey. Thank you, Mayor.
Anita Bryant said that it was gay people that brought the drought to California.
Well, it looks to me as though it's finally started raining.
This will be the first time in many years
that we've seen so many new faces on the Board of Supervisors.
Do you think such diversity will cripple the board?
Well, the name of the game is six votes to get anything passed.
So, whether you like it or not,
Dan and I are in bed together.
Politically speaking.
You see, I've assured Harvey here that, uh,
my brochure's comments about social deviants
referred more to junkies than to his people.
See, I'm about to have my first child
and I had to make sure that this city remains a decent place to raise him.
Well, thank you so much for coming on the show, gentlemen,
and we'll see what happens.
HARVEY/ That's it? It's over? We're finished?
Yes.
That was quick. Thank you.
How long were you a fireman, Dan?
A couple of years.
And you were a police officer before that?
You got something against cops, Harv?
No, no. They tend to against me though.
But firefighters, they're the true heroes.
They supported me on my last campaign. I fully support them.
I appreciate that.
I meant what I said. I'd like to work together.
Me, too. I'll see you later.
Okay.
Oh. What do you think of my new theater?
A bit over the top.
You're wearing a suit?
I got it from a friend.
No, no, no, no.
Anytime you come here, I want you to wear the tightest jeans possible.
Never blend in. And never take the elevator.
Always use the stairs.
You can make such a grand entrance by taking these stairs.
Hello.
Carol, friend.
Dan White.
Hello, Dianne.
And then this is Gordon Lau's office.
Anne, can you set Cleve up on mail?
Will do.
Okay,
first order of business to come out of this office
is a citywide Gay Rights Ordinance,
just like the one that Anita shot down in Dade County.
What do you think, Lotus Blossom?
I think it's good. It's not great.
Okay, so make it brilliant. We want Anita's attention here in San Francisco.
I want her to bring her fight to us.
We need a unanimous vote, we need headlines.
Dan White is not gonna vote for this.
Dan White will be fine.
Dan White is just uneducated. We'll teach him.
Hey, Harv, committee meets at 9:30.
Hey, you guys.
Say, did you get the invitation to my son's christening?
I invited a few of the other Supes, too.
Oh, I'll be there.
Great! Thanks.
Did he hear you? What the fuck!
Are you going?
I would let him christen me if it means he's gonna vote for the Gay Rights Ordinance.
We need allies. We need everyone.
I don't think he heard you.
Is it just me or is he cute?
Jack?
Welcome home, Harvey. I hope you're hungry.
I just know how to cook one thing, but I make it good.
Come.
Jack, did you break in?
No, no, no. I asked the little boy downstairs to let me in.
Danny? Yeah.
He wouldn't let me, so I came in this way.
You know, your friends aren't very nice to me, Harvey.
I have a Town Hall meeting tonight.
Sit down. Come, five minutes. That's it. Come, please.
There you go.
I watched TV here today, all day.
I saw All My Children.
And they killed Margo. But I knew it was going to happen.
You know, they always try and trick you but it never works.
You always see it coming.
What? Killing the blonde? Yeah, I'm good with that.
Jack. What?
If I make you a key,
will you promise never to break in again?
That's right.
Is it your will that Charles should be baptized in the faith of the church
which we have all professed with you?
It is. It is.
Charles, I baptize you in the name of the Father
and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
God, the father of our Lord Jesus Christ has freed you from sin...
I'm proposing a citywide ordinance
which would ensure that any person who already has a job
cannot be fired on the basis of sexual orientation.
I don't think my constituents would favor that, Harvey.
Is there anyone else here from the board today, Dan?
You're the only one who showed, I think.
Were you christened here?
I was. Right here, same parish.
My grandma immigrated here when this was an Irish Catholic city,
the City of Saint Francis.
But a lot's changed here since then, you know.
You're more like one of us now, an outsider.
You're not like most homosexuals, are you, Harvey?
Do you know a lot of homosexuals, Dan?
Hey, where do you stand on the Psychiatric Center
that the city's been pushing into my district?
Well, I'd have to study it...
It was a key piece on my platform. Getting it out of my district.
It only attracts arsonists, rapists, that sort of thing, you know.
A campaign promise.
A big one. Sure.
What do you say we watch out for each other's interests? I would really like that.
I'd like that too, Dan. Good.
Sorry, hon, we just slipped into some shop talk.
The Gay Rights Ordinance. My fault.
Seems like an inappropriate subject, don't you think?
Oh, don't knock it till you've tried it.
Hello. Oh, oh, but you had such a beautiful christening.
Supervisors Silver and Lau are asking you to vote
to keep this Psychiatric Center in Dan's district.
It'll go down six to five if you vote to get rid of it.
It's a youth campus, Harvey.
And these are kids that would be displaced from families.
I can't just dump Dan. He's got nothing going for him.
No friends...
Oh, God, oh, God! Here we go, here we go. Harvey to the rescue.
Isn't it enough that we have to put up with Jack?
All right, lay off. He registered 120 voters last week.
Okay, so do any of your volunteers,
but you don't go and make them all first lady.
Harvey, what does Dan White do for you?
Really, politically.
He intrigues me. I think he may be one of us.
No, no.
It's just a theory.
You just think he's cute.
No, no. I know what it's like to live that life.
That lie. I can see it in Dan's eyes. That fear, the pressure.
Good or bad? Not great.
State Senator John Briggs is Anita Bryant's go-to guy in California for sure.
He filed a petition for a statewide referendum
to fire all gay teachers and anyone who supports them.
How many signatures does he need to get on the ballot?
Oh, whatever. He can get them in two Sundays at church in Orange fucking County.
So, this means that the fight is coming here,
where we can do something about it.
The issue in California is whether school boards
should be allowed to fire teachers who are known homosexuals.
The courts have ruled they cannot.
Boards must prove a teacher's homosexuality adversely affects children
and makes them unfit for the classroom.
State Senator John Briggs wants to change that.
My proposition promises to protect our children from these gay perverts and...
These gay perverts and pedophiles who recruit our children
to participate in their deviant lifestyle,
including the ones who do it in our public schools.
The time has come for us to root them out.
How are you going to determine who's homosexual?
I'm sorry, sir, what?
How are you going to determine who's homosexual?
Sir, my bill has procedures for identifying homosexuals.
Oh, yeah, how? Will you be sucking them off, Briggs?
Excuse me. You know what, you can argue with me,
you cannot argue with God.
Harvey, I can't believe it.
No, he wants my job. You want my job, you prick!
Sir, you were here when State Senator Briggs was on the steps.
What do you think about that?
Well, I think what you saw, you saw some very committed opposition to his proposition.
And I think that's only going to continue.
People have very emotional reactions to this.
This is their lives that are on the line.
What's going to happen?
Well, look what happened in Germany.
I mean, Anita Bryant has already said that the Jews and Muslims are going to hell.
So, you know she has a shopping list.
And we are not going to let the John Briggs' or the Anita Bryants
legislate bigotry in this state.
Hello, Harvey, running late?
Your boyfriend is in the closet.
Excuse me, David.
The Latino has locked himself in the closet upstairs.
Harvey, Harvey, Phil Burton is here.
He's likely the next Speaker of the House
and a very important ally against Proposition 6.
So, please, no scenes, all right?
You're right. I was late by 20 minutes.
So come on out, Jack.
Who were you with? Scott? Or with a new boy you were trying to save?
I was at work. Come on out, sweet pea.
You embarrassed me, Harvey.
I didn't know anyone down there and they're bad people.
I just want to go, okay?
Then you should go home.
No, I want to stay. I want to stay here.
So, you go away, okay? Go away!
The Briggs initiative is polling at 75% for approval statewide.
80% in other polls. Some even have us losing San Francisco.
We deceive people into thinking we can beat this,
we'll have riots and only increase the backlash.
That's a good point, David.
Maybe we should just roll over and make it easier for Briggs to fuck us in the ass.
We're taking this very seriously in my office.
We want to send one of these to every home in California and that takes money.
"Proposition 6 is an affront to human rights.
"An invasion of the state into the private lives of California citizens. ' '
Without a single mention of the word gay on the entire flyer.
By design, Harvey.
Corey Wares is an out gay teacher... Rick...
With the heat bearing down on your movement right now,
we feel it's best to dodge the gay bullet. Go for the human rights angle.
People need to know who it is that's being affected.
You need at least one old queer on this flyer.
Excuse me, yeah. Maybe you should volunteer for that, David.
This is shit. This is shit and masturbation.
It's just a coward's response to a dangerous threat.
Come on, Jack. It's time to go.
Get everyone together at your place.
I want young people, I want women, I want fresh heads.
Get organizers and fighters, not politicians. Come on, Jack.
What about S-C-O-T-T?
Yeah.
Jack, come on.
We have to fight the machine.
They don't want to change, they want to stay in the past.
Stop and be realistic about it.
Realistic? We're not interested in staying in the closet, losing Prop 6.
We're all on the same side, man, we're on the same side.
Hey, is anybody gonna pay the pizza guy or we're just gonna stare?
How could we not stare?
Here, put out your hand.
You are shameless. You are shameless.
I mean, I'm proud of you but you are hysterical.
Hey.
We're going to convince the 90%
to give a shit about us 10%.
We have to let them know who we are.
Everybody has to come out.
Across the entire state, no matter where they live.
Come out, come out, wherever you are.
If we're going to beat Prop 6, we tell all of them to come out.
Every gay lawyer, teacher, doctor, dog catcher.
We have to leave the ghetto.
We have to let all those people out there know that they know one of us.
And if somebody doesn't want to step out of the closet,
we open the door for them.
Jesus.
The whole state isn't San Francisco, Harvey.
Clearly, Scott.
Harvey, that could be really, really dangerous.
I mean, there's such a thing as a right to privacy.
Privacy.
In this movement, at this time,
I'm not saying this as a supervisor, privacy is the enemy.
And if you want real political power, if that's what you want,
try telling the truth for a change.
All right? Starting here.
If there's anyone in this room, right now,
who hasn't told their families,
their friends, their employers,
do it now.
My folks know already.
My dad doesn't know yet.
They vote for us two to one.
If they know, they know one of us.
As much as I'm sure you'd all like to watch,
I don't think that's such a good idea.
Cleve, could you show Dick where there's a phone where he could speak in private?
There's one in the bedroom.
I just found myself clawing over him, literally running to get him.
Oh, good night. Good night.
Ciao, gang. Sleep tight.
I thought you got out of politics.
Politics. Not the movement.
What the hell was that in there?
The movement needs people to be upfront.
Why were you fighting me in there?
Those are kids in there. You're asking them to lose their families.
If their families don't love them for who they are,
who they really are, then they should lose them.
That's fucking insane.
You were the biggest closet case in New York.
You asked me and all your boyfriends to keep our traps shut.
I mean, you're being the hypocrite.
My parents are gone. My brother knew. I'm sure they knew.
How many times did I have to listen to calls to Mom,
where you denied my existence?
And you want to be normal like anybody. More than anybody.
Who's he? You live together?
Someone I'm seeing.
Keeps me out of trouble, out of the bars.
I miss you.
Harvey,
what's that about?
Harvey.
He needs me.
If there is an air of dishonesty with this board and its members,
that is repugnant...
I have told no lies today or to Supervisor White in the past.
Supervisor Milk, you will come to order.
I would like it noted that I never promised
to back moving any mental health centers.
And that with great respect to Supervisor White, I would like his remarks stricken.
Duly noted. We will take a 10 minute recess before recording the vote.
Thank you, Harvey.
Can I have a moment with Harvey? Alone, please, Carol?
Why? Why are you turning on me like this?
At the last minute? What did I do?
I never got the details.
Dan, if you want me to help you draft another version of it
that doesn't shanghai every troubled kid in your area, I'll be happy to.
Harvey, I can't go back to my family, to my folks, to my district without this.
Don't do this. Well, I have a lot of pressure on me.
So, you're just stringing me along
and then you're just gonna throw me to the wolves, is that it?
Dan, you only need one more vote.
You've got five other supervisors you can convince besides me.
I'm gonna vote against your queer law and I'm gonna get Quentin against it, too.
Oh, it's gonna pass anyway and you can't keep alienating yourself here, Dan.
I gave you a chance, Harvey, okay? I gave you a chance and you blew it!
You blew it.
The city council in St. Paul, Minnesota
passed a law guaranteeing, among other things,
equal rights in housing, employment and education,
regardless of sexual preference.
Now, voters in that city have made their disapproval clear.
Homosexuality is a question facing the voters of Eugene, Oregon tomorrow.
A referendum to repeal gay rights protection.
So, while we were fighting Proposition 6 and Briggs in California,
I needed to put a show on the road.
And our next stop, Wichita, Kansas.
Voters of Wichita, Kansas have overwhelmingly repealed
a city law protecting homosexuals
against discrimination in jobs and housing.
Only two hours after the polls closed,
the church organization that started the repeal action was celebrating victory.
Hey, Lawrence, it's Cleve.
Hey, we're losing Wichita.
So rally tonight sundown at Market and Castro, okay?
Okay, bye.
Hello?
Jerry. Hey, we're losing Wichita...
They're moving. I don't know where.
Did Jim call the press? You get out there with your camera.
Press is covered. But we don't have a permit to march.
Hurry up.
When I got Coors beer out of the bars, the union boys gave me this.
I want you to take it now.
What am I supposed to do with this?
You're an activist now, you're gonna march them.
I want you to march them right up to the front doors of City Hall.
When things start to look really bad,
the city's first gay supervisor will come out and play peacemaker.
Do it with me.
Hello.
Forty years ago, tonight,
the gay citizens of Germany found out they no longer had civil rights.
Tomorrow morning, the gay citizens of Wichita will also awaken
to find that they too have lost their civil rights!
You have whistles. You use them when we have been attacked.
Tonight we have been attacked.
Come on, the crowd is leaving without us!
Shit!
Get the press to the marquee.
Move left! Move left!
What are you doing? What are you doing? Where's Harvey?
We're shutting down traffic, both directions.
Cameras are rolling.
Okay, disconnect the power arm!
Civil rights or civil war! Gay rights now!
Anita!
Anita, you're a liar! We'll set your hair on fire!
Anita, you're a liar!
We'll set your hair on fire!
Okay, okay!
My name is Harvey Milk and I'm here to recruit you.
They're calling it a successful mediation.
You're a goddamn hero. Fuck, we came this close to a riot.
Next time put down the note cards.
You got to keep talking into that bullhorn and tell them what they're feeling.
Oh, you're just jealous it wasn't you out there.
We're losing Proposition 6 by 60%,
and you're over there celebrating a riot.
What we need is exposure.
If we're gonna beat this thing,
we got to get Briggs to acknowledge it.
Every paper's calling Prop 6 the main event now.
We lose this, we'll have anti-gay laws in all 50 states,
and Briggs won't answer our calls for a public debate.
He's trying to ignore us to death.
We need something populist.
What's the number one problem in this city?
The fucking piss smell in the tenderloin.
Close.
Dog shit.
If you clean up the dog shit in this town, you're the next mayor.
Supervisor Milk took to the grassy lawn
at Duboce Park this afternoon to publicize the new law.
Dog mess is a hazard and on top of that, it's disgusting.
So under the new ordinance, all dog owners who don't clean up their mess
will be fined.
Milk put his foot down to emphasize that the city intends to enforce,
and you guessed it.
In Supervisor Milk's words, "This really is the bottom line. "
Aye.
Lau, aye. Supervisor Hutch?
Aye.
Hutch, aye. Supervisor White?
No.
White, no. Supervisor Silver?
Aye.
Silver, aye. Supervisor Milk?
Aye.
Milk, aye.
Madam President, I have ten ayes and one no.
The San Francisco Gay Rights Ordinance
sponsored by Supervisors Milk and Silver is passed.
I can't get my stories on page ten, you're getting page one?
Doggy-doo is a real issue, George.
A powder blue pen to sign the city's first gay rights law.
I don't do this enough, taking swift and unambiguous action
on a substantive move for civil rights.
Congratulations.
George, we need your help with Briggs.
The gay community will have your back on every issue from now on.
We hope you'll have ours.
What are you working on, Dan?
If you have something to discuss, Harvey,
you can have your aide make an appointment with my aide.
Dan, I know you're upset about the psychiatric center.
What else do you have coming up?
Now you need something from me.
What do you want, me to support the queers against Prop 6, is that it?
We prefer the term gay, Dan.
Just as I'm sure you prefer the term Irish-American instead of mick.
Harvey, a society can't exist without the family.
We're not against that. You're not?
What, can two men reproduce?
No.
But God knows we keep trying.
This isn't you, Dan.
It's like you're channeling Anita and Briggs.
We got to be able to work together on something.
Okay, Milk,
introduce an initiative for supervisor pay raises.
Dan, we both have elections coming up. We can't do that.
No, you asked for something.
Introduce pay raises, 'cause I can't take care of my family on our salaries.
You don't have that problem, do you?
Senator John Briggs apparently has not flinched
in the face of statewide criticism of his anti-gay crusade.
He says polls show most of the people are still on his side.
Especially those concerned with the preservation of the American family.
If these people are going to live a life of such open homosexuality,
that they want a 21 gun salute every time somebody walks by them,
those people are going to be in danger of being removed from their job.
ALL/ Happy birthday to you
Happy birthday, dear Harvey
Happy birthday to you
What's wrong, taco?
It's just that Cleve and Anne,
they tried to cut me out of your table, baby.
I'm so sick of them. You should fire them.
I'll take it under consideration.
Would you go get us some cake?
Cake? Yeah.
Whatever you want.
Don't let Cesar Chavez hear you calling him taco.
He's getting much better. He's enrolling in classes on Monday, I hope.
You know, I remember when your birthdays were
a lot less lavish and a little more intimate.
Who invited you? Anne?
No, my boyfriend. I'm his plus one.
Well, congratulations. It was a very hard ticket to get.
Congratulations to you. Looks like you're part of the machine now.
By the way, you can do better.
When I come home to Jack, I don't have to talk politics,
I don't have to talk intelligently. I don't have to talk at all.
And besides, where's an ugly old man like me gonna find a handsome young man like that?
You're not that old and you look handsome.
Happy 48. Looks like you're gonna make it to 50 after all, Mr. Milk.
Harvey!
Harvey, Harvey!
Is your birthday party over?
Well, it's just winding down. Hi.
Oh, I'm sorry. I'm sorry I missed your birthday party.
No, it's no problem. It's good to see you, Dan.
I'm sorry. It's good to see you too, Harvey.
Oh, I wanted to ask you about the dog poop.
Yeah.
That's good. It's a really good one.
It's a good one.
Hey, I got you a little something.
You didn't have to.
I knew you were going to say that.
Why do people always say that?
"You didn't have to. ' ' I mean, of course, right?
But that's what they always say.
They always say things like that.
Always.
Are you okay, Dan?
Yeah.
Are you okay, Harvey?
Are we okay? Okay.
I've learned a lot from watching you. I doubt that.
No, I have. I've realized you just gotta get out there.
You gotta be noticed, 'cause that's how it all works.
But you have an issue. See, that's your advantage.
That's an advantage.
Dan, it's more than an issue.
What? I...
Dan, I have had four relationships in my life.
And three of them have tried to commit suicide. And that's my fault,
because I kept them hidden and quiet, because I was closeted and weak.
You see what I'm saying? Yes.
You do? Mmm-hmm.
This is not just jobs or issues, this is our lives we're fighting for.
Okay? All right.
Okay, Dan... I've learned a lot from you, Harvey.
I'm getting back to my party now.
I'm going to get my picture in the papers, too.
Why are you even here? Why did you just show up from somewhere?
I've got my own issues. Okay.
I've got my own issues. Thank you.
"Thank you. ' ' Whatever.
I don't even know who you are. You just showed up out of nowhere, Latino man.
Dan White's got an issue!
John Briggs said this morning that Dade County, Oklahoma, and St. Paul, Minnesota
were only preliminary battles.
He called his California campaign against homosexual teachers the main event.
What it's doing, what these people are doing is
changing our morals from our religious background. And I don't want that.
This came in the mail today.
"You get the first bullet the minute you stand at the microphone. ' '
...Supervisor Harvey Milk.
Well, publicity's working.
You don't have to go up there.
The whole nation is watching. I have to go.
My name is Harvey Milk and I'm here to recruit you!
I want to recruit you for the fight to preserve your democracy!
Brothers and sisters, you must come out!
Come out to your parents,
come out to your friends, if indeed they are your friends.
Come out to your neighbors, come out to your fellow workers.
Once and for all, let's break down the myths
and destroy the lies and distortions.
For your sake, for their sake.
For the sake of all the youngsters who've been scared
by the votes from Dade to Eugene.
On the Statue of Liberty, it says,
"Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to be free. "
In the Declaration of Independence it is written,
"All men are created equal and endowed with certain inalienable rights. "
So, for Mr. Briggs,
And Mrs. Bryant,
And all the bigots out there,
no matter how hard you try,
you can never erase those words from the Declaration of Independence!
No matter how hard you try, you can never chip those words
from the base of the Statue of Liberty!
That is where America is!
Love it or leave it!
Okay, the mayor says Briggs is on his way here and that he could intercept him for us.
We could get him face to face. Go get the press.
All right.
Well, I see naked men walking around, naked women walking around,
which doesn't bother me as far as my personal standards of nudity,
but it's not proper. It wouldn't be allowed for any other parade in San Francisco,
and it should not be allowed for the Gay Parade.
I have a right to be at this parade, Mr. Mayor.
I'm afraid it's not in the interest of your safety,
or my public's safety to let you into these parade grounds.
I'm Harvey Milk. It's an honor to meet you, Mr. Briggs.
Yeah, no, I'm aware.
You know, it's sad, Mr. Milk, that you're afraid to fight this out in public.
Oh, that's not true.
I'd very much like to have a public debate with you.
I'm very interested in the details of your argument.
Oh, well, you know, you know the details.
I mean, just look at the votes across this nation. The public is with me.
They are today.
Which is why with my city's mayor
and the San Francisco press as my witnesses,
I'd like to challenge you to a public debate.
Oh, I think that's a yes.
You know, Mr. Milk, we don't allow people who practice bestiality
To teach our children, and... Excuse me,
and the reason we don't is because it is illegal.
It is not illegal to be a homosexual in California.
And your law goes even further.
Any school employee who even supports a gay person will be fired.
Well, that's true. But gay people don't have any children of their own.
And if they don't recruit our children, they'd all just die away.
You know? And that's why they're all so interested in becoming teachers,
because they want to encourage our children to join them.
And how do you teach homosexuality?
It's like French?
I was born of heterosexual parents,
taught by heterosexual teachers
in a fiercely heterosexual society.
So why then am I homosexual?
And no offense meant,
but if it were true that children mimicked their teachers,
we'd have a hell of a lot more nuns running around.
We were really, genuinely frightened by Proposition 6.
And with Anita and Briggs gaining strength, we were very pessimistic.
We didn't think that there was any chance that we could beat it.
But what we did hope for
is that we could organize enough,
so that when we did lose, all hell would break loose.
We're still losing 60-30. We got to take this show on the road.
Put out a press release.
Call Briggs' office, tell him he can pick the audience, the town.
I'll tell my supporters to stay away.
Harvey, his audiences are intensely devout. You'll get killed.
Get me Orange County.
In your statements here and all these newspapers and tonight,
you say that child molestation is not an issue.
If it's not an issue,
why do you put out literature that hammers it home?
Why do you play on this myth and fear?
Same thing with VD, Harvey, we put out publications...
This is campaign literature.
Well, we put out publications about VD so you can avoid it.
You yourself had said that there's more molestation in the heterosexual group,
So why not get rid of the heterosexual teachers?
We are not talking about homosex... About child molestation.
Nearly... The fact is, nearly 95 percent of the people are heterosexual,
so, if we took the heterosexuals out and the homosexuals out,
you know what, we'd have no teachers.
We'd have no teachers, no more molestation.
So you're saying that the percentage of the population
is equal to the percentage of child molestation?
No, no, no, I'm not saying that, no.
That's what you just said.
No, no, no. I'm not saying that at all. I am saying that we can't prevent
child molestation, so let's just cut our odds down
by taking out the homosexuals and keeping in the heterosexual groups.
Sir, in your drive for personal power,
how many careers are you willing to see destroyed?
How many lives, in your lust for power, will you destroy and when will it stop?
Jack, what is it?
Nothing. Just wondering when you'll be home.
You just had them pull me out of my big vote on the dog shit ordinance for this?
What, do you do this on purpose?
Fuck, Harvey, it's poop, okay?
I just hope I'm more important than poop.
Look, it's... I just... I don't know what time I'll be home.
6:00 or 6:15.
Okay. Okay?
I'm all right. I'll see you then.
Okay. 6/15, then.
Dan, how's the baby?
You didn't bring up supervisor pay raises?
In fact, I heard that you plan to publicly oppose them.
Well, I heard that you planned to vote against them, too.
Were you setting me up?
It's not a good time for me, politically speaking.
Dan, there's a vote on the Police Desegregation Settlement.
You give me that and I'll consider backing pay raises.
I don't trade votes.
Unlike you, the way I was raised,
we believe in right and wrong. Moral and immoral.
Black skin and white in the police department.
Dan, even Ronald Reagan is opposed to Proposition 6.
You're looking more and more out of touch.
Okay, if I come out against Prop 6, it's only going to be for the invasion
of state's rights issue, that's it.
And the potential witch hunt against you straight people.
You can't humiliate me, okay?
You will not demean me.
Harvey, we're doing the final vote. We need to get you back.
Jack?
Oh!
No, Jack. Jack, no!
No, no, no. Jack, no.
Jack!
No, no, no, no! Oh, no!
Harvey,
look at me.
Hey, look at me.
You did everything that you could.
No, I didn't.
What more could you have done?
I could have come back at 6:00 instead of 6:15.
Shh.
Jack was gone. I didn't have any time to mourn.
There was no choice.
I had to keep on... Keep on fighting.
Most California political leaders,
from Governor Jerry Brown to former Governor Ronald Reagan,
say there are already enough laws on the books to protect children.
If you allow one, just one human being
to be allowed to have his rights taken away from him,
as a human being then, pal,
you don't have any right when they come to take away your rights!
You do what you want in the privacy of your own home.
But don't tell me I got to accept it in mine.
San Bernadino is coming in. Not good.
Of course not. How not good?
60% for Briggs. Same in Fresno.
Oh, dear God, Lotus Blossom.
Imperial is 69% for so far.
Put it on the board.
I love homosexuals, if you can believe that.
I love them enough to tell them the truth.
I think that if it were passed, it would be just what some people would need
to conduct a very severe witch hunt.
What I ask, everybody to vote against Proposition 6.
The whole world is watching. This is San Francisco we're losing. You ready?
I can have 15,000 people here in an hour,
but there's gonna be riots if this thing passes.
There goddamn well better be.
What are you telling me?
I can't say this because I'm a public official,
but if this thing passes, fight the hell back.
It was fundamentalist Christians who helped Briggs
gather most of the signatures to put Proposition 6 on today's ballot.
The Christian community had never been involved
in any political controversial issue.
And they're not only involved, but they're committed.
They've not only been working very hard, but they're going to come out and vote today.
"Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. "
And I would like to know how you, Senator Briggs,
believe that Proposition 6 will help children learn how to accept people
who are different from themselves.
Harvey, Don Amador from LA.
Not a good time, Don.
No, sir, this is Paul. Don just gave me the phone.
Paul who?
You spoke to me on the phone a year or so ago.
I'm in a wheelchair. I'm from Minnesota.
I thought you were a goner, Paul.
When I saw that you won the supervisor seat,
I got a friend to put me on a bus to LA.
Who do you know in Los Angeles?
Nobody.
That's the...
I just didn't want to die anymore.
I met your friend Don down here.
I turned 18 and I voted today against Prop 6.
I don't think I'd be alive right now if it weren't for you.
No, you did that all by yourself, Paul.
Don wanted me to congratulate you on what he says
looks like a big win for us tonight. Congratulations, Mr. Milk.
Yeah, I know, it's incredible.
All the precincts have reported we've won 65% in LA County.
It's huge, Harvey.
I got to go, Don.
We just took LA County by 65%. Put it up! Put it up!
Okay, okay.
What, Jim? Jim, what? Okay, okay!
The polls were way off. Briggs is going down by 2 to 1.
The only place it's going to pass in San Francisco is Dan White's district.
Somebody, cover up Lady Liberty!
The cameras are on the way here.
Tonight, it's become clear to everyone out there
that they do know one of us, and now that they do,
they can see that we're not sick.
They can feel that we are not wrong.
And they know that there must be, that there should be a place
for us in this great country, in this world.
A message of hope has been sent to all those young people,
to all of those who've been afraid by this wave of hate,
to all of those who have lost their homes, lost their hometowns.
Tonight, we are clear that there is a place for us!
My brothers and sisters, we can come home again!
Oh, good morning, Dan.
Morning, Harvey, I just resigned.
Congratulations. I'm sure you'll be the next President of the Board.
Hey, Dan. Just got word.
Can we talk to you for a minute?
Yeah, sure.
The association meeting room.
Well, now it starts all over again, because this morning,
former Supervisor Dan White says he wants to be called supervisor one more time.
He gets dragged into this closed door meeting at Police Association.
Suddenly he wants his job back.
I mean, who knows what they might have said to him in there.
Or what they may have promised him.
Or worse yet, if they had threatened him.
A man has the right to change his mind. Give me some peace.
Dan White has been the vote on the board that has stood in our way.
The vote. I get it, Harvey.
I've been lobbied all week. Enough.
Let me remind you of something, you're up for re-election.
If you reappoint Dan White, you will lose the gay vote. They listen to me.
You will not be elected dog catcher.
I'll make my decision on Monday.
You know who you sounded like just now?
Boss Tweed or Mayor Daly.
I like that.
A homosexual with power.
That's scary.
Hello.
Yes, hold on, please.
Thank you.
Yes, this is Dan White.
Hi, Mr. White, this is Barbara Taylor from KCBS.
Mmm-hmm.
I'm interested in your reaction.
I've received information from the mayor's office
that you're not getting your job back.
I'm sorry, I don't know anything about that.
Hello?
Did I wake you?
Harvey? Are you all right?
I went to the opera tonight. Guess who I went with.
Who?
Bidu Sayao herself.
She was my first Puccini. The crowd went wild.
I felt like I was young again, being at my first opera.
Maybe you should tell me the next time you go to the opera.
Really?
Yeah. I'd go with you.
I'd like that.
Look outside, the sun's coming up.
Okay, hang on.
Hey, wait a minute.
My aide was supposed to come down here
and let me in the side door, but she never showed up.
And you are? I'm Dan White, City Supervisor.
Harvey,
I want you to know that I am proud of you.
I don't wanna miss this.
Miss what?
This.
Is he here? Can I see the mayor for a moment?
Just a minute, I'll see if he's available.
Sir, Dan White is here to see you.
So, who are they gonna replace Dan with?
That goddamn lefty liberal, Don Horanzy?
That'll really shake up the board.
All I know is that we're getting a new supervisor today.
If Dan shows up, just avoid him.
We don't need a scene today, do we, Harvey?
God forbid, Dianne.
Mr. White, the mayor will see you now.
Thanks. You're welcome.
Dan, come on in.
It's not something that I wanna calm down about.
You can't take this away from me.
Dan, look, you made a decision.
You know, you made the decision.
The issue is what's fair to the people of your district, Dan.
Now, look, take some time off. Spend it with your family.
Tell President Carter we're coming after him next, this time next year.
Hi, Dianne.
We're marching to Washington D.C.
Hey, can I see you in my office for a minute?
Sure. I'll be back. Yeah.
No.
Well, you know what I think?
I think you need to find a new scene.
And some new friends.
I need a change.
You're 40 now. Oh.
Forty years old and I haven't done a thing I'm proud of.
Keep eating all that cake, you're gonna be a fat-ass by the time you're 50.
No, I'll never make it to 50.
Where is everyone?
Doesn't anyone give a damn?
Cleve's getting some people together in the Castro.
Last week I got a phone call from Altoona, Pennsylvania.
The voice was very young, and the person said, "Thanks. ' '
You've got to elect gay people so that the young child
and the thousands upon thousands just like him
will have hope for a better life.
Hope for a better tomorrow.
I ask this,
that if there be an assassination,
I would want five, ten, a hundred, a thousand to rise.
If a bullet should enter my brain, let it destroy every closet door.
I ask for the movement to continue because it's not about personal gain,
and it's not about ego and it's not about power.
It's about the "us's" out there.
Not just the gays but the blacks and the Asians
and the seniors and the disabled.
The "us's. "
Without hope, the "us's" give up.
And I know you can't live on hope alone.
But without hope, life is not worth living.
So you,
and you,
you got to give them hope.
You got to give them hope.