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Harvey Milk's Medal of Freedom Sparks Protest—In San Francisco
In Washington, no one blinked when President Obama chose Harvey Milk, the slain San Francisco councilman and gay rights activist, to receive the Medal of Freedom. But in San Francisco, one man did.
His name is Randy Thomasson, and he heads the conservative policy watchdog Save California. On Wednesday, the group held a press conference outside San Francisco City Hall to protest the honor, spitting distance from where Milk was assasinated in 1978. Using a series of visual aids, Thomasson argued that the civil rights crusader was unfit for the nation's highest civilian honor.
"Is this for the Onion? Come on, this must be for the Onion," a casual observer announced to no one in particular.
That pretty much sums it up. Of the 16 recipients of the Medal of Freedom today—among them Stephen Hawking and Sidney Poitier—perhaps none is more artificially controversial than Milk, whose life and work inspired last year's Oscar-nominated film. Sure, California's enjoyed it's fair share ofreal gay controversy this past year (Prop 8, anyone?). But nothing stokes artificial controversy like TV news cameras.
In a city where every third public building and charity breakfast is named for Milk, the conference was well attended by the local press. All in all, a half dozen showed up, along with a couple of photographers and another ten reporters, who flanked the camera-ready Thomasson and his posse.
"I'm always curious who's exercising their right to assembly," said Steven Tritto, an observer who had stepped out to give his maltese Gusto a breather while he waited for a friend at a job interview. "And I'm always interested in who's getting attention from the media."
Others were less diplomatic.
"They're honoring a man. It's just like honoring Caesar Chavez. Caeser wasn't perfect," said Dan Barber, a gay denizen of the city for more than 30 years. "Was Jesus Christ perfect?"
In addition to protesting Milk's Medal of Freedom, Thomasson is also fighting a proposed Harvey Milk Day in California schools, and the "sexual indoctrination of kindergarteners." He told CBS and MSNBC that the president had made "a mistake" by honoring Milk, one he was anxious that Gov. Arnold Shwarzenegger not repeat.
"Harvey Milk 'Gay' Day will rope school children into confusion," he said, adding that honoring Milk in California's public schools "would promote the homosexual-bisexual-transsexual agenda...to up to six million children."
Heaven forbid.
Harvey Milk
Bigotry. That's all this is. Pure bigotry. No, Milk never signed the Magna Carta, nor did he stare down Bull Connor in Birmingham, but to suggest for one moment that this nation (America. At least it USE to be before January, 2001) and the State of California doesn't owe a debt of gratitude to Harvey Milk, not for what he accomplished, but what he stood for, is pure lunacy.
I'm just happy that Mr. Thomasson doesn't speak for the majority of us who proudly call San Francisco our home.
I'm a Mid-West Democrat. I
I'm a Mid-West Democrat. I can tell you that in 'my' part of our Great United States. We here are NOT READY for anything that can be 'spun' into a 'Gay Day' for School Children. I'm just telling you what is 'real'. Reality. Live your life as you see fit.
If Pushed TOO HARD on this, we all will have to again live with Republicans in power.
Please...BE CAREFUL !!!!
I, too, am I Midwestern democrat
And it's Harvey Milk day, NOT "gay day". Is MLK Jr. day "black day"? School children don't need this spun into a gay thing, it's about civil rights, which clearly is an area we still need a lot of work on here in the Midwest.
But what if
The celebration of Harvey Milk Day turns kids gay? Sure, the refrigerator art would improve, but who is going to pay for the little league field if there's nobody interested in sports?
If it's not already obvious, the above is dripping with sarcasm, OK?
Mr. Thomasson is entitled to his opinion, he is not entitled to behave as if he and his followers were a majority. I think it's beyond time to tell conservatives to take a hard look at why more people voted for Obama than any other president in history.
Yes, George Bush was that bad.
Yes, Sarah Palin is that clueless.
Yes, John McCain is that hypocritical.
If you're not leading, get out of the way and let's see if the scary liberal agenda can restore this country to the greatness it was before the neoCon invasion.
Nothing can now be believed which is seen in a newspaper. Truth itself becomes suspicious by being put into that polluted vehicle. Thomas Jefferson 6/11/1807
"Was Jesus Christ
"Was Jesus Christ perfect?"
Frankly, yes, He was.
Milk was far removed from perfect, though he was an activist hero who deserves to be honored for his work. But what a stupid and inflammatory remark. With friends like these, who needs enemies? Thanks for fanning the flames of the fundies to no good purpose.
He should have stopped at the comparison to Chavez. Or weren't there any perceptive and intelligent bystanders that could have contributed to this article instead?
"Promiscuity was practically
"Promiscuity was practically an article of faith among the new gays of castro street, this provided particularly fortuitous for Harvey whose sexual appetite never waned"
-Randy Shilts
I don't think Harvey Milk day will make anyone gay, but it certainly celebrates ideas that non of us want our children to engage in. Promiscuous sex with as many partners as able in the search for sexual freedom.