FYI - Harvey Milk
This was in my company's gay newsletter this month. Though it was interesting.
I was fortunate to be able to go to a preview of the film Milk last night, which is a biographical look at the life of Harvey Milk. For those who don’t know, Harvey Milk was the first out elected official in the United States, back in the 70’s. He helped make the Castro area the gay mecca that it is today. But more importantly, he helped galvanize support for LGBT rights in the days when people were trying to repeal laws in place that protected gays in the workplace. It was sort of amazing that these laws existed in the first place at that time, not only in California, but places like Eugene, Oregon and Wichita, Kansas. Even further, groups were actually trying to pass laws making it illegal for “known homosexuals” to teach in the public school system, and looking to fire anyone who was not only gay, but even friends or supporters of the gay community. Harvey was able to pass legislation against workplace discrimination by garnering support for the LGBT community at a time when it was far from popular by pulling together all of the communities: Asian American, elderly, African American, Jewish and so forth… to realize that we are all working for the same freedoms. He encouraged people to be out, when doing so could mean risking your job and your family. So, these were the seeds of a movement, baby steps over a number of decades that make it easier for us to live our lives more freely today. The issues of those days are not yet behind us; it’s still legal to fire someone for being LGBT in many states across America. However as we move forward, it’s our ability to utilize organizations such as this networking group to partner with other communities to show the value of the diversity that we all bring to the workplace and our communities as a whole, which will eventually lead us to equality.
I was fortunate to be able to go to a preview of the film Milk last night, which is a biographical look at the life of Harvey Milk. For those who don’t know, Harvey Milk was the first out elected official in the United States, back in the 70’s. He helped make the Castro area the gay mecca that it is today. But more importantly, he helped galvanize support for LGBT rights in the days when people were trying to repeal laws in place that protected gays in the workplace. It was sort of amazing that these laws existed in the first place at that time, not only in California, but places like Eugene, Oregon and Wichita, Kansas. Even further, groups were actually trying to pass laws making it illegal for “known homosexuals” to teach in the public school system, and looking to fire anyone who was not only gay, but even friends or supporters of the gay community. Harvey was able to pass legislation against workplace discrimination by garnering support for the LGBT community at a time when it was far from popular by pulling together all of the communities: Asian American, elderly, African American, Jewish and so forth… to realize that we are all working for the same freedoms. He encouraged people to be out, when doing so could mean risking your job and your family. So, these were the seeds of a movement, baby steps over a number of decades that make it easier for us to live our lives more freely today. The issues of those days are not yet behind us; it’s still legal to fire someone for being LGBT in many states across America. However as we move forward, it’s our ability to utilize organizations such as this networking group to partner with other communities to show the value of the diversity that we all bring to the workplace and our communities as a whole, which will eventually lead us to equality.