90 years ago, an American politician was born, who became an icon of the gay movement: his roots are in Joniškis | You know?

H. Milk was elected to the San Francisco Supervisory Board, an institution of the city government that, in Lithuanian terms, corresponds roughly to the municipal council.

Just a year after the election, in 1978, Milk was murdered by a political rival in a San Francisco municipal building. He was only 48 years old.

While still alive, Milk was one of the most famous gay rights activists in the United States, and his death grew further after his death. Lithuanians may also be interested in their Lithuanian origin. We invite you to learn about the history of H. Milko.

Lithuanian Jewish origin

H. Milkas was born in 1930. New York. His grandfather, Mausche Milch, was a Litvak in 1864. He was born in Joniškis and in 1897. he emigrated to the United States. In Lithuania, according to the biography of H. Milk, his grandfather was engaged in milk production.

At that time, thousands of people of different nationalities migrated from Lithuania to the United States each year in search of a better life. Initially, M. Milch emigrated only to the United States and sent money to the rest of the family in Lithuania. But in 1899. The family also came to New York: a wife and five children, including H. Milk’s father. Read more about how the search for H. Milko’s roots in Lithuania was conducted here.

XX a. In the early 19th century, while living in the US In the USA, H. Milko’s grandfather changed his name to a more American one: Morris Milk.

According to Lilian Faderman, author of his biography, his Jewish origin has always been important to him, and he was proud of it, although he was not religious and was often in conflict with Jewish rabbis.

H. Milkas becomes a politician

Although Milk was born and raised in New York, he became famous for his activities in San Francisco, where he moved in 1972.

Until then, H. Milk’s career was not special: he in 1951. He graduated from a teacher training university, later served in the US Navy. USA Later he worked in New York as a teacher, stock market analyst, Broadway scene worker.

Milk moved to San Francisco by accident. Here in the 20th century. In the 1970s, many gay people flocked to various parts of the United States.

The gay community in San Francisco was large, beginning to develop after World War II, when many homosexuals who served in the US Army. USA They decided to stay in the big city after the war instead of going back to their hometowns and suffering exclusion. Finding like-minded people and living an open life here was easier than almost anywhere in the United States.

Unlike many other US cities. In the USA, the gay community in San Francisco was organized. 1978 The New York Times wrote that “up to a third of the voters in this city are gay.”

In San Francisco, Milk opened his photography store in the Castro district, the heart of the city’s gay community. Not surprisingly, he soon became involved in active social activities.

He contributed to the organization of the Gay Friendly Business Association, and also began to organize the Castro District Community Festival, which was very successful.

Milk was the first candidate on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1973. Inexperienced, he stayed away from victory, but enjoyed political activity.

1975 ran again. The election was unsuccessful again, but this time she lost by a very small margin. During this time, he made many useful acquaintances, for example, with the city’s liberal-minded mayor, Giorgio Moscone, with the Democratic senator from the state of California, Dianne Feinstein.

Finally, in 1977. Milk, whom the local community reverently called “Mayor of Castro Street,” was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.

Among the goals highlighted by Milk during the election campaign, in addition to the adoption of anti-discrimination laws against homosexuals, were free public transport, the development of a kindergarten network and the creation of a new public institution to supervise the work of police.

His victory received attention from the national media. For the first time, H. Milkas entered the municipality proudly holding hands with his companion.

Milk’s choice was not only exceptional because her first single mother, a Chinese-American woman and a black woman, was elected to the San Francisco city council.

H. Milk’s work in politics

During his years on the council, Milk worked hard. His accomplishments in the field of LGBT rights are best known to many: He was instrumental in the San Francisco Board of Supervisors adopting the first laws against gay discrimination.

Here, the mayor of the city G.Moscone also helped him a lot, supporting him. Even before Milko G. Moscone, who was not common at the time, several gay men were openly appointed to various positions, including administration, in the municipality of San Francisco.

Milkas also contributed to making the rainbow a gay symbol. 1978 He appealed to the well-known artist Gilbert Baker to create a flag that symbolized the community’s sense of self-esteem and pride. Baker created the rainbow flag, which was first made public in 1978. San Francisco.

Milk also has another accomplishment, no matter how strange it may sound, with dog feces.

At the time, San Francisco suffered from dog feces that were littered with city streets.

It was H. Milk who proposed a ruling that people who do not collect feces from their dogs could be punished. This ruling sounded not only in San Francisco but throughout the United States. It is still in effect, and many other cities and states have adopted similar rules.

Milk constantly emphasized that his choice is important not only for the gay community, but also for other groups in society that are experiencing problems, such as the elderly or the disabled. In their opinion, these groups experienced similar feelings and a similar lack of hope.

“Without hope, not only gays, but also blacks, the elderly, the disabled, we will all give up.” And if you help choose more gays in various positions, the green light will come on so that anyone who feels rejected can move forward. (…) Because if a gay man can be chosen, it means that the door is open for everyone, “Milk said in a speech.

He also had enemies

Milko’s marches for gay rights were far from everyone’s taste. According to many city residents at the time, gays just had to shut up and stay as quiet as possible.

In Milk’s day, San Francisco was clearly divided into hippie and gay districts, like Castro, and worker districts.

Milk and Dan White, who later became his killer, reflected both sides of this division quite well. They repeatedly argued in the municipality.

When Milk began lobbying for legislation to protect gay rights in the city government, White, who was also a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, gave an interview to the New York Times condemning “big minorities” . “Requirements”.

The Vietnam war veteran and former police officer White said in an interview that if gay rights legislation is passed, San Francisco residents will either move out of the city en masse or “react harshly.”

According to Milk’s biographer Lilian Faderman, “D’White ran through the area where he was chosen, telling people how he would try to get San Francisco to get rid of the social perverts.”

1978 In early November, about a year after the election, White resigned from the council and declared that “he could not support his family” on the salary he received.

After a time, under pressure from supporters, he changed his mind and appealed to Mayor G. Moscone to be reinstated. But Moscone refused to do so: his will was to select White’s successor, and he was determined to choose a more liberal man.

The death of H. Milko.

For White, who was convinced that Mosone and Milk were the worst thing that could have happened to San Francisco anyway, it was a decisive blow. 1978 November 27 He entered the municipality of San Francisco, armed with a revolver.

White went directly to the mayor’s office, where he began to argue with Mosone. Finally, they moved to a more remote room, where they were left alone. There, Mr. Mosone once again refused to reinstate Mr. White, and then shot the Mayor with two shots to the chest and two to the head.

He then went directly to Milko’s office, where he was alone at the time, and was also shot five times. Soon after, White turned himself in to the police, going to the compound where he had once worked.

Cleve Jones, who was working as H. Milko’s assistant when he was assassinated, was the first to find H. Milko’s body.

“I only had one thought in mind that day: ‘It is all over.’ I lost a friend, a teacher, a man who was like a father to me. (…) But later, when the sun went down, dozens Thousands of people gathered and marched for H. Milkas, and then I realized that nothing was over, that’s just the beginning, “he later recalled.

Until now, every year on November 27. – The Day Milk Was Killed – C. Jones and like-minded people commemorate the activist’s memory, marching lit candles from Harvey Milk Square in San Francisco to City Hall.

D / White was on trial. The defense method used by his attorneys has gone down in history as a “chocolate defense” (“Twinkie defense”, “Twinkie” is a popular chocolate bar in the United States).

The attorneys explained that White, as the murders approached, abandoned the healthy food he had eaten before and began to eat many unhealthy foods such as donuts, lemonade and Twinkie chocolates. This proves that his psyche was impaired.

This defense worked unexpectedly: White was charged and sentenced to seven years in prison (he was released five years later for good behavior).

The jury, made up primarily of white Catholics, ruled that White was unaware of his actions and could not be held fully responsible for them.

Such a court decision outraged the gay community in San Francisco. There was a riot, now known as “White Night Riot”. In response to the riots, the police began targeting gay clubs and hitting their visitors. Finally, 124 people were injured during the night, including 59 policemen.

H. Milko’s last speech

H. Milk felt that he could face a sad fate. After his death, his colleagues released an audio recording that Milk had ordered them to post only “if he was killed.”

“I fully understand that a person who stands up for what I stand for, a person who is a gay rights activist, becomes a potential target for those who feel insecure, intimidated, or have deep problems,” Milk says in this post. publication. .

“I know they can kill me at any time, so it seems important to me that people know what I’m thinking. “If a bullet goes through my brain, then that bullet destroys the doors of all the closets in this country,” he continued, referring to the phrase “come out of the closet” for homosexuals who reveal their orientation.

In this speech, Milk addressed all members of the LGBT community, asking what he thought was very important: “come out of the closet.”

“I want every gay doctor to reveal himself, every gay lawyer, every gay architect to reveal himself, so that the world knows about himself.” It would immediately break more preconceived limits than anyone could believe. I urge you to do it, I urge you to develop. Only then can we achieve our objectives, “said H. Milkas.

Milk believed that the fear that many people feel for homosexuals will disappear when they realize that homosexuals include their neighbors, friends and family.

Milk remains one of the most valued participants in the LGBT rights movement. 2008 Milk’s life story was captured in the Hollywood movie Milk, starring Sean Penn.

2009 President Barack Obama awarded Milk a Presidential Medal of Freedom after his death. 2016 the US Navy ship USNS Harvey Milk was named in his honor.