A few weeks ago my friend Richard and I were having a drink at the Edge and struck up a conversation with a young man who was waiting for his boyfriend to get off work. He was an attractive guy in his early 20s, friendly and obviously bright. We chatted about a number of things and I'm afraid I reminisced about the "good old days." At one point we asked the young man what he knew of Harvey Milk and received a blank look in response. He asked, "Who was Harvey Milk?"
Richard and I looked at each other in dismay. We were, after all, sitting in the middle of the neighborhood Harvey helped to create – just two blocks from Harvey Milk Plaza and one block from the Harvey Milk Civil Rights Academy. We told the young man who Harvey was, what he had accomplished, how he was killed, and suggested that he consider learning more about Harvey and the generations that preceded his own. Another blank look. "Why?" he asked.
We explained that Harvey had helped changed the world, that his life and death touched and inspired millions, that he represented a movement dedicated to liberating and empowering gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people. The young man was not impressed. "Well, I bet you've never heard of Avril Lavigne," he said.
Richard and I were speechless. He was comparing Harvey Milk to a three-hit Canadian teen pop star! It was also pretty clear that he did not expect two relics of the gay Jurassic like us to know anything about what young people think or feel. As calmly as possible we told him we didn't think the comparison apt. The young man argued with us, saying that Ms. Lavigne's music had also touched the hearts of millions of people and that "lots of gay people buy her music."
Our young friend is not alone. According to a recent study conducted by the One Institute, only about 15 percent of American students entering college know of Harvey Milk and his role in what was once called the gay liberation movement. LGBT youth, like their hetero counterparts, aren't learning much history these days. Queer and straight kids alike increasingly know little of their heritage, their own individual family histories, let alone the broader histories of their communities and nation.
It is not good for young people to be disconnected from their histories. It is particularly dangerous for a community enjoying only recently won rights and opportunities. Our youth are growing up in a world of Will & Grace and Queer as Folk , openly gay elected officials, and massive commercial marketing targeting of our community. It isn't difficult to understand how easy it is for them to take our freedoms and progress for granted. Indeed, that is precisely what our many heroes of previous generations fought for: a day when all people could take for granted that they were free.
That day has not yet come. LGBT youth are still three times more likely than their hetero peers to commit suicide. Our kids are more likely to use drugs and alcohol, more likely to smoke, more likely to be rejected and abandoned by their families. They are at great risk of contracting HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases. They continue to face ridicule, social isolation, and violence in school and discrimination in the job market when they graduate. The struggle that Harvey Milk gave his life for has not been won. It is a struggle that continues on many fronts, here in San Francisco and around the world.
Back in the late 1970s, when Harvey had his camera shop on Castro Street, a young man named Dan Nicoletta came to work for him. Danny manned the camera store counter while Harvey spent most days out meeting people and organizing; he was one of many young people who Harvey mentored and encouraged. Today, Dan Nicoletta is heading up the effort to place a bronze memorial sculpture of Harvey Milk in San Francisco City Hall. Dan will be the first to tell you that he is a photographer, not a fundraiser, and the Harvey Milk Memorial Committee is having a tough time raising the money required for the project.
In June just before the Pride Parade, the memorial committee received a challenge grant of $25,000 from the Bob Ross Foundation. The foundation hoped that the grant would inspire some of our city's many generous donors to step forward and support this worthwhile effort. So far it hasn't happened.
This November 27, let's mark the anniversary of the Harvey Milk and Mayor George Moscone's murders in City Hall in a new way. Instead of lighting candles on Castro Street, let's get out our checkbooks and support the Harvey Milk Memorial Committee. Let's make certain that young people everywhere learn of Harvey's life and death and the movement he came to represent. Let's help our young people discover their history and be strengthened by it as they lead us to the future. Let's put Harvey Milk back in San Francisco City Hall.
The Harvey Milk City Hall Memorial Committee is a 501(c)3 organization, all donations are tax deductible. Checks can be made out and mailed to: SF Pride/Milk Memorial, 1800 Market Street, Box 42, San Francisco, CA 94102. For information, to volunteer, or to make an online donation visit http://www.milkmemorial.org.