San Francisco

San Francisco community honors Harvey Milk at block party, event

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Sunday would have been the late San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk's 94th birthday.

People gathered at Jane Warner Memorial Plaza to honor his life and work.

Harvey Milk was the first openly gay politician in California and was an advocate for equal rights and the LGBTQ community.

Sunday’s event featured a block party, musical performances, and a list of speakers, including San Francisco Mayor London Breed and State Senator Scott Wiener, who talked about how Milk fought against discriminatory ordinances in the 1970's. Fast forward 50 years and those same issues are back in the spotlight.

“Look where we are. We have once again, bigots who are trying to ban our community around the country. We have school boards even in California, who are attacking trans kids. When I think back to what Harvey would think, he would be so happy that our community is rising up,” Wiener said.

Milk was and former San Francisco mayor George Moscone were assassinated at San Francisco City Hall in 1978 by former supervisor Dan White.

Milk was 48 years old when he was killed.

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