Harvey Bernard Milk (May 22, 1930 – November 27, 1978) was an American politician who became the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in California, when he won a seat on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. Politics and gay activism were not his early interests; he was not open about his homosexuality and did not participate in civic matters until around the age of 40, after his experiences in the counterculture of the 1960s.

Milk moved from New York City to settle in San Francisco in 1972 amid a migration of gay men to the Castro District. He took advantage of the growing political and economic power of the neighborhood to promote his interests, and ran unsuccessfully for political office three times. His theatrical campaigns earned him increasing popularity, and Milk won a seat as a city supervisor in 1977, part of the broader social changes the city was experiencing.

Milk served 11 months in office and was responsible for passing a stringent gay rights ordinance for the city. On November 27, 1978, Milk and Mayor George Moscone were assassinated by Dan White, another city supervisor who had recently resigned but wanted his job back. Milk’s election was made possible by and was a key component of a shift in San Francisco politics. The assassinations and the ensuing events were the result of continuing ideological conflicts in the city.

Despite his short career in politics, Milk became an icon in San Francisco and “a martyr for gay rights”, according to University of San Francisco professor Peter Novak. In 2002, Milk was called “the most famous and most significantly open LGBT official ever elected in the United States”. Anne Kronenberg, his final campaign manager, wrote of him: “What set Harvey apart from you or me was that he was a visionary. He imagined a righteous world inside his head and then he set about to create it for real, for all of us.” Milk was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2009.

Source: WikiQueer article on Harvey Milk

Basketball’s Gay Paragon

 By Frank Bruni

New York Times, April 29, 2013

I heard a lot of talk Monday about how “perfect” Jason Collins, the basketball player who just came out, is. Perfect as in straight from central casting. (Or maybe I should say gay from central casting.)

He went to college at Stanford. Roomed there with Joe Kennedy III. Was in the same class as Chelsea Clinton, who tweeted her congratulations to him for the courage she said he was showing.

Seven feet tall, he’s strapping even by the brawny standards of the National Basketball Association, and his designated role on the court, as a human roadblock against the most physically imposing opponents, is an aggressive one.

“I’m not proud of it, but I once fouled a player so hard that he had to leave the arena on a stretcher,” he writes in the cover article of the new Sports Illustrated, the one in which he becomes the trailblazer so many of us have been waiting for: the first active athlete in any of America’s four major professional sports leagues to acknowledge his homosexuality.

He mentions his Christian values. “I take the teachings of Jesus seriously, particularly the ones that touch on tolerance and understanding,” he says, getting in a deft dig at religious extremists. And he notes that he hopes to start a family of his own.

But none of these biographical details, none of these remarks, stayed with me the way the first paragraph of the article, whose co-author is the journalist Franz Lidz, did. It’s built from three short sentences:

“I’m a 34-year-old N.B.A. center. I’m black. And I’m gay.”

The gay part will now define him, in the public eye, more than any other. It will be the prompt for the loudest cheers he basks in and the nastiest jeers he sloughs off.

But in the opening paragraph, it comes after his age and occupation and race, getting no more space, in that one passage and for that brief moment, than other aspects of his identity. It’s a detail among many, but not the defining one.

That’s the integrated way that things should be, the unremarkable way a person’s sexual orientation ought to be lived and perceived. And that’s precisely what Collins and his fellow trailblazers are trying to move us toward: not a constant discussion of the rightful place and treatment of L.G.B.T. people in America, but an America in which the discussion is no longer necessary. He’s letting us focus on his gayness precisely so we can focus less on others’ down the road.

I point that out because I know that some conversation in the days to come, perhaps not public discussion but certainly private grumbling, will include questions about why Collins has to rock the boat, why the news media is paying such lavish heed to him and why gays and lesbians in general make such a fuss of things. I know this from my in-box, where some readers routinely tell me that they’d be less bothered by homosexuals if we’d just please shut up about it.

Many of us want to, and will: when a gay, lesbian or transgendered kid isn’t at special risk of being brutalized or committing suicide. When the federal government outlaws discrimination against people based on sexual orientation, which it still hasn’t done.

When immigration laws give same-sex couples the same consideration that they do heterosexual ones. When the Defense of Marriage Act crumbles and our committed relationships aren’t relegated to a lesser status, a diminished dignity.

When a Rutgers coach doesn’t determine that the aptly ugly garnish for hurling basketballs at his players’ heads is the slur “faggot.” When professional football scouts don’t try to ascertain that potential recruits are straight.

When an athlete like Collins can be honest about himself without his and his co-author’s having to stress that he’s a guy’s guy, a godly man, someone who stayed mum about himself before now precisely so he wouldn’t disrupt his teams or upset his teammates, someone who’s inhabited locker rooms for 12 seasons already without incident.

When a gay person’s central-casting earnestness and eloquence aren’t noted with excitement and relief, because his or her sexual orientation needn’t be accompanied by a litany of virtues and accomplishments in order for bigotry to be toppled and a negative reaction to be overcome.

When being gay doesn’t warrant a magazine cover or a phone call from the president, any more than being 34 or being black does.

If you read all of Collins’s article, and you should, you’ll come away realizing that the gay part of him was and is so big only because his world — by which I mean America, and by which I mean pro sports — made it so.

From now on, he says, “I want to be genuine and authentic and truthful.” Those are adjectives and attributes also worth dwelling on.

Click HERE to read this article on the New York Times’ website.

What a great turn out! The first North County Dining Out for Life was a success. From Escondido to Oceanside, hundreds have shown their support by having breakfast, lunch or dinner at one of the assigned locations. We only had five restaurants and yet our LGBT friends and allies made sure to get to destination.

Over $1,600 were already collected from your generous contributions (remember the red boxes?). Next week, we will report on the final amount from all the North County Restaurants.

A special thanks goes to our volunteer crew that for weeks has been preparing for this event. To Melissa Kelley, our event coordinator along with Evan Gaines and many, many others: Thank you!

Dining Out For Life is not only a great opportunity to raise funds, but also a way to create community. In fact, many of our families and allies have met, chat and enjoyed the great time while supporting a worthy cause.

The North County LGBTQ Resource Center is committed to educate on HIV prevention while offering free and accessible HIV related services to all. Each year Dining Out for Life will help us to assure that these services can continue and possibly be expanded throughout North County.

Thank you!

or click HERE

Welcome Tony’s Sports Bar & Grill, our latest addition.

Tony Sports Bar and Grill of Oceanside Harbor is our latest addition to Dining Out for Life.

On April 25th if you do breakfast, lunch, or dinner at this location, 25% of the proceeds will go to support our North County LGBTQ Resource Center HIV and AIDS programs. Wonderful Hosts and Ambassadors will greet and guide you from the entrance.

The Restaurant is located on 274 South Harbor Drive Oceanside, CA 92054.  Click HERE for more information about the Hill Street Cafe.

What is Dining Out For Life?

Dining Out For Life® is an annual fundraising event involving the generous participation of volunteers, corporate sponsors and restaurants. In exchange for their financial support, restaurants are listed in a city wide marketing campaign in an effort to increase customer traffic.

Dining Out for Life® benefits The San Diego LGBT Community Center’s and the North County LGBTQ Resource Center HIV/AIDS services and prevention programs.

Thank you Vinz Wine Bar of Escondido

Vinz Wine Bar of Escondido is happy to participate to our Dining Out for Life program.

On April 25th if you do breakfast, lunch, or dinner at this location, 25% of the proceeds will go to support our North County LGBTQ Resource Center HIV and AIDS programs. Wonderful Hosts and Ambassadors will greet and guide you at the entrance.

The restaurant is located on 201 Grand Avenue 1A Escondido, CA 92025.  Click HERE for more information about Vinz.

What is Dining Out For Life?

Dining Out For Life® is an annual fundraising event involving the generous participation of volunteers, corporate sponsors and restaurants. In exchange for their financial support, restaurants are listed in a city wide marketing campaign in an effort to increase customer traffic.

Dining Out for Life® benefits The San Diego LGBT Community Center’s and the North County LGBTQ Resource Center HIV/AIDS services and prevention programs.