Harvey Milk

Harvey Milk and Scott Smith opened their camera store at 575 Castro Street in 1973, and it quickly became the neighborhood's "city hall," where people gathered to discuss news, problems, and concerns, while its front windows served as a community bulletin board for civil rights demonstrations, protests, meetings, and events. Known as the "Mayor of Castro Street," Harvey first ran for public office from his apartment above the shop in 1974 and continued to live there after his election to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1977. He won support from gays, lesbians, teamsters, firefighters, construction unions, and everyday working people, and he successfully led the campaign to defeat a statewide ballot initiative that would have banned GLBT people from teaching in California. Three weeks after that victory, he and Mayor George Moscone were assassinated at City Hall, and the camera shop closed shortly after Harvey's death in 1978. More than a successful politician, Harvey Milk was the first openly gay man in the nation elected to a major public office, and he embodied the reality that a GLBT person living honestly and openly could succeed.

San Francisco, California · United States