image: lavenderliberal.com
November 27 marks the thirtieth anniversary of activist Harvey Milk’s assassination and it’s the day after his Gus van Sant-directed biopic opens in theatres, some of which are owned by Cinemark Corp, whose CEO Alan Stock donated $9,900 to help pass California’s Prop 8.
The confluence of Milk the movie, Milk the man, and passage of ballot measures in Arizona, Arkansas, California and Florida denying basic civil rightswere not lost on Milk screenwriter Dustin Lance Black and activist Cleve Jones, a real-life associate of the slain civil rights leader. The duo has created the Seven Weeks to Equality Campaign to begin November 27th and culminate on Inauguration Day, January 20th.
Along with continuing the peaceful demonstrations and urging LGBT to:
personally introduce ourselves to those who would discriminate against us. We must make ourselves visible
there’s also a call to:
gather together in mass, from all corners of our country, in Washington, DC on the morning of Tuesday, January 20, 2009, to honor the inauguration of our President, Barack Obama.
However, with air fares to DC skyrocketing, hotel rooms going for upwards of $1,000 a night, with some hotels demanding a four night minimum stay, maybe hometown protests on Jan 20 and donations to equality campaigns are a better use of LGBT $$.
For lists of upcoming protests around the country, visit JointheImpact
19 Comments
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sounds like hometown would be better.
I’m looking forward to seeing the movie. I had recently left the area. Looms large. Dramatic.
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yeah, there’s no need to protest in dc that day, any impact you might have would get lost in the hoo-ha, if i may use the technical term.
the thing to do is to protest weekly, if not daily, in your hometown, in high-profile areas.
and, like elliott, i’m looking forward to the movie. i was living in sf during those times. and remember, just as a footnote, the guyana-jim jones tragedy happened just a few weeks earlier (and jones’ cult had originated in sf, so it was considered a hometown tragedy, even tho it happened thousands of miles away).
that was a terrible, terrible november in sf.
Thanks Lisa.
Here’s a link to an action from one of the wacko groups out there
Homosexual �State Holiday� Passes Legislature!
Tell Governor to Veto Harvey Milk Day
Scary people using the term homosexual and not gay/lesbian. They are inferring that being gay/lesbian is a psychological problem with that term.
inferring or implying?
I didn’t realize until I read her recent statement to the effect that it would be too painful for her to see the movie, that Dianne Feinstein was first on the scene on that dark day. Probably read it at the time but had no idea who she was.
oh yes, skippy, the guy in the next room in that ratty old rooming house in Berkeley, he was enamored of Jim Jones’s vision. He was a troubled soul who was looking for an inner depth as he struggled with his carnal selfish reality.
I rest assured that he was not one to make the commitment required to be part of Jones’s Temple, so I’m sure he wasn’t there at the apocalypse.
Dianne Feinstein has no political career if these murders don’t happen.
One morning not too long ago I was visiting her San Francisco district director to talk about immigration. When I left the office with my group those were my words. Milk and Moscone go on to great political, progressive careers, Feinstein never makes it past the SF Board of Supes.
How often have bullets changed our history?
Mind boggling that White was only sentenced to seven years and then only served five…
twinkies!!
It was because of that California abolished the “diminished capacity” law. You’re probably aware that in 1984, White allegedly admitted the murders were premeditated… as IF there should ever have been any doubt.
ratfood, too true. But there was a karmic payback when he killed himself years later.
I just heard today on Air America that White’s son went to the Milk set. That must have been a helluva day!
travesty -and tragedy- of justice
A Synopsis of the events for those not yet born. Dan White was not the only Vietnam vet that returned with life long psychiatric problems, my neighborhood was filled with ex-vets and they all had problems that the VA refused to treat until they killed.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_White
Not making light of the tragedy but I always find myself wishing in the case of murder/suicides that the person had taken their own life first.
That business with White’s son visiting the set sounds awkward. Easy to forget that the perpetrator’s family suffer too.
Implying, thanks I get them mixed up.
Apparently, from what I remember of the broadcast, folks said it was very moving for him to be there. Introduced himself to James Brolin and everything.