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During
the
last
decade
of
his
life,
Harvey
Milk
had
an
almost
pathological
urge
to
rescue
gay
people.
Whether
closeted
school
teachers
or
young
street
trade,
particularly
the
latter,
Milk
was
obsessed
with
finding
gay
people
who
felt
trapped
in
the
darkest
corners
of
their
beings,
and
showing
them
that
happiness
and
freedom
were
alternative
options
to
how
they
were
living.
Three
decades
after
Milk
was
executed
at
point-blank
range
by
a
political
rival
in
San
Francisco’s
City
Hall,
his
mission
is
revived
in
Gus
Van
Sant’s
new
biopic,
“Milk,”
which
opened
Wednesday
in
select
theaters.
The
wisdom
and
passion
Milk
(Sean
Penn)
offers
in
this
movie
comes
at
an
ideal
time
for
gay
men
and
lesbians
in
desperate
need
of
such
mentorship.
However,
the
movie
falls
far
short
of
capturing
the
power
of
Milk’s
life-and-death
story,
with
the
credits
rolling
before
the
most
illustrative
element
of
Milk’s
tragedy
is
shared
with
viewers.
That’s
because
“Milk”
is
as
much
a
political
biography
as
it
is
a
message
for
gay
rights,
with
Van
Sant
and
writer
Dustin
Lance
Black
devoting
an
overwhelming
portion
of
the
film
to
Milk’s
series
of
political
campaigns,
the
first
three
of
which
he
lost.
While
such
a
focus
might
make
sense
when
telling
the
story
of
one
of
America’s
first
openly
gay
elected
officials,
the
drama
and
impact
of
Milk’s
tale
did
not
center
on
a
handful
of
campaigns
for
public
office.
Less
than
a
year
after
being
elected
as
a
San
Francisco
city
supervisor,
the
equivalent
of
a
city
council
member,
Milk
was
assassinated
by
a
fellow
supervisor,
Dan
White
(Josh
Brolin).
The
movie
and
Brolin
do
a
fine
job
revealing
White’s
conservative
and
anti-gay
indignation;
but
within
the
context
of
the
story
told
in
“Milk,”
his
actions
could
easily
be
seen
as
a
political
killing,
rather
than
an
anti-gay
hate
crime,
particularly
since
White
also
murdered
San
Francisco
Mayor
George
Moscone,
who
was
straight.
And
by
ending
the
movie
on
the
night
of
the
murders,
Van
Sant
leaves
out
the
unambiguously
homophobic
assault
on
Milk’s
legacy:
when
a
conservative
San
Francisco
jury
believed
that
the
killings
were
triggered
by
White
overdosing
on
junk
food
and
found
White
guilty
of
manslaughter
instead
of
premeditated
murder.
A
man
uses
nine
bullets
to
kill
two
elected
officials
—
a
mayor
and
a
city
supervisor,
each
with
multiple
gunshots
to
the
head
—
and
is
sentenced
to
seven-and-a-half
years
in
prison,
serving
only
five.
Such
an
injustice
would
have
never
occurred
were
it
not
for
the
jury’s
anti-gay
bias
and
many
observers
believe
White
would
have
died
in
an
electric
chair
if
he
had
killed
only
Moscone.
As
admirable
as
the
story
and
acting
in
“Milk”
are,
it’s
truly
a
shame
that
the
project
failed
to
include
the
episode
that
best
illustrated
why
Harvey
Milk
wanted
to
change
the
world.
The
movie
effectively
captures
the
homophobia
of
Milk’s
time
in
other
ways,
like
the
opening
sequence
of
vintage
footage
of
police
raids
on
gay
bars.
The
visual
evidence
of
the
outright
persecution
that
gay
people
lived
under
until
the
last
quarter
century
is
harrowing
—
and
useful
to
both
young
gay
people
who
don't
know
the
history
and
opponents
of
gay
rights
who
insist
the
oppression
we
fight
is
imaginary
or
exaggerated.
Archival
news
footage
is
also
used
to
re-create
the
legend
of
Anita
Bryant,
the
former
Miss
America
contestant/gospel
singer/orange
juice
spokesperson
who
led
a
national
campaign
to
“Save
Our
Children”
from
the
evil
of
equal
rights
for
homosexuals.
Always
good
for
a
campy
laugh,
Bryant’s
appearance
is
also
a
powerful
reminder
of
the
persistence
of
gay
rights
opponents
and
how
they
continue
to
recycle
the
same
arguments
today.
“Milk”
shows
that
the
American
public
has
an
insatiable
appetite
to
vote
away
gay
rights,
which
continues
in
constitutional
bans
on
same-sex
marriage.
The
scenes
from
ballot
initiatives
during
the
1970s
should
be
sobering
to
those
who
believe
that
people
are
currently
voting
against
gay
rights
because
of
the
term
“marriage”
or
because
we
asked
for
“too
much,
too
fast.”
Sadly,
Milk’s
wisdom
about
how
to
fight
these
measures
has
been
completely
lost
on
gay
rights
organizations.
When
facing
a
statewide
referendum
to
bar
gay
men
and
lesbians
from
being
schoolteachers,
Milk
rejects
the
strategy
proposed
by
conservative
gay
leaders
to
avoid
making
the
campaign
a
"gay"
issue,
but
rather
a
question
about
"human
rights."
“This
is
shit,”
Milk
fumes
when
activists
show
him
...
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