Harvey Milk
Rink Foto; Metropolitan Human Rights Commission,
Offset, 1993, Oregon, Portland

Harvey Milk (1930-1978) was the first openly Gay person to be elected to the Board of Supervisors (City Council) in San Francisco. His election was in stark contrast to the national political scene that was characterized by the movement that was being led by anti-Gay activist Anita Bryant to "Save Our Children". Milk served only eleven months before his assassination on November 27, 1978, in San Francisco City Hall. His killer, former City Supervisor Danny White, crawled through a basement window in order to avoid metal detectors. White had resigned his seat on the Board following the enactment of the Gay Civil Rights bill that he had stringently opposed. Convicted of two counts of voluntary manslaughter, White served only seven years and eight months.

This stunningly light sentence was granted in response to what is now referred to as the "Twinkie defense": White's attorney argued that his client could not be held accountable for his actions due to the amount of junk food he had eaten on the day of the crimes. White was paroled after six years in prison and committed suicide shortly thereafter.