The Mayor of Castro Street

by Randy Shilts

  And now I think it’s time that everybody faced reality. Real reality. So for the next few minutes, it’s going to be slightly down and dirty.

  A small item in the newspaper the other day indicated what the future might be like. Mayor Koch of New York turned his back on the elegance of Gracie Mansion and opted for the comforts of his three-room apartment—and I’ll refrain from any comparison to our good Governor. Mr. Koch chose his three-room apartment because he likes it. Nothing more complicated than that. He likes it.

  And believe it or not, that’s the wave of the future. The cities will be saved. The cities will be governed. But they won’t be run from three thousand miles away in Washington, they won’t be run from the statehouse, and most of all, they won’t be run by the carpetbaggers who have fled to the suburbs. You can’t run a city by people who don’t live there, any more than you can have an effective police force made up of people who don’t live there. In either case, what you’ve got is an occupying army.

  The cities will be saved. The cities will be run. They’ll be saved and they’ll be run by the people who live in them, by the people who like to live in them. You can see it in parts of Manhattan, you can see it along Armitage Street and on the far North Side of Chicago, and you can certainly see it in San Francisco.

  Who’s done the most for housing in our city? The federal government? The state? Who’s actually renovating this city? Who’s buying the houses and using their own sweat and funds to restore them and make them liveable? And just how many homes do you think that includes by now? How many thousands? The people who are doing this are doing it out of love for the city. They’re renovating not only the physical plant, they’re renovating the spirit of the city as well.

  The cities will not be saved by the people who feel condemned to live in them, who can hardly wait to move to Marin or San Jose—or Evanston or Westchester. The cities will be saved by the people who like it here. The people who prefer the neighborhood stores to the shopping mall, who go to the plays and eat in the restaurants and go to the discos and worry about the education the kids are getting even if they have no kids of their own.

  That’s not just the city of the future; it’s the city of today. It means new directions, new alliances, new solutions for ancient problems. The typical American family with two cars and 2.2 kids doesn’t live here anymore. It hasn’t for years. The demographics are different now and we all know it. The city is a city of singles and young marrieds, the city of the retired and the poor, a city of many colors who speak in many tongues.

  The city will run itself, it will create its own solutions. District elections was not the end. It was just the beginning. We’ll solve our problems—with your help, if we can, without it if we must. We need your help. I don’t deny that. But you also need us. We’re your customers. We’re your future.

  I’m riding into that future and frankly I don’t know if I’m wearing the fabled helm of Mambrino on my head or if I’m wearing a barber’s basin. I guess we wear what we want to wear and we fight what we want to fight. Maybe I see dragons where there are only windmills. But something tells me the dragons are for real and if I shatter a lance or two on a whirling blade, maybe I’ll catch a dragon in the bargain.

  So I’m asking you to take a chance and ride with me against the windmills—and against the dragons, too. To make the quality of life in San Francisco what it should be, to help our city set an example, to set the style, to show the rest of the country what a city can really be. To prove that Miami’s vote was a step backwards and that San Francisco’s was two steps forward.

  Yesterday, my esteemed colleague on the Board said we cannot live on hope alone. I know that, but I strongly feel the important thing is not that we cannot live on hope alone, but that life is not worth living without it. If the story of Don Quixote means anything, it means that the spirit of life is just as important as its substance. What others may see as a barber’s basin, you and I know is that glittering, legendary helmet.

  III. The Hope Speech

  The following address represents the quintessential stump speech Milk used as he traveled around both California and the nation as the country’s first openly gay city official. This particular speech—the keynote address at a San Diego dinner of the gay caucus of the California Democratic Council on March 10, 1978—is perhaps the best example of Milk’s extemporaneous oration included here, since it is not taken from Milk’s prepared notes (like the other speeches in this appendix) but from an actual tape recording of the event. The standard opening joke, Milk’s characteristic run-on sentences, and his occasional non sequiturs, therefore, remain intact. The most powerful section of the speech comes in the final minutes when Milk returned to the theme he had honed through his 1977 campaign and his year in office—hope. Milk aides dubbed this routine pitch “The Hope Speech” and it became the supervisor’s political trademark. (The tape was provided by Elmer Wilhelm, past president of the Minuteman—now the Stonewall—Democratic Club of San Francisco.)

  My name is Harvey Milk and I’m here to recruit you.

  I’ve been saving this one for years. It’s a political joke. I can’t help it—I’ve got to tell it. I’ve never been able to talk to this many political people before, so if I tell you nothing else you may be able to go home laughing a bit.

  This ocean liner was going across the ocean and it sank. And there was one little piece of wood floating and three people swam to it and they realized only one person could hold on to it. So they had a little debate about which was the person. It so happened the three people were the Pope, the President, and Mayor Daley. The Pope said he was titular head of one of the great religions of the world and he was spiritual adviser to many, many millions and he went on and pontificated and they thought it was a good argument. Then the President said he was leader of the largest and most powerful nation of the world. What takes place in this country affects the whole world and they thought that was a good argument. And Mayor Daley said he was mayor of the backbone of the United States and what took place in Chicago affected the world, and what took place in the archdiocese of Chicago affected Catholicism. And they thought that was a good argument. So they did it the democratic way and voted. And Daley won, seven to two.

  About six months ago, Anita Bryant in her speaking to God said that the drought in California was because of the gay people. On November 9, the day after I got elected, it started to rain. On the day I got sworn in, we walked to City Hall and it was kinda nice, and as soon as I said the word “I do,” it started to rain again. It’s been raining since then and the people of San Francisco figure the only way to stop it is to do a recall petition. That’s a local joke.

  So much for that. Why are we here? Why are gay people here? And what’s happening? What’s happening to me is the antithesis of what you read about in the papers and what you hear about on the radio. You hear about and read about this movement to the right. That we must band together and fight back this movement to the right. And I’m here to go ahead and say that what you hear and read is what they want you to think because it’s not happening. The major media in this country has talked about the movement to the right so much that they’ve got even us thinking that way. Because they want the legislators to think that there is indeed a movement to the right and that the Congress and the legislators and the city councils will start to move to the right the way the major media want them. So they keep on talking about this move to the right.

  So let’s look at 1977 and see if there was indeed a move to the right. In 1977, gay people had their rights taken away from them in Miami. But you must remember that in the week before Miami and the week after that, the word homosexual or gay appeared in every single newspaper in this nation in articles both pro and con. In every radio station, in every TV station and every household. For the first time in the history of the world, everybody was talking about it, good or bad. Unless you have dialogue, unless you open the walls of dialogue, you can never reach to change people’s opini
on. In those two weeks, more good and bad, but more about the word homosexual and gay was written than probably in the history of mankind. Once you have dialogue starting, you know you can break down the prejudice. In 1977 we saw a dialogue start. In 1977, we saw a gay person elected in San Francisco. In 1977 we saw the state of Mississippi decriminalize marijuana. In 1977, we saw the convention of conventions in Houston. And I want to know where the movement to the right is happening.

  What that is is a record of what happened last year. What we must do is make sure that 1978 continues the movement that is really happening that the media don’t want you to know about, that is the movement to the left. It’s up to CDC to put the pressures on Sacramento—not to just bring flowers to Sacramento—but to break down the walls and the barriers so the movement to the left continues and progress continues in the nation. We have before us coming up several issues we must speak out on. Probably the most important issue outside the Briggs—which we will come to—but we do know what will take place this June. We know there’s an issue on the ballot called Jarvis-Gann. We hear the taxpayers talk about it on both sides. But what you don’t hear is that it’s probably the most racist issue on the ballot in a long time. In the city and county of San Francisco, if it passes and we indeed have to lay off people, who will they be? The last in, not the first in, and who are the last in but the minorities? Jarvis-Gann is a racist issue. We must address that issue. We must not talk away from it. We must not allow them to talk about the money it’s going to save, because look at who’s going to save the money and who’s going to get hurt.

  We also have another issue that we’ve started in some of the north counties and I hope in some of the south counties it continues. In San Francisco elections we’re asking—at least we hope to ask—that the U.S. government put pressure on the closing of the South African consulate. That must happen. There is a major difference between an embassy in Washington which is a diplomatic bureau, and a consulate in major cities. A consulate is there for one reason only—to promote business, economic gains, tourism, investment. And every time you have business going to South Africa, you’re promoting a regime that’s offensive.

  In the city of San Francisco, if everyone of 51 percent of that city were to go to South Africa, they would be treated as second-class citizens. That is an offense to the people of San Francisco and I hope all my colleagues up there will take every step we can to close down that consulate and hope that people in other parts of the state follow us in that lead. The battles must be started some place and CDC is the greatest place to start the battles.

  I know we are pressed for time so I’m going to cover just one more little point. That is to understand why it is important that gay people run for office and that gay people get elected. I know there are many people in this room who are running for central committee who are gay. I encourage you. There’s a major reason why. If my non-gay friends and supporters in this room understand it, they’ll probably understand why I’ve run so often before I finally made it. Y’see right now, there’s a controversy going on in this convention about the governor. Is he speaking out enough? Is he strong enough for gay rights? And there is a controversy and for us to say it is not would be foolish. Some people are satisfied and some people are not.

  You see there is a major difference—and it remains a vital difference—between a friend and a gay person, a friend in office and a gay person in office. Gay people have been slandered nationwide. We’ve been tarred and we’ve been brushed with the picture of pornography. In Dade County, we were accused of child molestation. It’s not enough anymore just to have friends represent us. No matter how good that friend may be.

  The black community made up its mind to that a long time ago. That the myths against blacks can only be dispelled by electing black leaders, so the black community could be judged by the leaders and not by the myths or black criminals. The Spanish community must not be judged by Latin criminals or myths. The Asian community must not be judged by Asian criminals or myths. The Italian community should not be judged by the mafia, myths. And the time has come when the gay community must not be judged by our criminals and myths.

  Like every other group, we must be judged by our leaders and by those who are themselves gay, those who are visible. For invisible, we remain in limbo—a myth, a person with no parents, no brothers, no sisters, no friends who are straight, no important positions in employment. A tenth of a nation supposedly composed of stereotypes and would-be seducers of children—and no offense meant to the stereotypes. But today, the black community is not judged by its friends, but by its black legislators and leaders. And we must give people the chance to judge us by our leaders and legislators. A gay person in office can set a tone, can command respect not only from the larger community, but from the young people in our own community who need both examples and hope.

  The first gay people we elect must be strong. They must not be content to sit in the back of the bus. They must not be content to accept pablum. They must be above wheeling and dealing. They must be—for the good of all of us—independent, unbought. The anger and the frustrations that some of us feel is because we are misunderstood, and friends can’t feel that anger and frustration. They can sense it in us, but they can’t feel it. Because a friend has never gone through what is known as coming out. I will never forget what it was like coming out and having nobody to look up toward. I remember the lack of hope—and our friends can’t fulfill that.

  I can’t forget the looks on faces of people who’ve lost hope. Be they gay, be they seniors, be they blacks looking for an almost-impossible job, be they Latins trying to explain their problems and aspirations in a tongue that’s foreign to them. I personally will never forget that people are more important than buildings. I use the word “I” because I’m proud. I stand here tonight in front of my gay sisters, brothers and friends because I’m proud of you. I think it’s time that we have many legislators who are gay and proud of that fact and do not have to remain in the closet. I think that a gay person, up-front, will not walk away from a responsibility and be afraid of being tossed out of office. After Dade County, I walked among the angry and the frustrated night after night and I looked at their faces. And in San Francisco, three days before Gay Pride Day, a person was killed just because he was gay. And that night, I walked among the sad and the frustrated at City Hall in San Francisco and later that night as they lit candles on Castro Street and stood in silence, reaching out for some symbolic thing that would give them hope. These were strong people, people whose faces I knew from the shop, the streets, meetings and people who I never saw before but I knew. They were strong, but even they needed hope.

  And the young gay people in the Altoona, Pennsylvanias and the Richmond, Minnesotas who are coming out and hear Anita Bryant on television and her story. The only thing they have to look forward to is hope. And you have to give them hope. Hope for a better world, hope for a better tomorrow, hope for a better place to come to if the pressures at home are too great. Hope that all will be all right. Without hope, not only gays, but the blacks, the seniors, the handicapped, the us’es, the us’es will give up. And if you help elect to the central committee and other offices, more gay people, that gives a green light to all who feel disenfranchised, a green light to move forward. It means hope to a nation that has given up, because if a gay person makes it, the doors are open to everyone.

  So if there is a message I have to give, it is that if I’ve found one overriding thing about my personal election, it’s the fact that if a gay person can be elected, it’s a green light. And you and you and you, you have to give people hope. Thank you very much.

  IV. “That’s What America Is.”

  The Gay Freedom Day Parade of June 25, 1978 was the signal event of the gay emergence in San Francisco during the late 1970s. Estimates of crowd size ranged from a quarter million to 375,000 as confident throngs marched against the imminent threat of the Briggs Initiative. No other single political event of the decade
drew such a crowd in San Francisco, if not the nation. Though hounded by an onslaught of assassination threats, Harvey Milk saw the rally at City Hall as one of the most important opportunities to spell out his anger against the coalescing New Right which had so effectively begun to take up the anti-homosexual crusade. What follows is a rendering of the notes from which he read his speech. (Notes provided by the Estate of Harvey Milk.)

  MY NAME IS HARVEY MILK—AND I WANT TO RECRUIT YOU. I WANT TO RECRUIT YOU FOR THE FIGHT TO PRESERVE YOUR DEMOCRACY FROM THE JOHN BRIGGS AND THE ANITA BRYANTS WHO ARE TRYING TO CONSTITUTIONALIZE BIGOTRY.

  WE ARE NOT GOING TO ALLOW THAT TO HAPPEN. WE ARE NOT GOING TO SIT BACK IN SILENCE AS 300,000 OF OUR GAY BROTHERS AND SISTERS DID IN NAZI GERMANY. WE ARE NOT GOING TO ALLOW OUR RIGHTS TO BE TAKEN AWAY AND THEN MARCH WITH BOWED HEADS INTO THE GAS CHAMBERS. ON THIS ANNIVERSARY OF STONEWALL I ASK MY GAY SISTERS AND BROTHERS TO MAKE THE COMMITMENT TO FIGHT. FOR THEMSELVES. FOR THEIR FREEDOM. FOR THEIR COUNTRY.

  HERE, IN SAN FRANCISCO, WE RECENTLY HELD AN ELECTION FOR A JUDGESHIP. AN ANTI-GAY SMEAR CAMPAIGN WAS WAGED AGAINST A PRESIDING JUDGE BECAUSE SHE WAS SUPPORTED BY LESBIANS AND GAY MEN. HERE, IN SO-CALLED LIBERAL SAN FRANCISCO, AN ANTI-GAY SMEAR CAMPAIGN WAS WAGED BY SO-CALLED LIBERALS.

  AND HERE, IN SO-CALLED LIBERAL SAN FRANCISCO, WE HAVE A COLUMNIST FOR THE SAN FRANCISCO EXAMINER, A COLUMNIST NAMED KEVIN STARR, WHO HAS PRINTED A NUMBER OF COLUMNS CONTAINING DISTORTIONS AND LIES ABOUT GAYS. HE’S GETTING AWAY WITH IT.