Just watched MILK: Yet another debt my generation owes the GLBT community of that era

[Mike 03]

MILK is an amazing film. It left me in tears.

I grew up in the Bay Area when all of this happened, although I was pretty young. I never heard Harvey Milk's name until he was killed, I'm ashamed to admit. But I was probably fourteen at the time.

I also have memories of the "Freedom Day Parade" because I was more inclined to listen to talk radio and the news than other programs. In fact in the film there is some radio coverage from one of the two stations I listened to as a teenager: KCBS (740 AM, still there, by the way).

What I had no memory of was the Briggs Proposition 6 (I hope I'm not mixing up two different legislations).

There is even a scene in the movie of Harvey Milk debating Briggs in the Walnut Creek School District. That was probably Los Lomas High School, where my father went, and I was one District over from that.

To get back to the point, the GLBT community defeated a proposition that would have kicked GLBT teachers out of our schools, and that would have ruined the lives not only of GLBT teachers but quite obviously all of their students!

And, as I have written here so many times before, without even a hesitation in my typing, the teachers who meant the most to me (and, not to be dramatic, in some sense changed my life and gave me some sense of my direction and purpose in life) were Gay. They were openly Gay in many cases, and not so open in others.

But teachers save lives, they inspire, they give hope. And for whatever reason, my best teachers were gay, and that's just a fact.

Were it not for these teachers, I have no idea what my life could have been like. It might have been pretty terrible.

So, MILK not only moved me emotionally but brought to my attention a fact I had never known; how close a proposition came to passing that would have (or could have) resulted in the most important people in my life during those exact years (1978 - 1981) possibly being witch-hunted out of teaching, which would have been horrific not only for them but for their students.

So if you were a GLBT activist during that period in this country, Thank You from the bottom of my heart.

You made a huge difference.

For everybody.

How do you ever repay something like that?

[Smarmie Doofus]

1. Pass it on.

>>>>How do you ever repay something like that?>>>>>


You're right. We're pretty good at teaching.

Not sure why.

Being different encourages reflection?

[Mike 03]

4. I hope that didn't sound corny, but what else can I say but the truth? My best teachers were Gay.

That is all there is too it.

One of them die of AIDS.

There is no way to repay how much I owe them.

They made me who I am.

[Traveling_Home]

2. Try not to forget that the movie ..

MILK is not a documentary; neither was JFK.

If you now have an interest I suggest taking the time to read, study, research real history. Real Life is even more amazing.

After learning some of the real story - then you can decide if and to whom you owe a debt.

IMO

[Tangerine LaBamba]

3. A required read:

"The Mayor Of Castro Street" - http://www.amazon.com/Mayor-Castro-Street-Stonewall-Editions/dp/0312019009



A brilliant collection, absolutely necessary if you want to understand everything that is still going on, and how long and hard this struggle has been and how no one, ever, can back down or accept the "go slow, change takes time" bullshit.

I wish Randy Shilts were still with us. He was also an amazing man ..................

[Mike 03]

6. I am always afraid of saying the wrong thing here.

Yes, I read and still have a first edition of "And The Band Played On."

What did I do or say that was wrong?

The only way I can learn is by criticism.

So the Harvey Milk story is a fraud of some kind, and the film is bogus, and...?

What do I need to know?

[Tangerine LaBamba]

7. What in christ's name are you talking about?

I mean, what are you talking about?

I recommended a book, and now you're doing some sort of self-obsessed flagellation which, truly, isn't pretty to see.

What is going on?

[Mike 03]

9. Thank you for the rec. This is excellent. NT

[Mike 03]

5. I'm sorry for not understanding your post. I don't understand, though.

What did I get wrong?

I wish I could devote every second of my life to understanding the truth of everything. But I'm not the Dalai Lama. I'm human. I'm flawed.

[Mike 03]

8. Okay, Traveling Home. I take your post seriously. What would you suggest I read?

To get the full story?

Is the film fictitious to the degree that it does not represent that time in history?

If you can suggest some books, websites, or other source material, it would be appreciated.