Inspiring Quotes From Harvey Milk About Love, Hope, and Life
Beside names such as Marsha P. Johnson, Sylvia Rivera, and RuPaul is fellow LGBTQ+ icon and activist Harvey Milk. As the first openly gay politician in the United States, Milk was influential in advocating for LGBTQ+ rights and representation, making him an early pioneer in the fight for equality. He became a public figure during his run for office, calling for hope and change rather than hate and hiding with many — now famous — Harvey Milk quotes. In many ways, he was the first openly gay man to capture the attention of the public eye, though it wasn’t always positive. He inspired hope not only in the gay community, but in the lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and queer communities, too.
Because of his admirable efforts and views on equality, Milk is honored with a May holiday of his own — Harvey Milk Day — which falls on May 22, 2023. This is the first of many days celebrating the LGBTQ+ community in May and June, as June kicks off Pride month. In preparation for the month-long celebration, learn more about Harvey Milk and read his words that inspired hope then and are still relevant today. If you’re in search of more quotes for Pride captions and beyond, read through our collection of quotes from the LGBTQ+ community.
Milk became one of the first openly gay elected officials in the country when he was elected to a seat on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1977 — a milestone victory that made headlines in the United States and beyond. His unapologetic proclamation of his identity gave new hope to people in the LGBTQ+ community, who faced severe discrimination.
In office, his ambitious agenda included protecting gay rights, as well as establishing daycare centers for working mothers, converting military facilities to low-cost housing, reforming the tax code to attract industries to derelict warehouses and factories, and other reforms.
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Note: Milk, while of immense importance to the GLBT movement, he was not the first openly gay politician, that would be Kathy Kozachenko.
