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Jonathan Aquino
Mx. Grey
English 5
March 30, 2017
A Martyrs Legacy
Otherwise known as the Mayor of Castro Street, Harvey Milk was a man who, one

could argue, was significantly influential as demonstrated through his achievements in life as

well as lasting impact after death and effective use of rhetoric in his words. Looking back at his

life, one could say that his identity influenced his agenda because of the fact that his work as a

supervisor included fighting anti-gay legislation among tackling other issues. In terms of social

impact and accomplishments, Harvey Milks contribution to and defense of gay and lesbian

rights, combined with the reaction sparked by his assassination, justify the importance of Harvey

Milk as a civil rights figure. As a civil rights figure, Harvey Milk utilized rhetoric in such a way

that one would be swayed through attraction to his hopeful message and inclusive nature.
Harvey Milks identity could be said to influence what he chose to do in his life given his

work as supervisor included negating anti-gay legislation as well as other things. Harvey Milks

story began in 1930 in Woodmere, New York (Harvey Milk). He and his brother were born to a

middle-class Jewish family and ran a store with their parents. It was not until his early teenage

years that he became aware of his homosexuality which he chose to keep secret during his

completion of high school (Harvey Bernard Milk 19). After high school, Harvey Milk went on

to attend a state college in New York where he studied to become a teacher up until graduation in

1951 (Harvey Milk). From there, he served in the Navy as a dive instructor during the Korean

War. He was honorably discharged, went on to work in Wall Street, and became romantically

involved with his theater friend Jack Galen McKinley whom he moved with to San Francisco in

California (Harvey Bernard Milk 20). There, Harvey worked as a finance analyst until he lost

his job and returned to New York to work in theater. Then, he moved back to San Francisco with
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his new partner Scott Smith where he opened a camera shop in Castro and was unofficially made

Mayor of Castro Street. Eventually, Harvey Milk became involved in politics and was

appointed as a city-county board supervisor before being gunned down by Dan White (Harvey

Milk). Overall, one could say that through an analysis of his life, his identity did indeed affect

what he accomplished in life because of his political work that fought anti-gay legislation among

other things. This leads me to my next point which goes more in depth with what Harvey Milk

accomplished.
In the areas of social impact and accomplishments, Harvey Milks contribution and

defense of gay and lesbian rights combined with the reaction sparked by his assassination justify

the importance of Harvey Milk as a civil rights figure. During his time as a San Francisco

supervisor, Harvey Milk journeyed around California in an effort to bolster rejection of

Proposition 6 or the Briggs Initiative which, if passed, would prohibit people who engaged in

homosexual acts, supported homosexuality, or even spoke of homosexuality from teaching in

educational facilities (Foss 266). In the end, Proposition 6 was successfully negated. This

negation of Proposition 6 stands as one of Harvey Milks triumphs and justifies his importance as

a civil rights figure because he helped to sway the entire state of California to quash a

proposition that ultimately discriminates against individuals based on their sexuality on a

statewide level and as such helped to defend lesbian and gay rights through his campaigning.

Another noteworthy accomplishment of Harvey Milk is a gay ordinance bill which was passed in

San Francisco. Prior to Proposition 6 Harvey Milk achieved the passing of a gay-rights ordinance

in San Francisco, under which, discrimination based on sexual orientation was prohibited in

public accommodations, housing, and employment (White House Comments on Medal of

Freedom Winners, Associated Press, 12 Aug. 2009). The contents of said bill and its passing

mark a legislative victory, not only for Supervisor Milk, but for the lesbian and gay community
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and justify his place as a civil rights figure because the bill aimed at diminishing discrimination

and increasing opportunity for the gay and lesbian community of San Francisco. This would

ultimately strengthen the homosexual community as a whole by providing more protection from

discrimination. One final thing to consider regarding the importance of Harvey Milk as a civil

rights figure is the reaction to Harvey Milks death. President Jimmy Carter said Supervisor

Milk was a hard-working and dedicated supervisor, a leader of San Francisco's gay community

who kept his promise to represent all his constituents following Supervisor Milks death

(Jimmy Carter, 1978). Such a statement conveys importance because Harvey Milks

assassination was enough to warrant recognition from the President of the United States who is

of great importance because they are someone who heads the entire country. This recognition is

surely justification for Harvey Milk to be recognized as a civil rights figure. In short, Harvey

Milks contribution and defense of gay and lesbian rights combined with the reaction sparked by

his assassination justify the significance of Harvey Milk as a civil rights figure.
As a civil rights figure, Harvey Milk utilized rhetoric in such a way that one would be

swayed through attraction to his hopeful message and inclusive nature. One excellent example of

this, is Harvey Milks Hope Speech. The Hope Speech, delivered by Harvey Milk, makes use of

themes such as inclusiveness and hope to bring a wide variety of demographics under his sway

as if to state we all suffer and move forward as one. A section of the speech states Without

hope, not only are the gays, but the blacks, the seniors, the handicapped, the us-es. The us-es

will give up (Transcript: Hear Harvey Milk's The Hope Speech). This would illustrate the

principle of inclusiveness as it addresses the African-American, disabled, and senior

demographics. Harvey Milk also makes use of the phrase the us-es as if to emphasize a

collective sense of belonging and clearly demonstrates inclusiveness through said sense of

belonging. This would indeed make for a powerful rhetorical strategy as it serves to unite more
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than one audience towards a certain goal. One could even argue that this section of the Hope

Speech is pathos in nature because it plays on the joy one might feel in being a part of something

or empathized with and uses that very emotion to attract people to its cause. Another good

example that illustrates inclusion would be a section stating:

The myths against blacks can only be dispelled by electing black leaders so the black

community could be judged by its leaders and not by the myths or the 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 must

not be judged by the mafiamyths. And the time has come when the gay community

must not be judged for our criminals and our myths. Like every other group, we must be

judged by our leaders and by those who are themselves gay, those who are visible.

(Transcript: Hear Harvey Milk's The Hope Speech)

This section of the Hope Speech shows inclusiveness because Harvey Milk this time recognizes

that the Asian, African American, Italian, Spanish, and homosexual demographics each share the

burden of misplaced judgement. This misplaced judgement serves to unite the varying peoples

mentioned because it conveys a shared dislike for assumptions casted on whole communities and

could also be argued to be pathos in nature because it plays on the anger of those in a given

community which are painted with assumptions brought on by less favorable members of said

community. One might also argue that logos ties into this section of the Hope Speech as well

because Harvey Milk is making the argument that one should refrain from casting assumptions

on an entire community by choosing to use its less desirable members to form stereotypes and

paint a whole community with said stereotypes and instead cast stereotypes on a community

based on its leaders who are actually appointed and therefore chosen based on the values they

share and uphold with multiple followers of their community. This section of text also provides
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evidence that Harvey Milks sexuality did indeed inform his work because of the word we

which is used when speaking about the gay community. This would indicate he himself is gay

and is part of the gay community because of the use of the word we.
Harvey Milks speech also makes use of hope to sway people to his side. One section that

clearly demonstrates this states:

And the young gay people in 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. (Transcript: Hear Harvey Milk's The

Hope Speech.).
It would not be wrong to deem such a message attractive given hope itself is a powerful thing

many people cling to and serves as one of the main themes of the speech. The very name of the

speech includes the word hope. The title in combination with this specific section of the speech

which also wants to give them hope, therefore, makes hope a significant theme alongside the

theme of inclusiveness.
Moving onto an entirely different kind of sample, Id like to analyze a radio interview

between Harvey Milk and Greg Gordon in which Harvey Milk is the interviewee and Greg

Gordon is the interviewer. The interview seems to take place after Harvey Milk was appointed to

supervisor because Greg Gordon states Harveys graciously taken a few minutes out of his very

busy schedule to talk to us about politics in San Francisco and how he got elected (Gordon

0:0:17-0:0:24). The key word which indicates this is elected which is past tense. Its also

important to note that Greg works with IMRU and is himself gay (Gordon 0:0:00-0:0:17). In

addition to this, I.M.R.U. is itself is a homosexual-focused radio station (IMRU History). The

interview itself consists of Harvey Milk speaking about California politics. Harvey Milk uses
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logos to persuade certain types of people to be care about their political environment and uses

ethos to urge gay leaders to come together and work for others. One example of Harvey Milks

logos would be his reply to a question about gays who feel they are not affected by the political

changes around them in which he drew parallels between those gays and the rich Jews in

Germany during the early years of the Holocaust in which the rich Jews felt invulnerable to what

was happening around them because of their wealth and they were accepted (0:10:19-0:11:08).

It demonstrates logos because it utilizes a historical parallel to illustrate that such attitudes shall

inevitably lead to ones downfall and is powerful because Holocaust arguments as well as

historical arguments are compelling in their own right. This argument also ties into Harvey

Milks message of inclusiveness as it shows that one should not neglect the fact that they

themselves are part of a system which can change and that that change will inevitably affect

them through his use of a WWII argument. Harvey Milk also uses ethos when commenting on

other gay leaders and their inability to come together and work for others, stating that he found

zero support among gay clubs, leaders, and politicians, and saying they wouldnt be at the top of

the hill, but they dont realize theres room at the top for a lot of people (0:15:50-0:17:06).

The ethos can be found in the argument that Harvey Milk was trying to make which was gay

leaders need to come together and set aside their own agenda to make the gay movement work

for everyone. This argument points out the lack of initiative to really bolster the gay movements

progress which is what makes Harvey Milks point ethical as it stands against the selfish

ambitions of other gay leaders and demands inclusion of everyone for the sake of success. In

closing, Harvey Milk utilizes rhetoric in such a way that one is persuaded by attraction to his

message of hope and inclusive nature.

In conclusion, Harvey Milk was a significantly influential individual as demonstrated by

his achievements in life as well as his lasting impact after death and effective use of rhetoric in
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his words. Looking back at his life, one could argue that Harvey Milks identity as a homosexual

did indeed influence his agenda because of his work as a supervisor which included combating

anti-gay legislation among other things. In terms of social impact and accomplishments, Harvey

Milks contribution to and defense of gay and lesbian rights combined with the reaction sparked

by his assassination serve as proof to the importance of Harvey Milk as a civil rights figure. As a

civil rights figure, Harvey Milk exploited rhetoric in such a way that one would be swayed

through attraction to his message of hope and inclusive nature.

Works Cited
Foss, Karen A. "Milk, Harvey." Encyclopedia of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered

History in America, edited by Marc Stein, vol. 2, Charles Scribner's Sons, 2004, pp. 265-

266. Gale Virtual Reference Library, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?

p=GVRL&sw=w&u=csus_main&v=2.1&it=r&id=GALE

%7CCX3403600330&asid=5c63f70e4e25c8d900c8818bca3f43ab. Accessed 21 Mar.

2017.
Gordon, Greg. An Interview with Harvey Milk. Internet Archive, 1978, archive.org/details/pra-

KZ1389. Accessed 30 Mar. 2017.

"Harvey Bernard Milk." Encyclopedia of World Biography, 2nd ed., vol. 11, Gale, 2004, pp. 19-

21. Gale Virtual Reference Library, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?

p=GVRL&sw=w&u=csus_main&v=2.1&it=r&id=GALE

%7CCX3404704459&asid=f99474a4fbada49ee817bb94f33b4c8e. Accessed 21 Mar.

2017.
Harvey Milk. Biography.com, A&E Networks Television, 29 July 2016,

www.biography.com/people/harvey-milk-9408170. Accessed 21 Mar. 2017.

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IMRU History. IMRU Radio, Wordpress, 1999, www.imruradio.org/?page_id. Accessed 30

Mar. 2017.
Jimmy Carter: "Statement on the Death of George Moscone and Harvey Milk," November 27,

1978. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project.

http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=30212.
Transcript: Hear Harvey Milk's The Hope Speech. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 4 Mar. 2014,

www.mfa.org/exhibitions/amalia-pica/transcript-harvey-milks-the-hope-speech. Accessed

28 Mar. 2017.
White House Comments on Medal of Freedom Winners, Associated Press, 12 Aug.

2009. Remember Them, Oakland Chamber of Commerce, 2013, www.remember-

them.org/milk.htm. Accessed 28 Mar. 2017.