Harvey Bernard Milk was an American politician and the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in California, as a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. Milk was born and raised in New York, where he acknowledged his homosexuality as an adolescent, but chose to pursue sexual relationships with secrecy and discretion well into his adult years. His experience in the counterculture of the 1960s caused him to shed many of his conservative views about individual freedom and the expression of sexuality.
Harvey Milk (right) and his older brother Robert in 1934
Milk, dressed for his brother's wedding in 1954
Milk, here with his sister-in-law in front of Castro Camera in 1973, had been changed by his experience with the counterculture of the 1960s. Dianne Feinstein, who first met him in 1973, did not recognize him when she met him again in 1978.
Harvey Milk buttons
San Francisco Board of Supervisors
The San Francisco Board of Supervisors is the legislative body within the government of the City and County of San Francisco in the U.S. state of California.
The Board of Supervisors in early 2023, with Board President Aaron Peskin seated in the center.
Image: Official portrait of Connie Chan, Board of Supervisors Member District 1
Image: Supervisor Catherine Stefani
Image: Aaron Peskin
