Harvey Milk

Harvey Milk became one of the first openly gay elected officials in the United States when he was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1977. As city supervisor, Milk helped pass a gay-rights law prohibiting discrimination in housing and employment based on sexual orientation and convinced the city to hire more gay and lesbian police officers. Milk gained national attention when he worked to defeat a state senate proposal prohibiting gays and lesbians from teaching in public schools in California.

After receiving daily death threats for his work combatting discrimination, in 1978 Milk was assassinated in City Hall by Dan White, a former city supervisor who relinquished his seat on the board in protest of the passage...