Henry Der, guestblogger, shares his thoughts on Harvey Milk Day 2008

Happy Harvey Milk Day!

Today we honor the memory of one of America’s most important civil rights pioneers who stood up and fought against oppression and discrimination in all their forms. Harvey Milk was also among the first openly gay elected officials in history, and more than any other figure, laid the groundwork for the persistence of the LGBT movement. His tragic death by assassination echoed the premature losses of so many of our great leaders who had the courage to speak out against injustice and discrimination when it was neither popular nor safe to do so.

Milk knowingly risked his life for the cause of equality, persevering in a time of great hostility toward LGBT people, successfully passing an unprecedented gay rights ordinance in San Francisco, and defeating the Briggs initiative, a mean-spirited attack on LGBT people which would have barred lesbians and gays from teaching in public schools. Today we face a similar ballot initiative attacking the LGBT community, attempting to take away the freedom to marry that fair-minded Californians have worked so hard to achieve. If Harvey Milk were alive today, he would be out there fighting ceaselessly for equal treatment of all, without regard to sexual orientation.

And he would be winning. Harvey Milk achieved so much because he was able to effectively form ties with other causes, collaborating with the city’s labor unions and diverse communities of color, as well as low-income, limited English-speaking immigrants. He understood that the struggles of the 60s and 70s were part of a larger movement for human rights. We are all still a part of this movement today, and should learn from his example.

Californians can be proud to claim Harvey Milk as one of their own, and the State Assembly has taken the right step by voting to officially commemorate his bold work and brave life. Marginalized communities are often left out of history books, but this day will help us all remember where we started from, and will inspire us to get where we need to go.

As Harvey Milk himself once said, “You gotta give them hope.”


About Henry Der Henry Der was a friend and ally of Harvey Milk, and is featured in the Oscar-winning documentary, The Times of Harvey Milk.

He served as Executive Director of San Francisco-based Chinese for Affirmative Action for more than 22 years, currently serves as a senior program officer with the Four Freedoms Fund, a national funders’ collaborative that supports state-level immigrant rights groups, and has been the deputy superintendent of public instruction at the California Department of Education, running programs that serve at-risk and special-needs students. In addition, he has served as the chairperson of the California Postsecondary Education Commission and the State Bar Legal Services Trust Fund Commission. Der has also been a commentator for NPR affiliate KQED-FM, and received an outstanding local hero award from KQED and Union Bank as part of Asian Pacific Heritage Month. He lives in San Francisco with his wife, Priscilla.