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On This Day: George Moscone and Harvey Milk murdered
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November 27, 1978: Two San Francisco politicians are assassinated at City Hall. George Moscone was the 37th Mayor of San Francisco. He was a lawyer and a Democrat who had served in the California State Senate from 1967-1976 when he became mayor. Before sitting in the Senate, Moscone was a Member of the San Francisco board of Supervisors where he was known for his defense of minorities, the poor, and small business owners. The three way race for mayor was close with Moscone beating John Barbagelata and Dianne Feinstein. Moscone and other progressive candidates were now in several powerful positions in San Francisco.
Harvey Milk was the first openly gay man to be elected to a public office in California. The New York native finally settled in San Francisco after several interim moves. He was elected as Member of the Board of Supervisors and began his term on January 8, 1978. His short time in office was marked by the passage of gay rights ordinances for the city. Peter Novak of the University of San Francisco has called Milk "a martyr for gay rights." Miami had passed an ordinance making discrimination based on sexual orientation illegal. The law was repealed and gay rights took a step backwards. Milk fought to make sexual orientation a protected issue.
Dan White was elected at the same time as Milk. The San Francisco native was also on the Board of Supervisors. The Vietnam veteran worked as a police officer and firefighter before being elected to the Board. He quit on November 10, 1978. He said he could not raise a family on the low pay ($9,600) and was disgusted by the corruption of the inner circle of San Francisco politics. On November 14 he wanted to "un-quit" and Moscone was initially willing to allow him back. White snuck into City Hall with a loaded gun and begged the mayor for his job back. When denied, he killed Moscone and then went to Milk's office and shot him five times.
White went to his old police station and turned himself in. He was brought to trial on first degree murder charges. He was eligible for the death penalty. The media alluded to his habit of eating junk food and thus the "Twinkie defense" was born. This is inaccurate. The defense based their case on White's depression which led to diminished capacity. They claimed he could not have premeditated his crime, so he was found guilty of voluntary manslaughter. He was paroled from prison in 1984. He confessed to the premeditation of his original crime and volunteered he had planned to kill two more people besides. He committed suicide on October 21, 1985.
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"All over the country, they're reading about me, and the story doesn't center on me being gay. It's just about a gay person who is doing his job."
"If a bullet should enter my brain, let that bullet destroy every closet door."
"It takes no compromising to give people their rights. It takes no money to respect the individual. It takes no survey to remove repressions."
"All men are created equal. No matter how hard you try, you can never erase those words." – all from Harvey Milk
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