(Photo: The Harvey Milk mural at Given, 575 Castro St., former site of Milk's camera shop. Image courtesy of Towleroad.)

Those who remain unfamiliar with Harvey Milk might not remain so for long. For one thing, if Gus Van Sant's upcoming film (set for release on December 5) is any good, it could place our former city supervisor into the thick of the awards season.

A brief intro for those who may not know: Milk and Mayor George Moscone were assassinated on November 27, 1978 by former city supervisor Dan White. White managed to get off on manslaughter charges by way of the so-called "Twinkie defense," the sheer injustice of which resulted in a night of riots at City Hall. (If you haven't seen the Oscar-winning 1984 documentary "The Times of Harvey Milk," you should Netflix it post-haste. It's likely to inspire and enrage you in roughly equal measure.)

But on to the point of this post. On Thursday, May 22 from 6-9 pm, my new boyfriend Gavin Newsom is sponsoring a ceremony to unveil a Harvey Milk Memorial (which seems about 29 years overdue, but whatevs) at City Hall. You can see all of the event info here.

For even more context, here's the NBC News segment from the day of Milk's assassination. Dianne Feinstein, then president of the Board of Supervisors (and listed as a host of Thursday's event), makes her chilling announcement to the press at 2:24:




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