Harvey Milk

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Navy to Name Ship After Gay Rights Icon

'When Harvey Milk served in the military, he couldn't tell anyone who he truly was'

(Newser) - Five years after the repeal of the "don't ask, don't tell" law allowed gay sailors to serve openly, the Navy plans to name one of its ships after California's first openly gay elected official. A Military Sealift Command ship, one of several John Lewis-class oilers currently...

San Francisco May Name Airport for Harvey Milk

No other US airport named after a gay person: official

(Newser) - San Francisco International Airport could soon be renamed after Harvey Milk. City supervisor David Campos will today introduce a bill to name the hub in honor of the gay rights activist; if Campos can get the backing of five other supervisors—he says he's already got four—then the...

San Francisco Official Turns to Ouija Board Before Vote

... and says the spirit of Harvey Milk responded

(Newser) - This probably falls under the only-in-San-Francisco department: A city supervisor says he consulted a Ouija board before voting on a measure to honor slain gay rights activist Harvey Milk , reports the San Francisco Chronicle . What's more, John Avalos swears Milk responded and guided him through the message, "Good...

Gay Rights Group Not Welcome in Harvey Milk's Old Pad

Other gay rights groups consider Human Rights Campaign too timid

(Newser) - A gay rights group has moved into Harvey Milk’s old home and campaign headquarters—and gay rights advocates are furious. Why? Because the group in question is the Human Rights Campaign, a lobbying outfit that’s been oft-criticized for its timid, inside-the-Beltway approach. “It’s spitting in the...

Calif. Will Honor Harvey Milk

'Day of significance' commemorates gay rights pioneer

(Newser) - Reversing his position on a bill he vetoed a year ago, Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed off on bill making May 22 an annual day of recognition in  honor of gay rights pioneer Harvey Milk. The San Francisco supervisor, who was assassinated in 1978, was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom...

Tearful Pelosi Fears Rhetoric Could Lead to Violence

Speaker tears up while recalling late '70s political violence

(Newser) - Fighting back tears, Nancy Pelosi said today she fears the inflammatory rhetoric surrounding current political debate could lead to violence, the Hill reports. “I have concerns about some of the language that is being used because I saw…I saw this myself in the late '70s in San Francisco,...

Calif. Bill Honoring Harvey Milk Prompts Backlash

Opponents fear day of 'special significance' will promote gay agenda

(Newser) - A bill saluting California's first openly gay elected official has reignited the debate over gay rights in the state, the New York Times reports. The measure, passed by the state legislature this week, calls for a day of recognition for Harvey Milk, a member of the San Francisco Board of...

Medals of Freedom Will Go to Milk, Kennedy, Poitier

(Newser) - This year's Medal of Freedom recipients share a capacity to change the world, President Obama said today in naming the eclectic group. Among the 16 honorees are Sen. Ted Kennedy, slain gay-rights activist Harvey Milk, actor Sidney Poitier, tennis great Billie Jean King, and retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day...

School Censors Tween's Report on Harvey Milk

(Newser) - The ACLU is threatening to sue a California school district that restricted access to a 12-year-old’s report on gay-rights activist Harvey Milk, the San Diego Union-Tribune reports. When the school learned of the subject, it delayed the presentation and sent letters to parents requiring permission slips for their children...

Penn Fights for 'Harvey Milk Day'

Holiday would honor activist's birthday

(Newser) - Sean Penn today joined the push to recognize Harvey Milk's birthday in California, Variety reports. State senator Mark Leno is re-introducing a bill seeking a statewide “day of significance” on May 22, the birthday of the gay activist Penn won an Oscar for portraying. Schools would be encouraged to...

Oscar-Nom Films Still Slumping; Here's Why
Oscar-Nom Films Still Slumping; Here's Why
OPINION

Oscar-Nom Films Still Slumping; Here's Why

(Newser) - Is the so-called "Oscar bump" fading? Academy favorites like Slumdog Millionaire and Frost/Nixon are stalled at the box office this year; only The Reader has filled more seats since being nominated. Yes, a stream of bona fide Hollywood hits has held them back, but it's more than that,...

Top Films of the Year
 Top Films of the Year 
OPINION

Top Films of the Year

Foreign films rule among the year's best

(Newser) - With most year-end movie lists bask in the glow of award-season contenders, Dana Stevens grudgingly runs through her unranked, alphabetized top 10 on Slate, despite being "allergic to hierarchies, lists, and ranking."
  • A Christmas Tale: A French film about a crazed family that's "a glorious feast
...

Penn Embraced Gay Love Scene

Co-star surprised by scene

(Newser) - As he got into the character of Harvey Milk, Sean Penn pushed for a more explicit sex scene in Milk, surprising his co-star, the New York Post reports. James Franco tells Elle magazine the one kissing scene he read in the original movie script turned into “a full-on love...

Earlier Milk Release Might've Killed Prop 8

Calif. gay-marriage ban puts biopic in broader, cause-defining light

(Newser) - If Milk, the film on San Francisco’s first openly gay city supervisor, had opened earlier, might it have swung the Proposition 8 vote? Maybe, writes Dennis Lim in Slate—but in light of the passage of the California gay-marriage ban, Milk becomes both a poignant “look-how-far-we-haven’t-come” tale...

Milk Doesn't Spill a Drop
 Milk Doesn't Spill a Drop 
Movie Review

Milk Doesn't Spill a Drop

Critics lap up gay-rights drama

(Newser) - If Milk were a ballot proposition, critics would pass it in a landslide. Part docu-drama, part biopic, the film spins the tale of Harvey Milk, the first openly gay American elected to public office, into an “incisive and stirring” drama, Owen Gleiberman writes in Entertainment Weekly. It’s “...

Van Sant Spills About Milk
 Van Sant Spills About Milk 

Van Sant Spills About Milk

(Newser) - What do President-elect Barack Obama and a 1970s gay activist have in common? Grassroots backing and a yes-we-can ethos, Rachel Abramowitz writes in the Los Angeles Times. “I know that you cannot live on hope alone, but without it, life is not worth living,” said Harvey Milk, a...

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