Milk became one of the first openly gay elected officials when he was elected to a seat on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1977. It was a milestone victory that made headlines even around the world. His unapologetic proclamation of his identity gave new hope to LGBTQ+ people, who faced severe discrimination.
In office, his ambitious agenda included protecting gay rights, as well as establishing daycare centers for working mothers, converting military facilities to low-cost housing, reforming the tax code to attract industry to derelict warehouses and factories, and other reforms.
The civil and human rights champion Harvey Milk is a hero to many. He broke down barriers for the gay community and other marginalized people everywhere. He spoke passionately about hope and equity as a leader in the LGBTQ+ civil rights movement until he was assassinated in 1978. Thousands marched in his honor after his death, and his words live on as a source of pride and inspiration.
1. “Unless you have dialogue, unless you open the walls of dialogue, you can never reach to change people’s opinion.”
The person who stand up for themselves are insecure, terrified, afraid and disturbed. They cannot cope up with the stress of suppression so that’s why they stand up and voice their opinions to the world. And they want to let it all out.
They want everyone to know what they have gone through so that no one goes through it again. Milk stands with those who stand for themselves because he knows the struggle which they are going through. Helping those who need the need the help is important.
2. “If a bullet should enter my brain, let that bullet destroy every closet door.”
This is very deep thought of Milk. If any bullet enters the brain let that bullet destroys every closet door that is there. There are many closed doors in the brain, memories or sad things that we don’t want to be opened. But sometimes, it good to be broken down through some external force.
If some external of internal force tend to open up the brain of ours, then it should destroy all the closed doors that are there.
3. “Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all of the darkness.”
Hope is like a ray of light in a dark room. It is like a sunlight beam coming straight from the crack of the window. It is that light which gives us hope to look beyond. Hope is the light which everyone look for when they lose track. Sometimes, all we need is some hope from anyone to do better in our life.
That hope can be a person, thing or place. Despite all the darkness and sadness in life, the one thing which gives the positive feeling is a hope.
4. “If there’s a message I have to give, it is that I found one overriding thing about my personal election. It’s the fact that if a gay person can be elected, it’s a green light. And you and you and you — you have to give people hope.”
If a gay person can be elected then it means a green light. A green light is a hope for everyone for there who is striving for something big. This was the only message that he wanted to convey to all the people. If anyone desires something then they will achieve it. It requires a lot of sacrifices, willpower and strength to achieve.
When we won the election, it means everyone who is striving for something bigger can go for it. It is the hope for everyone who are from underprivileged section of section to stand.
5. “It takes no compromise to give people their rights. And it takes no money to respect the individual. It takes no survey to remove repressions.”
There is no compromise made in giving rights to the ones who deserve. The ones who need their rights are underprivileged ones. They are taking anyone’s right away rather they are asking for their share of the rights. It does not require extra money to respect any individual or a group.
It does not take any survey to remove the repressions. For providing the rights to the black people in America, they voiced their own rights. They didn’t ask for white people rights, they demanded their share in the rights.
6. “All men are created equal. No matter how hard they try, they can never erase those words. That is what America is about.”
All the men are created equal in America. No matter how hard we can try, we can never make them unequal. If they are men, they are equal. There is no opportunity for being a gender other than men or women. No matter what fights, we go through or changes are made in the laws, some things never changes. If the whole America has said something, then nobody can change those words again.
7. “Rights are won only by those who make their voices heard.”
The rights are won by those who make their voices being heard. If you haven’t spoken a single thing, then your right will not be heard by anyone. To make your own right, you need to raise your voice. Raising the voice doesn’t mean shouting, it means being heard. The various rights that are being won such as women’s rights etc. were being heard and won. To make your voices and rights being heard, you would voice it.
8. “I finally reached the point where I knew I had to become involved or shut up.”
In a group of people, we either speak or we shut up. We speak when we find our self enrolled in that particular group. Having an identity or existentialism in that group, makes us speak to our heart content. If we are with a group who doesn’t listen to our opinions then, we shut up. There are many issues on which people shut you up and don’t allow you speak up to. Milk has reached the point of life where he knew when he had to shut up and when he had to speak.
9. “If you are not personally free to be yourself in that most important of all human activities — the expression of love — then life itself loses its meaning.”
When you are not free to be yourself while expressing the love, which is the most important human activity. Then, you have lost the meaning of the life. The true essence of living as a human being is being in love and expressing it through actions.
If you are not true to yourself while you are expressing the love, then you don’t know how to live. The expressing of feelings comes from the heart be it sadness, hatred, jealousy and revenge. All the human activities needed to be true to the nature. Among all the emotions love is the factor which should be truthful and honest.
10. “Go after her because that’s what you should do if you love someone.”
If you love someone, you need to go after her. You have to hold her hand and never let her go. When there is a misunderstanding between the two of you, you should make her sit and sort things out. Sorting out the things build your relationship stronger. Going after her and keeping her close to you is what everyone should do… if they truly love someone. If you don’t love someone, then you can always let her go.
11. “Be with her in meaningful ways because that is beautiful and that is generous and that is what loving someone is.”
Loving someone means being with them with whole heart. Being with her in the meaningful ways is beautiful. When you are there for her when she needs you the most is the desire of every girl. And she is going through a lot of stress and needs motivation, motivating her through your presence is what you can do.
When she is coping with some issues, helping her out is the thing you can do. Loving in the meaning ways where you motivate, help her cope up, understand and clear the misunderstandings is the one way of loving her. It is generous and beautiful in nature. In our bad times, everyone needs someone to rely on. Be the one on which she can hang upon.