Photos by Mel Ferrand—————————————-
Chicago’s Gerber/Hart Library held a special commemoration Nov. 23 to mark the 25th anniversary of the murder of openly gay San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk.
Speakers included John D’Emilio, a G/H board member and Director of the Gender & Women’s Studies at University of Illinois at Chicago. He was also nominated for a National Book Award for Non-Fiction. Longtime activist Max Smith also addressed the crowd of about 40 people, welcomed by curator Karen Sendziak.An Hour before noon Nov. 27, 1978, Milk was shot and killed, just minutes after that city’s Mayor George Moscone also was assassinated in his City Hall office.
In early 1978 Gary Nepon became the first out gay local candidate. Harvey Milk supported his campaign with a speech on the necessity of political activism, in Chicago March 4, 1978. Both Nepon, running for a 13th District seat in the Illinois House of Representatives, and Milk were considered upstarts and were not favored in gay establishment circles. Current Chicago Ald. Thomas Tunney spoke Nov. 23 about how radical and moderate LGBT activists can cooperate by being of service to constituents.
A speech on hope by Harvey Milk was read and a film about his life which dramatized The Mayor of Castro Street, a book by Randy Shilts on the life and times of Harvey Milk. —————————————-