Crowds Gather at Harvey Milk Plaza To Commemorate a Slain Supervisor
Written by Astrid KanePublished Nov. 28, 2022 • 9:53am
Community
People gather in the Castro on Sunday, Nov. 27, 2022, to remember Harvey Milk, the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in California, who was assassinated in 1978 alongside Mayor George Moscone. | Courtesy Daniel Danzig
The first openly LGBTQ-identified person to hold public office in California and one of the first in the United States, Harvey Milk served less than 11 months as a San Francisco Supervisor before his death at the hands of an ex-colleague.
Former Supervisor Dan White assassinated Milk and Mayor George Moscone inside City Hall on Nov. 27, 1978, and a candlelight vigil has been held at Harvey Milk Plaza in the Castro every year since to acknowledge that tragic event.
Sunday evening’s crowd honored Milk’s legacy amid a rise in political violence and anti-LGBTQ+ legislation nationwide. The gathering came only a month after an attack on Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband and barely a week after a gunman opened fire at a queer bar in Colorado, killing five and injuring 18.
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