Hollywood has descended on the neighborhood, changing the Castro back to the way it looked in the early 70's. The most obvious change is the return of the Castro Theater signage ... the neon and the marquee never looked better! Frank and I had breakfast at Orphan Andy's and then took a tour of the neighborhood.
Director Gus Van Sant is directing a film titled Milk, which is currently filming on location in San Fransisco. It stars Sean Penn as Milk, Josh Brolin as White, Emile Hirsch as Cleve Jones, and James Franco as Smith. Director Bryan Singer has also begun work on a project based on the Randy Shilts biography The Mayor of Castro Street. In January 2008 it was revealed the Tom Ammiano will portray himself.Frank is going to be traveling when they film the marches, so I get the opportunity to make my film debut (in the background of course) alone. Of course, Frank made his extra debut back on Richard Gere's fil, Bee Season, but he'll be missed.
Milk 101 -Thanks Wikipedia
In 1972, Milk moved to San Francisco. He settled with his significant partner, Scott Smith, and opened a camera store, Castro Camera, in the Castro gay village. He emerged as a community leader, founding the Castro Valley Association of local merchants, and represented the neighborhood businesses in dealing with the city government.
Sean Penn will play Harvey Milk in "Milk"
Milk Politics
Milk ran for the San Francisco Board of Supervisors unsuccessfully twice, in 1973 and 1975. He emerged as a figurehead for San Francisco's large gay community, and was known as the "Mayor of Castro Street", a title which he himself coined. With each campaign, he garnered a larger number of supporters.
Milk ran for the San Francisco Board of Supervisors unsuccessfully twice, in 1973 and 1975. He emerged as a figurehead for San Francisco's large gay community, and was known as the "Mayor of Castro Street", a title which he himself coined. With each campaign, he garnered a larger number of supporters.
Milk's opponent in the 1975 race was Art Agnos, who would win the assembly seat by 3,600 votes out of 33,000 ballots cast.After San Francisco switched from at-large to district elections, Milk was elected to the Board of Supervisors on his third attempt in 1977, the first openly gay elected official of any large city in the United States, and only the third openly gay elected official in all of the US, after Kathy Kozachenko and Elaine Noble. Milk represented District 5, which included the Castro.
In his eleven months as a Supervisor, he sponsored a gay rights bill for the City as well as – famously – a pooper-scooper ordinance. He was also instrumental in defeating Proposition 6, The Briggs Initiative, backed by State Senator Briggs, which would have allowed openly gay men and lesbians who were teachers to be fired based on their sexuality.
The Outing of Sipple
On September 22, 1975 former marine Oliver Sipple saved the life of President Gerald Ford for which he was highly praised by law enforcement in the media as well as in a personal letter from the President. Milk outed Sipple, despite Sipple's insistence to reporters that his sexuality was to be kept confidential, proclaiming Sipple a "gay hero," and stating (this) "will help break the stereotype of homosexuals." Gay liberation groups petitioned local media to give Sipple his due as a gay hero. San Francisco Chronicle columnist Herb Caen published the private side of the former Marine's story as did a handful of other publications. Sipple's mother disowned him when she learned his secret but according to a 2006 Washington Post article later reconciled with his sexual orientation."
Late in 1978, Supervisor Dan White, an acrimonious political opponent of Milk's, resigned from the Board of Supervisors. His resignation meant that Moscone would choose White's successor, and thus could tip the Board's balance of power in Moscone's favor. Recognizing this, those who supported a more conservative agenda, including board ally Dianne Feinstein, talked White into changing his mind. White requested that Moscone re-appoint him to his former seat. Moscone originally indicated a willingness to do so, but more liberal city leaders, including Milk, lobbied him against the idea, and Moscone ultimately decided not to re-appoint White.
On November 27, 1978, White went to San Francisco City Hall to meet with Moscone and make a final plea for re-appointment. When Moscone refused to yield, White shot Moscone to death, then went to Milk's office and also shot Milk to death.
White later turned himself in at the police station where he was formerly an officer. Though he had carried a gun, 10 extra rounds, and crawled through a window to avoid metal detectors, White denied premeditation. Thousands attended a spontaneous candlelight memorial vigil the night of Milk's funeral. The Internet Archive has video of the vigil, accompanied by a message Milk recorded preemptively "to be played only in the event of [his] death by assassination". Milk had anticipated the possibility of assassination and had recorded several audio tapes to be played in that event. One of the tapes included his now-famous quote, "If a bullet should enter my brain, let that bullet destroy every closet door."
Trial
Dan White's trial, which began four months after the killings, was one of the most closely watched trials in California at that time. The prosecution claimed that White's motive was revenge. But White's attorney, Douglas Schmidt, claimed that White was a victim of pressure and had been depressed, a state exacerbated by his consuming a large quantity of junk food before the murders; this became known as the "Twinkie defense". Schmidt also told the jury and the press that White carried the ammunition on him out of impulse from his past experience as a police officer.
Finally, the jury heard what the prosecution hoped it would be its most damaging piece of evidence—Dan White's tape-recorded confession which was taped the day after the murders. What was notable about this confession was that the police didn't seem to ask White any questions about the crime and just let him talk. Instead, White tearfully talked of how Moscone and Milk refused to give him his supervisor's job back.
White was convicted of voluntary manslaughter on the grounds of diminished capacity and sentenced to seven years and eight months, a sentence widely denounced as lenient and motivated by homophobia. During jury selection, defense attorneys had excluded candidates they deemed "pro-gay."
White Night Riots
After the sentence, the local gay community erupted in what came to be known as the White Night Riots. As soon as the sentence was announced, word ran through the gay community and groups of people began walking quickly to the Civic Center. By 8:00 PM, a sizable crowd had formed. According to the documentary, The Times of Harvey Milk, the enraged crowd began screaming at police officers calling for revenge and death. Then riots began to break out with the mob setting ablaze a number of police vehicles, disrupting traffic, and smashing windows of cars and stores. Buses had their overhead wires ripped down, and physical violence broke out against the outnumbered police officers.
Many rioters were arrested but Chief of Police Charles Gain was blamed for being too weak in his response and holding back his officers when he should have been more proactive and defended lives and property. He defended himself by pointing out that no one was dead and only a few had minor injuries. More than 160 people were hospitalized because of the rioting.
