Harvey Milk

Last month, I went along with my friend Close Encounters to see a preview of the film 'Milk' at the British Film Institute. 'Milk' is about the 1970's gay activist Harvey Milk, who was assassinated in 1978 while serving as an elected city official in San Francisco. We both enjoyed the film, and afterwards the director Gus Van Sant was interviewed, along with the screenwriter Dustin Lance Black and one of the actors.

However, it wasn't until I read a review of 'Milk' by the gay British critic Mark Simpson that I realised that the film had glossed over an important part of Harvey Milk's life. According to Mark Simpson, Harvey Milk believed in very open relationships, whereas the film definitely gives the impression that Harvey Milk was a serial monogamist. Indeed, the biography of Harvey Milk, The Mayor of Castro Street, quotes him as saying the following:

As homosexuals we can't depend of the heterosexual model. We grow up with the heterosexual model, but we don't have to pursue it. We should be developing our own lifestyle. There's no reason why you can’t love more than one person at a time. You don't have to love them all the same. You love some more, some less and always be honest about where you're at. They in turn can do the same thing, and it opens up a bigger sphere.

Long time readers of this blog might spot more than a passing similarlity to my own views on this subject!