Sean Penn plays Harvey Milk in the new movie.
In 1977, Harvey Bernard Milk became the first openly gay man elected to a major public office in California. A year later, the San Francisco city supervisor was in the national spotlight again, one of two victims of a double homicide.
Thursday is the 30th anniversary of the assassination of Milk and San Francisco Mayor George Moscone. Both were gunned down by Dan White, a former supervisor who had resigned his post and become angry when Moscone refused to re-appoint him.
White’s defense team argued that he was depressed and not fully responsible for his actions, citing his consumption of mass amounts of junk food. The argument was called the “Twinkie defense.”
The anniversary of the killings is being commemorated this week by the release of the film “Milk,” with Sean Penn in the starring role. The film opens today in the Bay Area and other major markets today, with arrival in Reno scheduled for Dec. 12.
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