Today, May 22nd marks the birthday of two great gay visionaries...Harvey Bernard Milk and yours truly, Joseph Heaton!
Harvey and myself were born exactly 50 years apart though he was brutally assassinated 2 years before I was born. I imagine what he would think of things in California today. They aren't really any better. California now outlaws gay marriage, the AIDS crisis really put San Francisco on the map as a haven of debauchery...I wonder if he hadn't been killed if he would have put a sane face to the crises and if lives would have been saved?
Lietuenant Milk, as he was referred to during his time as a soldier in the US Navy during the Korean War, was a very proud veteran. He wore a Navy belt buckle all through his adult life. Gay men and women are still struggling to serve openly and honestly. FYI...Gays are patriotic too. And we certainly love uniforms! :)
I love this quote by Anne Kronenberg describing Harvey. "What set Harvey apart from you or me was that he was a visionary. He imagined a righteous world inside his head and then he set about to create it for real, for all of us."
I try to live my life similarly. Gay rights isn't an "issue" for me. It's a reality. Gay people must take control of our lives, demand our rights and not wait for mainstream America to give them to us. In short, we must stop being polite.
This is my first post and I promise they won't all be so soap boxy.
Hugs and Kisses,
Joseph Heaton
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1 comment:
Joe and Meta, I support you entirely. No human being should submissively ask for their rights; you have to claim them, as you said. No one should have to apologize for their existence, but rather, celebrate it!
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