Harvey Milk

Milk, Harvey, 1931–78, U.S. politician and gay-rights activist. When elected (1977) to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, he was the first acknowledged homosexual to win high local office in the United States. A liberal Democrat, he supported equal rights for minorities and women. Former city supervisor Dan White assassinated Milk and San Francisco Mayor George Moscone in 1978.

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2012, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.