Mexico: Teacher fired for showing the pro-gay film Milk

in: http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2012/12/10/mexico-teacher-fired-for-showing-film-the-pro-gay-film-milk/

Sean Penn plays the role of gay rights campaigner Harvey Milk

 

 

A middle school teacher in Mexico has been fired after screening the film “Milk”, which tells the story of legendary US gay rights campaigner Harvey Milk.

Cecilia Hernandez showed the first half-hour of the film to her 7th and 8th graders in the city of Cuajimalpa as part of an approved lesson plan addressing sexual orientation and discrimination.

The newspaper Proceso said the day after she showed the movie, Ms Hernandez was called into the principal’s office and fired.

In an e-mail, the principal called the Oscar-winning film “filth.”

The 2008 film, directed by Gus Van Sant stars Sean Penn as the late US gay rights campaigner Harvey Milk.

Elected as California’s first openly gay official, Milk was assassinated in 1978.

Meanwhile, Ms Henandez says she does not want her job back and has filed a complaint with the national discrimination board.

 

 

http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2012/12/10/mexico-teacher-fired-for-showing-film-the-pro-gay-film-milk/

Harvey Milk remembered on anniversary of his killing

in: http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/harvey-milk-remembered-anniversary-his-killing271112


Commemorative service held in San Francisco, followed by candlelight march for Milk – the man who gave hope to the city's gay community

 



San Franciscans will gather today to pay tribute to gay activist Harvey Milk on the 34th anniversary of his death (27 November) with a remembrance service and candlelit vigil.

The service, organised by the Harvey Milk Foundation, will be held on the steps of San Francisco’s City Hall, and the crowds will be joined by the families of Milk and Mayor George Moscone, who was killed in the same attack.

There will be a candlelight march to 575 Castro Street, the former location of Harvey Milk’s shop, Castro Camera, which is now a store for the Human Rights Campaign. The march is to commemorate the spontaneous march held on the night of the shootings.

Harvey Milk is famed for being one of the first openly gay men to hold public office in the United States. He served almost 11 months in office, before being assassinated by former city Supervisor Dan White.

White was convicted of manslaughter for the deaths of Milk and Mayor Moscone, and served five years in prison.

A film based on the life of Harvey Milk was released in 2008, with Sean Penn playing the lead role. It explains how he helped organize the gay community of San Francisco in the 1970s to demand their rights.


http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/harvey-milk-remembered-anniversary-his-killing271112

May 22 - Harvey Milk Day

"Hope will never be silent." -Harvey Milk

San Diego Gets the Worlds First Harvey Milk Street

in: http://www.advocate.com/

Yesterday the San Diego City Council unanimously voted to name a street after LGBT civil rights pioneer Harvey Milk, becoming the first city in the country to do so.

“A year ago, a group of community leaders came together around the notion the time had come to honor an LGBT civil rights leader in San Diego the same way we have given honor to other civil rights leaders  such as Cesar Chavez and Martin Luther King Jr.,” said Dwayne Crenshaw, San Diego LGBT Pride Executive Director. “Today marks a symbolic and significant moment in the movement forward towards the American value of equality.”

The city will unveil the new street on what would be Milk's 62nd birthday, Tuesday, May 22. Festivities will begin at 5 p.m. at the corner of Harvey Milk Street (formerly Blaine Avenue) and Centre Street, and will include Crenshaw, several City Council members, City Commissioner Nicole Murray-Ramirez, Milk's nephew Stuart Milk, and Delores Jacobs, the CEO of San Diego's LGBT Community Center. 

Local activists pushed hard for the street renaming, as Milk served some of his time in the Navy as a diving instructor stationed in San Diego. After his election in 1978 as one of the world’s first openly gay elected officials — and later his assassination — symbolized for many LGBT women and men around the world the bravery it took to life life fully and honestly.

Milk has been memorialized, often in San Francisco where he made his biggest political impact, with a foundation, a civil rights academy, an LGBT educational institute, a library branch, and even a band. Now activists are pushing to have a military vessel named for him as well.

http://www.advocate.com/