Harvey Milk Day

Today marks the anniversary of the assassination of Harvey Milk. Please take some time to learn a bit about his life and what he did to make yours better. Here is a link to a now famous speech given by Milk: Harvey Milk speech.





I am thinking of Harvey today. To celebrate the man and his spirit, I wrote a piece of music using Harvey's words, based on parts of this speech and other speeches that Harvey gave. The piece is entitled "You Gotta Give 'Em Hope," and will be premiered next June in Madison, WI, by Perfect Harmony Men's Chorus.

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This is icon painter Robert Lentz' beautiful icon of Harvey Milk of San Francisco.

Lentz writes in his luminous book, Christ in the Margins:

Harvey Milk was the first openly gay person to be elected to high public office in the United States. . . As supervisor he fought consistently for the rights of all of those without a voice. These people included blue-collar workers, the elderly, racial minorities, and gay men and women. . . .

The day of his election, Harvey tape recorded his last testament, in which he acknowledged that he would most probably die violently. The last words of that message were, "You gotta give them hope." On November 27, 1978, he was shot five times at close range by another politician who was infuriated by his defense of gay and lesbian people. That night 40,000 people, men and women, old and young, gay and straight, kept candlelight vigil outside City Hall.

In this icon he holds a candle, keeping vigil himself for the oppressed of the world. He wears a black armband with a pink triangle. This was a Nazi symbol for homosexuals, and it represents all those who have been tortured or killed because of cultural fears regarding human sexuality. Their number continues to grow with each passing year, and the compassionate Christ continues to say, "Whatever you did to the least of my brothers and sisters, you did to me."

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Blessings to all, from Harvey to everyone who is still fighting the same fights. Amen.

Looksism

I have been saying this exact same thing for decades.

For the ninety percent of us who do not look like models, or TV and movie stars, or porn stars, this is an issue that affects self-esteem, self-confidence, and even suicide. It has a name, and that name is looksism. It's the same kind of judgment based on appearances that lies behind sissyphobia, which is hatred and fear of effeminacy in males, and ageism, which is the worship of youth and the dismissal of age and experience.

These are all rampant within the gay community. And for no good reason. It's all shallow and superficial.

And if you're worried about your looks, don't worry: I promise you, they won't last.

So maybe it's better to stop worrying about it entirely.

LGBT Politics

There is very little I have to say here about politics, elections, and voting. But this is a meme that has been going around, that says it better than I have ever been able to say it myself. It cuts to the bottom line, it asks a question I have yet to receive an answer for, from that group of people addressed here, many of whom I number among my friends and acquaintances. I still await an answer.

Again, this says it all. It goes to the bottom line, and it asks a question that is at its root also the key question underlying why people don't intervene when they see a gay kid being bullied. Or any kid, for that matter, just for being different.



I will have more to say about this later, when I have time to write down my thoughts.