How can people change their minds about us if they don't know who we are?
— Harvey Milk
If you help elect more gay people, that gives a green light to all who feel disenfranchised, a green light to move forward. It means hope to a nation that has given up, because if a gay person makes it, the doors are open to everyone.
I will never forget what it was like coming out and having nobody to look up toward.
If we wish to rebuild our cities, we must first rebuild our neighborhoods. And to do that, we must understand that the quality of life is more important than the standard of living.
Having a small business and being one of thousands of people whom no one in government will listen to, I have decided to run for supervisor as a person.
If I do a good job, people won't care if I am green or have three heads.
Hope will never be silent.
My name is Harvey Milk and I'm here to recruit you.
A gay person in office can set a tone, can command respect not only from the larger community but from the young people in our own community who need both examples and hope.
If every gay person were to come out only to his/her own family, friends, neighbors and fellow workers, within days the entire state would discover that we are not the stereotypes generally assumed.
I stand for all those who feel that the government no longer understands the individual and no longer respects individual rights.
The first gay people we elect must be strong. They must not be content to sit in the back of the bus. They must not be content to accept pablum. They must be above wheeling and dealing.
You must come out. Come out... to your parents... I know that it is hard and will hurt them, but think about how they will hurt you in the voting booth!
Coming out is the most political thing you can do.
I have tasted freedom. I will not give up that which I have tasted.
All over the country, they're reading about me, and the story doesn't center on me being gay. It's just about a gay person who is doing his job.
Never take an elevator in city hall.
I'm a small businessman and I'm well aware of the uncertainties of the economy, exactly what the 'inflationary spiral' means when I'm forced to raise prices to my customers, and how taxes can eat into your earnings.
I personally will never forget that people are more important than buildings.
Once you have dialogue starting, you know you can break down prejudice.
Give me your support, and I'll fight for you... I'll fight for you because I am you.
Burst down those closet doors once and for all, and stand up and start to fight.
It takes no compromising to give people their rights. It takes no money to respect the individual. It takes no survey to remove repressions.
If a bullet should enter my brain, let that bullet destroy every closet door.
More people have been slaughtered in the name of religion than for any other single reason. That, my friends, that is true perversion.
