Dianne Goldman Berman Feinstein ( /ˈfaɪnstaɪn/; born June 22, 1933) is the senior United States Senator from California. A member of the Democratic Party, she has served in the Senate since 1992. She also served as 38th Mayor of San Francisco from 1978 to 1988.
Born in San Francisco, Feinstein graduated from Stanford University. In the 1960s she worked in city government, and in 1970 she was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. She served as the board's first female president in 1978, during which time the assassinations of Mayor George Moscone and City Supervisor Harvey Milk drew national attention to the city. Feinstein, who was the first to discover the shootings, succeeded Moscone as mayor. During her tenure as San Francisco's first female mayor she took a politically moderate stance, leading a revamp of the city's cable car system and overseeing the 1984 Democratic National Convention.
After a failed gubernatorial campaign in 1990, she won a 1992 special election to the U.S. Senate. Feinstein was first elected on the same ballot as her peer Barbara Boxer, and the two became California's first female U.S. Senators. Feinstein formerly chaired the Senate Rules Committee (2007–2009) and has chaired the Select Committee on Intelligence since 2009. She is also the first woman to have presided over a U.S. presidential inauguration.
Harvey Bernard Milk (May 22, 1930 – November 27, 1978) was an American politician who became the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in California when he won a seat on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. Politics and gay activism were not his early interests; he was not open about his homosexuality and did not participate in civic matters until around the age of 40, after his experiences in the counterculture of the 1960s.
Milk moved from New York City to settle in San Francisco in 1972 amid a migration of gay men to the Castro District. He took advantage of the growing political and economic power of the neighborhood to promote his interests, and ran unsuccessfully for political office three times. His theatrical campaigns earned him increasing popularity, and Milk won a seat as a city supervisor in 1977, part of the broader social changes the city was experiencing.
Milk served almost 11 months in office and was responsible for passing a stringent gay rights ordinance for the city. On November 27, 1978, Milk and Mayor George Moscone were assassinated by Dan White, another city supervisor who had recently resigned but wanted his job back. Milk's election was made possible by and was a key component of a shift in San Francisco politics. The assassinations and the ensuing events were the result of continuing ideological conflicts in the city.
Plot
Using flashbacks from a statement recorded late in life and archival footage for atmosphere, this film traces Harvey Milk's career from his 40th birthday to his death. He leaves the closet and New York, opens a camera shop that becomes the salon for San Francisco's growing gay community, and organizes gays' purchasing power to build political alliances. He runs for office with lover Scott Smith as his campaign manager. Victory finally comes on the same day Dan White wins in the city's conservative district. The rest of the film sketches Milk's relationship with White and the 1978 fight against a statewide initiative to bar gays and their supporters from public school jobs.
Keywords: 18-year-old, 1970s, 39-year-old, 40-year-old, 40th-birthday, activist, african-american, altoona-pennsylvania, american-dream, anger
His life changed history. His courage changed lives.
Never blend in
[from trailer]::Harvey Milk: Without hope, life's not worth living.
[from trailer]::Harvey Milk: All men are created equal. No matter how hard you try, you can never erase those words.
Dan White: Society can't exist without the family.::Harvey Milk: We're not against that.::Dan White: Can two men reproduce?::Harvey Milk: No, but God knows we keep trying.
Scott Smith: Are you on uppers or something?::Harvey Milk: No, this is just plain old me.
Harvey Milk: [to Cleve Jones] You're going to meet the most extraordinary men, the sexiest, brightest, funniest men, and you're going to fall in love with so many of them, and you won't know until the end of your life who your greatest friends were or your greatest love was.
Harvey Milk: Okay. First order of business to come out of this office is the city-wide gay rights ordinance, just like the one that Anita shot down in Dade County. What do you think, Lotus Blossom?::Michael Wong: I think it's good. It's not great.::Harvey Milk: Okay, so make it brilliant. We want Anita's attention here, in San Francisco. I wanted to bring her fight to us. We need a unanimous vote - we need headlines.::Jim Rivaldo: Dan White is not going to vote for this.::Harvey Milk: Dan White'll be fine, Dan White is just uneducated. We'll teach him.::Dan White: [suddenly appearing in the doorway] Hey, Harv! Committee meets at nine-thirty. [to everyone else] Hi, you guys. [to Harvey] Um, say, did you get the invitation to my son's christening? I invited a few of the other supes too.::Harvey Milk: Oh, well, I'll be there!::Dan White: Great! Thanks. [waves at everyone and leaves]::Dick Pabich: Did he hear you?::Jim Rivaldo: What the fuck?::Anne Kronenberg: Are you going?::Harvey Milk: I would let him christen me if it means he's gonna vote for the gay rights ordinance.::Jim Rivaldo: [as Harvey is talking] I think he can hear you. Jesus.::Harvey Milk: We need allies.::Dick Pabich: I don't think he heard you.::Cleve Jones: Is it just me or is he cute?
Scott Smith: [Harvey and Scott are finally sitting down to dinner] Don't say ANYTHING.::Harvey Milk: [tucks his napkin under the collar of his shirt, eats a bite] Can I just tell you...::Scott Smith: If you say anything, about politics, or the campaign, or what speech you have to give, or anything, I swear to God I'm gonna stab you with this fork.::Harvey Milk: I just wanted to say... that this is the most wonderful dinner I have ever had. [Both start laughing] If we lose this, it'll just be you and me again, I promise.
Harvey Milk: My name is Harvey Milk and I'm here to recruit you!
Harvey Milk: A homosexual with power... that's scary.
State Senator John Briggs: It's time to root them out.::Tom Ammiano: And how are you going to determine who's a homosexual?::State Senator John Briggs: My bill outlines procedures for identifying homosexuals.::Tom Ammiano: How? Will you be sucking them off?
Plot
The true story of the assassination of San Francisco Mayor 'George Moscone' (qv) and City Supervisor 'Harvey Milk (I)' (qv) on November 27, 1978. The case of assassin 'Dan White (III)' (qv) has become known as the "Twinkie defense" after his sentence was reduced from first-degree murder to voluntary manslaughter. White served five years in prison and committed suicide in 1985. This film is based on 'Emily Mann''s play.
Keywords: 1970s, asphyxiation, baseball, based-on-play, based-on-true-story, chinatown-san-francisco, church, controversy, crossdresser, fireman
Harvey Milk: If a bullet should enter my brain, let it destroy every closet door in America.