Milk on Milk: A Family Member Previews Gus Van Sant’s Harvey Milk Bio
Milk is not a common name. But people are always surprised to discover that my husband is related to “that Milk”—Harvey Milk, the gay member of San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors who in 1978 was gunned down by a crazed former supervisor named Dan White.
Harvey was the first openly gay person elected to a major office in the United States. He was also my husband Benjamin’s first cousin. So we were eager to see Milk, the new Gus Van Sant movie starring Sean Penn as Harvey, which opens this week.
Benjamin and Harvey grew up in Woodmere, New York, where their grandfather Morris opened the first department store on Long Island in 1898, aptly named Milk’s. The store failed in the 1950s, but it was a big deal when they were growing up. In the movie, when Harvey opens his camera store in San Francisco’s Castro neighborhood, he says, “If Morris and Minnie could see me now.”
Harvey was eight years older than Benjamin, so they weren’t close. He taught Spanish at Hewlett High School the year after Benjamin graduated. When I married into the family in 1968, Harvey was working on Wall Street and still in the closet. Certainly, his extended family had no idea he was gay. I remember how we all found out—we read about it in the New York Times. Harvey was mentioned in a story about Tom O’Horgan, the creative genius behind the musical Hair.
I never heard a negative word about Harvey’s sexuality. I think somebody said, “So that’s why he never married.” They thought he just hadn’t found the right girl.
The family was very proud of all Harvey achieved in San Francisco, and the movie captures that part of his life very well. Van Sant interweaves news footage to recreate the tenor of the times, but Penn is in nearly every scene and, according to Benjamin, even sounds like Harvey.
What most impressed me was how much Harvey calls to mind Barack Obama, calling for change and championing human rights. Like Obama, he was driven and a master of campaign strategy. Unlike Obama, he was never cool. Harvey was a talker, a hugger, a lover in every sense. I wish I had known him.
His brother Robert went to San Francisco for the candlelight march of mourners that brought thousands of people into the streets. Harvey’s family thought he had a brilliant future. He could have been mayor of San Francisco. And from there . . . .
Milk is a terrific tribute to both the public and the private Harvey. Penn should earn an Oscar for his performance. Like the opera he loved, Harvey was dramatic, charismatic, and larger than life. He deserves to be remembered that way.
Milk on Milk: A Family Member Previews Gus Van Sant’s Harvey Milk Bio
Milk is not a common name. But people are always surprised to discover that my husband is related to “that Milk”—Harvey Milk, the gay member of San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors who in 1978 was gunned down by a crazed former supervisor named Dan White.
Harvey was the first openly gay person elected to a major office in the United States. He was also my husband Benjamin’s first cousin. So we were eager to see Milk, the new Gus Van Sant movie starring Sean Penn as Harvey, which opens this week.
Benjamin and Harvey grew up in Woodmere, New York, where their grandfather Morris opened the first department store on Long Island in 1898, aptly named Milk’s. The store failed in the 1950s, but it was a big deal when they were growing up. In the movie, when Harvey opens his camera store in San Francisco’s Castro neighborhood, he says, “If Morris and Minnie could see me now.”
Harvey was eight years older than Benjamin, so they weren’t close. He taught Spanish at Hewlett High School the year after Benjamin graduated. When I married into the family in 1968, Harvey was working on Wall Street and still in the closet. Certainly, his extended family had no idea he was gay. I remember how we all found out—we read about it in the New York Times. Harvey was mentioned in a story about Tom O’Horgan, the creative genius behind the musical Hair.
I never heard a negative word about Harvey’s sexuality. I think somebody said, “So that’s why he never married.” They thought he just hadn’t found the right girl.
The family was very proud of all Harvey achieved in San Francisco, and the movie captures that part of his life very well. Van Sant interweaves news footage to recreate the tenor of the times, but Penn is in nearly every scene and, according to Benjamin, even sounds like Harvey.
What most impressed me was how much Harvey calls to mind Barack Obama, calling for change and championing human rights. Like Obama, he was driven and a master of campaign strategy. Unlike Obama, he was never cool. Harvey was a talker, a hugger, a lover in every sense. I wish I had known him.
His brother Robert went to San Francisco for the candlelight march of mourners that brought thousands of people into the streets. Harvey’s family thought he had a brilliant future. He could have been mayor of San Francisco. And from there . . . .
Milk is a terrific tribute to both the public and the private Harvey. Penn should earn an Oscar for his performance. Like the opera he loved, Harvey was dramatic, charismatic, and larger than life. He deserves to be remembered that way.
Most Popular in News & Politics
What It Felt Like for a Virginia Marching Band to Win Metallica’s Contest
What’s IN and OUT in DC Restaurant Trends for 2024
Introducing 8 of DC’s Most Stylish
Best of Washington 2023: Things to Eat, Drink, Do, and Know Right Now
Washingtonian Magazine
May 2024: Great Getaways
View IssueSubscribe
Follow Us on Social
Follow Us on Social
Related
13 Major Concerts and Music Festivals in the DC Area This Spring
Mary Timony on Her Emotional New Album, “Untame the Tiger”
The Beatles in DC: A New Exhibit in Maryland Looks Back on Early Beatlemania
Northern Virginia High School Wins Metallica’s Marching Band Competition
More from News & Politics
Dozens of Vintage Planes Will Fly Over the National Mall This Saturday
PHOTOS: “Rupaul’s Drag Race” Queens Work It at the National Mall
Meet the NIH Detectives Cracking Medicine’s Toughest Cases
5 of DC’s Most Interesting Ideas for Revitalizing Chinatown
A “Corpse Flower” Is Currently in Bloom at the Botanic Garden
How Emma’s Torch Is Changing the Lives of Its Refugee Workers
Former Fiola GM Convicted of Murder Is Now in a Netflix Docuseries
These 5 DC Traffic Cams Are Issuing the Most Tickets Right Now