"MILK" MOVIE IS A MYTH

PHOTO shows young gay activist Nick Moede (owner: Numbers, Rich's in Hillcrest) with L.A. attorney Gloria Allred at a gay civil-rights rally at the County Administration Building.

A review by Leo E. Laurence, J.D.; editor, San Diego News Service

Hillcrest -- The movie Milk is a myth!

It is a historically inaccurate account of the beginning of the Gay Liberation movement in San Francisco.

Gay Lib did not start with Harvey Milk in '72 in the Castro District. Indeed, when Gay Lib really began, the Castro district was not yet gay.

The movie ignores gay militancy in the Bay Area in the late 60's.

The movie even ignores the famous Stonewall Riots in New York City, and gives the false impression that Milk started everything in "out" gay civil rights.

It is so unfortunate because young Gays and Lesbians today might think, after watching the movie Milk, that they were watching a documentary. WRONG!

The Gay Liberation movement was launched by the Committee for Homosexual Freedom in San Francisco in March of '69 in the city's Financial District. That was a full three months before the Stonewall Riots in New York.

But, all that history is totally missing in the movie.

Unexpectedly Sean Penn - or, whomever stood in for him - seemed comfortable kissing other guys in the movie.

Milk does give a fairly good account of the impact of Anita Bryant's nationwide campaign against gay rights.

Much as the success of Prop.-8 on the Nov. 4th ballot in California has today electrified new, youthful leaders in the Gay & Lesbian Community; much like Anita Bryant brought Gays (then called homosexuals) together nationwide in the mid-70s.

And later in the late 70's, state Sen. John Briggs's efforts to force the firing of gay teachers in California with Prop.-6, also mobilized the Gay Community as shown in the movie.

Today, new, youthful leaders like Nick Moede (owner of Numbers and Rich's in Hillcrest, see photo above) have emerged "with a new voice" as a result of the passage of Prop-8, as Moede said in a Nov. 15th speech at a rally at the County Administration Building.

But, by ignoring the gay militants of '69 in San Francisco and giving the impression that Harvey Milk started it all, the movie "is an inaccurate piece of shit," said Ruth Harrison of North Park, who lived in San Francisco for part of the time covered by the fictionalized movie.

"(Milk) was a crock," Harrison said, after seeing the movie at the Hillcrest Cinema.

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