California lawmakers have introduced a resolution commemorating May 22 as “Harvey Milk Day” in an attempt to normalize sexual deviancy and empower LGBTQ+ identified individuals to rebel against God’s design.
Harvey Milk is a famed LGBT politician also known for his pederasty. Proponents of gender ideology want to celebrate Milk for being unashamed and proud of his gay identity. He boldly encouraged LGBT-identified people to be as open about their “gender identity” as he was. However, despite what California lawmakers believe, there is nothing inherently good or virtuous about being open and unashamed about one’s “sexual identity” if it contradicts God’s good design.
Further, Milk took advantage of legitimate offenses, such as violence and slander, toward LGBT-identified people and sought to encourage rebellion against God’s good design for sexuality. He sought to transform the Declaration of Independence’s promise of freedom and the equality of each individual into a promise of equal treatment toward all sexual identities and behaviors, including sexual deviancy and “identities” that reject God’s designs.
Milk’s fight to break free from culture’s sexual restrictions is reflected in accounts of Milk’s lesser known, but easily accessible, personal life. This darker side is detailed in a popular Milk biography, The Mayor of Castro Street by Randy Shilts. The book documents the series of male sexual relationships Milk had over several decades, usually with much younger males. Shilts dedicated an entire chapter of his book to one of those relationships with a 16-year-old teenager when Milk was 33. If the relationship with this emotionally unstable 16-year-old named Jack Galen McKinley happened today, Milk would be arrested for statutory rape and have to register as a sexual offender.
Clearly, these details should disqualify Harvey Milk from being honored in California with a special day of celebration. Legislators either don’t know about this part of Milk’s life or don’t care.
In 2008, San Francisco elected the first openly gay Senator in California, Mark Leno. During that first year, he introduced SB 572 to establish a special day to honor the work of Harvey Milk, and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed it into law. According to the legislative text, “This bill would provide that the Governor proclaim May 22 of each year as Harvey Milk Day and would designate that date as having special significance in public schools and educational institutions and would encourage those entities to conduct suitable commemorative exercises on that date.”
Back in 2009, when SB 572 was signed, only two of the 33 Republicans in the state legislature voted with the Democrats in favor of the bill. Over the years, additional resolutions have been introduced by the legislature to commemorate Harvey Milk, with increasing Republican support. These resolutions don’t have the force of law, but act as opportunities for the legislature to make statements of moral approval or disapproval of some cause, historical event or historical person. They are issued to influence the citizenry to admire and honor something legislators think is worthy of respect or to condemn some action.
California Democrats’ new resolution, which was introduced in April and revised May 11, states that the Assembly of the State of California “recognizes the pioneering contributions of Harvey Milk to the cause of LGBTQ+ civil rights and commemorates May 22, 2023, as Harvey Milk Day.”
In celebration of “Harvey Milk Day,” Californians are encouraged to fly rainbow flags, read Milk’s speech “Hope,” and donate to the Harvey Milk Foundation.
Regardless of their ideologies, no California legislator should support this proposal, as some of Milk’s actions, such as his treatment of a minor, should be condemned by both Republicans and Democrats.
Lawmakers should be promoting virtuous and responsible behaviors that cultivate family flourishing, not ideas and behaviors that promote destructive individualism and rebellion against God’s design, and lead people away from their creator.
