Harvey Milk

Harvey Milk sat down in 1978 with Greg Gordon, host of the LGBT radio show “IMRU” on KPFA (Berkeley, Calif.), at his office in San Francisco, where he served as city supervisor. Milk, the first openly gay American to hold a prominent elected office, spoke about the importance for gays and minorities to be politically active and united.

“If you like being harassed by the police, if you like being a third class citizen, if you like being beat up by pugs, if you like the church yelling at you, don’t register, don’t vote, and don’t complain,” he said, “If you want to be shoved back into your closet, if you want to be the traditional gay person who gets beat up and whimpers home and says, ‘Well, I’m gay and I deserve to get beat up,’ fine. If not, the only thing you can do is register to vote.”

To learn more about Harvey Milk, read his profile on findingDulcinea.