{"id":5443,"date":"2013-02-23T14:12:13","date_gmt":"2013-02-23T22:12:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.fogcityjournal.com\/wordpress\/?p=5443"},"modified":"2013-02-24T11:40:16","modified_gmt":"2013-02-24T19:40:16","slug":"supporters-rally-to-rename-sfo-after-gay-civil-rights-leader","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fogcityjournal.com\/wordpress\/5443\/supporters-rally-to-rename-sfo-after-gay-civil-rights-leader\/","title":{"rendered":"Supporters Rally to Rename SFO After Gay Civil Rights Leader"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A rally was held on the steps of City Hall, 2\/22\/12, in an effort to drum up support for the renaming of San Francisco International Airport in honor of slain civil rights leader Harvey Milk. Photos by Luke Thomas.<\/p><\/div>\n

By Luke Thomas<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

February 23, 2013<\/p>\n

As many as two-hundred supporters representing a growing coalition of organizations convened Friday on the steps of City Hall to rally support for the renaming of San Francisco International Airport in honor of Harvey Milk, the slain civil rights leader and LGBT icon.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we\u2019re talking about is San Francisco leading the way when it comes to not just LGBT rights, but civil rights, becoming the first city in this country to honor an openly LGBT leader by adding his name to the airport,\u201d said Supervisor David Campos, an openly gay man who has five of six co-sponsors needed on the Board of Supervisors to place his charter-amending proposal before voters in November. \u201cThere are eighty airports in this county that are named after individuals and not a single one of them is an openly LGBT person – and if that\u2019s going to happen somewhere, shouldn\u2019t that happen in San Francisco, and if not San Francisco, where, and if not now, why?\u201d<\/p>\n

Milk was the first openly gay person elected to public office in the US. \u00a0He was a district supervisor for eleven months when he and Mayor George Moscone were assassinated by former supervisor Dan White – a conservative Catholic – at City Hall on November 27, 1978. \u00a0Milk has since become an icon in San Francisco and a global martyr for LGBT liberation.\u00a0 He was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom<\/a> in 2009.<\/p>\n

Thirty-five years hence, religious dogma, ignorance and political frailty, continue to undermine acceptance that homosexuality is not a life choice.\u00a0 In as many as 70 countries, homosexuality remains illegal and punishable, in some extreme and unfathomable instances, by death.<\/p>\n

Renaming SFO in Milk\u2019s honor will serve as a symbol of global LGBT acceptance, said former Supervisor Bevan Dufty.<\/p>\n

\u201cSan Francisco has been a beacon for people around the world to look at diversity, to look at acceptance, to look at a community that can truly live together, and I think Harvey Milk SFO would be a beacon for people,\u201d Dufty said.\u00a0 \u201cThey would recognize that this is a renaming that hasn\u2019t taken place anywhere in the world and I think it would be very powerful and I think it would continue our tradition for generations to come.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked to comment on whether the airport renaming proposal will anger homophobes and religious zealots, Dufty told Fog City<\/em>, \u201cI think time is changing that. You can\u2019t look at the newer generations and see queer people who are unencumbered by the process of coming out oftentimes; you can see younger straight people for whom the issue of marriage equality is not an issue at all.\u00a0 It\u2019s something that they get. So I think that things are changing and, honestly, in 20 years I don\u2019t think that there would even be a debate or a discussion.\u00a0 I think this would get an 11-0 vote and I think that the fact that there is more of a struggle now, is just a sign of the times, so to speak.\u00a0 We\u2019re not where we need to be.\u201d<\/p>\n

Supervisors John Avalos, Jane Kim, Eric Mar and Scott Weiner have each co-sponsored Campos\u2019s proposal.\u00a0 Yet to demonstrate their support for the proposal: Supervisors London Breed, Malia Cohen, David Chiu, Mark Farrell and Norman Yee.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of people tell me that they are looking forward to this because one of their life regrets is that they never had the opportunity to campaign for Harvey, and now they can,\u201d Dufty added.<\/p>\n

As many as 50 million passengers depart or arrive at SFO each year.\u00a0 Renaming the airport is estimated to cost between $50 and $250,000 and will be funded<\/a> by private donations<\/a>, Campos said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m totally in love with this idea,\u201d added California Assemblymember Tom Ammiano, who spearheaded opposition with help from Milk and others to defeat the 1978 Briggs Initiative, a failed statewide ban on gays working in California schools. \u201cWhen you think of John Wayne Airport and Ronald Reagan Airport \u2013 I wouldn\u2019t exactly call them human rights advocates \u2013 Harvey\u2019s contribution is even more than being a gay man.\u00a0 His contribution made the quality of life in San Francisco better.\u00a0 He wasn\u2019t narrowly focused.\u00a0 The idea that people would fly into an airport with his name and what it represents has excited a lot of people across the nation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Milk’s nephew, Stuart Milk, summed up his uncle’s political drive and philosophy saying, \u201cMy uncle said it best: \u2018It was not about me as a candidate, it was about a candidacy of a people.\u00a0 It was about a movement,\u2019\u201d Stuart Milk said, \u201cand so Harvey Milk International Airport sends a message to everyone who has ever been, or is currently being diminished or marginalized in every corner of the Earth, that here is a city that recognizes your value and your worth.\u201d<\/p>\n

Additional Photos:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\t\t