“If there’s one thing Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger understands, it’s box office, and Harvey Milk now has box office,” Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, said the day before the press conference announcing Bill 572 for “Harvey Milk Day.”

The senator, along with Equality California, held a press conference on March 3, at Tosca Café in San Francisco.

Senate Bill 572 is very similar to AB 2567, the bill that was vetoed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger last year. AB 2567 would have designated Harvey Milk Day as “a day of special significance,” and required the governor to proclaim Harvey Milk Day on May 22 every year.

The passage of Bill 572 would cost the state nothing, and state workers would not get the day off. Its only result would be that on May 22, Harvey Milk’s birthday, would be known as “Harvey Milk Day,” in California.

“I don’t think [Schwarzenegger] truly saw the importance of Harvey Milk,” said Nicole Murray-Ramirez, chair of the San Diego Human Relations Committee. “He only saw him as regional. I think after the movie he was educated that Harvey Milk’s impact was worldwide.”

In 1977, Milk became the first openly gay man elected to an important political office in the U.S. when he won a seat on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. He and Mayor George Moscone were assassinated the following year by fellow Supervisor Dan White.

Many people believe that this year the Bill will be successful because of the release of the film Milk, which actor Sean Penn won an Oscar for. And, according to Leno, Penn’s award shows that Gov. Schwarzenegger’s argument about Milk being only of local interest in San Francisco no longer holds up.

San Diego has a history of honoring Harvey Milk that began with the institution of a park bench during the 1980s.

“There’s always been a visible presence of Harvey Milk, be it an award or scholarship. I’ve seen it as a way to educate people about who Harvey Milk was,” Murray-Ramirez said.

The City Commissioner headed the push locally in San Diego to get the bill enacted.

“We’re always happy to have a Human Rights Commission from a major city like San Diego, supporting our efforts,” Sen. Leno said.

Both Murray-Ramirez and Sen. Leno believe Milk’s work is relevant to civil rights struggles today.

“We’re the last Americans fighting for equality,” Murray Ramirez said. “I had friends who were sent to Atascadero Mental Hospital, just for being homosexual. But now we have several members of our community who are elected officials, including the district attorney, two councilmen in San Diego, a fire chief, a state senator, judges, it goes on.”

“It certainly will be beneficial to young LGBT students, so they can come to understand that their lives have meaning – despite messages from their government and their churches,” Sen. Leno said.

With the Supreme Court arguing the constitutionality of Proposition 8, Sen. Leno expressed how the enactment of “Harvey Milk Day” could affect their decision.

“[Harvey Milk Day is] also of importance to straight individuals who may not know the kind of struggle that the queer community has experienced, from where we have come to where we are today, as the Supreme Court considers the constitutionality of Proposition 8.”

Milk’s contributions to the GLBT community set the foundation for the future.

“His election gave people hope. He believed in giving young people hope in those dark days in the ’60s and ’70s, so they knew they could achieve this,” Murray-Ramirez said.

In San Diego, committee members will be working on establishing a Harvey Milk Breakfast on May 22.

“The committee that is going to work on it is [made up of] LGBT activists and non-LGBT community members. It will be a very diverse committee, and I’m very excited about it,” Murray-Ramirez said.

Tuesday’s announcement at Tosca Cafe attracted many leaders of the GLBT community from around the state, including Leno, Assemblymember Tom Ammiano, San Francisco City Supervisors Bevan Dufty and David Campos and City Treasurer Jose Cisneros, Geoff Kors, Executive Director of Equality California, Cleve Jones, activist and friend of Harvey Milk, Stuart Milk, nephew of Harvey Milk, and other close friends and associates of Harvey Milk.

Milk “gave his life so that every elected official up here could hold office,” Leno said. But he added that Penn’s powerful portrayal of Milk gives his bill an immediacy it didn’t have last year.

Penn said his research for the role convinced him that Milk’s call for political activism and volunteerism is a message that’s important to get into California schools.

“It’s not just important but essential with such a heroic and seminal figure as Harvey Milk that we honor him in this way,” the actor said.

The proposed honor comes amid the battle over November’s Proposition 8, which banned same-sex marriage in California, and a state Supreme Court hearing over the validity of the election.

A new television ad, released Tuesday by Equality California, makes an explicit connection between Milk and Prop. 8, which is billed as an example of gays and lesbians “still being denied equal rights.”