Last year, when one of our community’s strongest advocates attended the Martin Luther King Breakfast, he was considerably disturbed when one of the other attendees told him in no uncertain terms that equating gay rights to African-American civil rights was unequivocally unacceptable.

It was at that breakfast, at that table, at that moment that the Harvey Milk Diversity Breakfast was born – not the Harvey Milk GLBT Breakfast, but the Harvey Milk Diversity Breakfast. San Diego has the distinction of being the first city to hold such an event focused on the life and vision of this civil rights leader.

The breakfast, which has long sold out, is a celebration for all communities – not just the GLBT community. It celebrates a man who fought for members of all minority groups. It reminds us that the fight for equality will not be won by only members of the GLBT community. We must have our allies standing steadfast alongside.

Moreover, our fight for equality is a fight for all communities who are not protected and honored equally under the law. The spirit and the intent of the breakfast is to celebrate all diversity, the kind of diversity Harvey Milk inspired, both in his life, and after his death.

“Both in life and death, Harvey Milk was more than a politician,” said City Councilmember Todd Gloria on Tuesday, speaking about the late gay rights activist, before his colleagues unanimously voted to support his resolution honoring the slain civil rights leader. “He was a visionary who saw a future in which all races, genders, classes and sexual orientations stood together to support justice and equality. Harvey Milk exemplified how service and commitment can affect lives outside one’s own demographic and city. Honoring him today will inspire a new generation of leaders of all backgrounds and orientations. The future is in our hands, and I hope we have the courage to follow Harvey’s example and never waver in the fight to secure equality for all Americans, and always remember to ‘give ’em hope!’”

Councilmember Gloria was flanked by San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders and Councilmember Carl DeMaio as the San Diego City Council proclaimed Friday, May 22 as “Harvey Milk Day.” The City Council is also on record as supporting the state-wide legislation to make May 22, Harvey Milk’s birthday, a day of significance. The legislation has passed both the House and the Senate and awaits the Governor’s signature.

This event is happening as we are within days of the California Supreme Court’s ruling on Proposition 8. While Massachusetts, Connecticut and Iowa recognize same-sex marriage, with Vermont and Maine to come on board in September, Gov. David Patterson is set to push legislation through in New York.

But while same-sex marriage is in the headlines, there are those who do not support marriage equality. There are those who say this is not the time.

To those individuals, we say: There is never a politically expedient time for equal rights. President Lyndon Johnson did not wake up one calm day and determine that the masses were ready. But he knew it was time to end systematic discrimination. It is unlikely that in 1912, Theodore Roosevelt found it widely popular to adopt a platform that supported women’s suffrage, or women’s right to vote. For these great leaders, it was not a matter of the masses; it was a matter of a moral obligation put forth in our Constitution that contends that all persons are created equal, and that each and every individual is entitled to equal protection under the law.

Neither our forefathers’ nor our current leader’s vision of equal protection should be left to the winds of political expediency.

For when we tell one group that now is not the time, that their struggles and strife do not compare with another’s, we set in motion a future of increased inequality, rather than a future of possibility.

There is never a convenient time for equal rights. Rather, the time is now.

As the last line on a bronze plaque at the corner of Market and Castro Street reads “I am all of us!”

As we honor Harvey Milk and await the Supreme Court’s ruling on same-sex marriage, let’s not segregate our issues to the GLBT community. Rather, let’s remember that freedom for one is freedom for all.