Harvey Milk was indeed important to us as the first Gay man to win election for public office. Indeed, he was a martyr like Lincoln, shot down in the prime of his life. Milk has also been an inspiration for others to get involved, stand for public office, and show the world that being Gay is what we need not be ashamed to be. But Milk was also a controversial figure who was not above admitting he had sex with a 16-year-old boy when he was forty. As a Gay man, I can understand why the governor would have qualms about signing this bill. If he does, so be it. The facts of Harvey Milk’s life would not play as well in other parts of the state as they would in San Francisco. Just because a movie was made of his life, alone, does not justify a holiday. Otherwise, why not holidays for Malcolm X? Ray Charles or Johnny Cash? If I were to choose a holiday for a Gay man, what about Walt Whitman? Rock Hudson or Oscar Wilde? As for Obama giving him a medal, many see that as a way to compensate for not tackling the military ban or DOMA. Who can tell? Mark Leno is a politician who wants to stay in office. Many bills are being introduced over and over by politicians who know they’ll never become law, but who want to stay in office. A veto, in view of all this I’ve said, is understandable. It also leaves the door open for a new governor at a different time when, perhaps, the political winds have changed, and such a holiday could be acceptable to ALL.

And how is the EQCA addressing the fact that President Obama does NOT support same-gender marriage and he’ll be at the top of the Democratic ticket in 2012? If you don’t like 2010, maybe 2014 would be a better election than 2012? That will give us even more time to “work to change hearts and minds of San Diego residents.”

Is Hildebrand speaking as a Gay Marriage supporter or an Obama campaigner when he recommends 2010 for another vote on Prop 8? My own opinion is that Hildebrand would not want anything like a vote on Gay Marriage energizing Republicans to come out and vote against Obama in 2012.