A Letter to Harvey Milk

"May 22 was Harvey Milk's birthday."
"Who was Harvey Milk?" a friend asked.
I gave the short version. "He was a gay rights activist in the 70's. He became a San Francisco city supervisor. The first openly gay politician. He was assassinated in City Hall along with the mayor by a colleague they'd fired. He'd been getting death threats and had already recorded his will. One of his more famous quotes was 'If a bullet should ever enter my brain, let that bullet shatter every closet door.'"
For a longer version have a look here.

Harvey Milk's life has been recounted by a musical, two operas, a documentary and an Oscar winning film. The 2016 musical, A Letter to Harvey Milk, is less about the man than his legacy. Two strangers, a Jewish widower and a lesbian teacher, meet in a writing class and discuss the way Harvey influenced their lives.

Some detractors are upset by the homophobic comments the teacher must endure. I'm of the mindset that a show set in the early 80's would be more offensive if it ignored the homophobia that our community has had to overcome. There's room for the Love, Simon fantasias in 2018 but we must never forget our history.

A Letter to Harvey Milk is currently running Off-Broadway at the Acorn Theatre.