The White House yesterday announced it will honor a group of openly LGBT state or local elected officials who have demonstrated a strong commitment to both equality and public service. Citizens are encouraged to nominate these “Harvey Milk Champions of Change” by April 19th.

According to the White House, members of the public are invited to nominate candidates for consideration.  Nominees should be LGBT individuals who have been elected or appointed to state or local office, and who have demonstrated a strong commitment to public service.  ”Please keep in mind that, in the spirit of the Champions of Change program, we are looking for unsung heroes – individuals whose contributions have gone unrecognized,” said Gautam Raghavan, Associate Director at White House Office of Public Engagement and Intergovernmental Affairs.

“LGBT elected officials who’ve followed in Harvey Milk’s footsteps are serving not just their constituents, but the cause of equality for all.  Their example and their voices are helping to change our country.  We’re thrilled the White House will recognize the hard work of some of these heroes,” said Chuck Wolfe, president and CEO of the Victory Fund and Institute.

Harvey Milk is among the world’s most well-known LGBT leaders, and now one elected official in San Francisco wants to make sure visitors and travelers who stop there understand how important his contributions were to the struggle for LGBT equality.

Openly gay San Francisco Supervisor David Campos has introduced legislation to honor Milk by adding his name to San Francisco International Airport, a hub for tens of millions of travelers every year.  His bill, which would send the question to the city’s voters, quickly gained four co-sponsors after its introduction. But there’s a lot of work left to do.

Campos recently spoke with Gay Politics about the effort and what it will take to make SFO the world’s first airport to be named for an LGBT person.

GP:  What exactly would your legislation do and how would it eventually lead to adding Harvey Milk’s name to SFO?

DC:  I have introduced a Charter Amendment that would add Harvey Milk’s name to our airport to make it the “Harvey Milk San Francisco International Airport.”  Our SFO airport code would remain unchanged.  In San Francisco, a Charter Amendment must be passed by the Board of Supervisors (six votes) and then passed by voters (50% +1).

GP:  What’s the status of the legislation right now?

DC:  There are five cosponsors of the legislation, including myself. So, we need one more vote at the Board to pass the Charter Amendment and let voters decide. However, we will first hold public hearings on the legislation and get feedback from as many individuals as possible. If people want to show their support, we have launched a petition at www.change.org/harveymilk.

GP:  Have you had any push back?  Is there significant opposition forming?

DC:  Most people have been very supportive. We have nearly a dozen San Francisco elected leaders endorsing  the legislation, along with local, state and national organizations (the full list can be found at www.harveymilksfo.com) It is a very diverse coalition.  At the same time, there has been some high-profile pushback from the San Francisco Chronicle, really echoing the kind of negative statements that were made when Harvey Milk first decided to run for office as an openly-gay man almost 40 years ago. But Harvey Milk wasn’t afraid of adversity and that’s one reason he is such a fitting hero to honor with our airport name.

GP:  Why Harvey Milk and not some other civil rights hero?

DC:  Harvey Milk has been an inspiration to millions and is known around the world. He has been honored by President Obama, has his own day in California  and is  the California Hall of Fame. So many have come to San Francisco to free themselves because of what Harvey Milk did and the sacrifice he made. So it is really fitting and appropriate to put his name on our international gateway.

And this is something that many cities and regions do. There are 80 airports in the United States named after individuals. Each one expresses the values and identity of their region – for example, Norm Mineta in San Jose, Thurgood Marshall in Baltimore, and John Wayne in Orange County. Not a single airport, however, is named after an LGBT leader.

With the battle for marriage equality at a tipping point, this is the right moment – and San Francisco is the right place – to make this statement, and send out that beacon of hope that Harvey stood for across the country and around the world.

GP:  What do you hope having a Harvey Milk SFO would achieve?  What would it mean?

DC:  I would like every one of the 40 million passengers who fly through SFO every year to engage with the continuing legacy and civil rights struggle embodied in the life  of Harvey Milk. For those who are gay, and who may suffer discrimination and marginalization, it would be a beacon of hope.  For others, it would be an affirmation of all we have fought for and achieved. And I believe it would do exactly what President Obama did in his inauguration speech, where he connected the struggles in Selma with struggle at Stonewall – all part of our civil rights heritage that needs to be constantly honored, strengthened and defended.

GP:  What’s been the response to your legislation both within the city and beyond?

DC:  There has been vast interest in the legislation here in San Francisco, across the country and around the world. The initial news coverage was picked up by dozens of national and international news outlets because it means something to people everywhere.  Our petition at www.change.org/harveymilk got over 10,000 signatures the first week it was posted – a testament to how inspired people are by Harvey and this idea.

To show your support for Campos’ legislation, sign this Change.org petition.

Image:  HarveyMilkSFO.com

San Francisco International Airport could soon become Harvey Milk San Francisco International Airport, making it the first airport in the world to be named after a LGBT person.

David Campos, an openly gay member of San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors, is sponsoring a charter amendment that would prompt the name change. The Associated Press reports that five of Campos’ colleagues must agree to add the proposed name change to the November ballot for voters to approve.

Campos believes the name change would provide an important learning opportunity for the millions of travelers who pass through the airport each year. “The idea that millions of people can learn about Harvey Milk and what he represented is very moving,” he told the AP.

According to the AP, 68 countries with flights in and out of SFO still punish homosexuality by law. Stuart Milk, Harvey’s nephew, emphasized the impact of the name change for many international LGBT travelers: “For young gay people in an illegal place looking up at a monitor and being able to point to this international airport named after an LGBT advocate, it gives them the green light to authenticity. It’s a major representation that (they) are being celebrated somewhere in the world in a high-level way.”

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors will vote on the amendment in the coming weeks.

David Campos has served as a member of the city’s Board of Supervisors since his election in 2008.

Photo: Rex Features

By Stuart Milk

Harvey Milk was my uncle, but he’s also my hero. His election proved what we’re capable of when we stand up for ourselves, stop listening to the naysayers and rally our community to action.  We’re capable of winning – and making history.

That’s exactly what Tammy Baldwin is doing. This week brought the fantastic news that she’s pulled into the lead in her fight to represent Wisconsin in the United States Senate. Four separate polls confirm a big shift in this race, and with just 7 weeks to go, victory is in sight.

Tammy first ran for office in Wisconsin when she was just 24 – less than a decade after my uncle made history in San Francisco. She won that race, joining a handful of gay and lesbian American trailblazers who refused to hide who they were in order to serve their communities.

Twelve years later, Tammy became the first woman in Wisconsin history to be elected to Congress, and the nation’s first out lesbian ever to serve on Capitol Hill.

Now, with our help, Tammy will break a glass ceiling that has existed for more than two centuries. She will fight for the people of Wisconsin, but Tammy will also represent millions of LGBT Americans who have never had an authentic voice in the Senate.

Like my uncle Harvey, Tammy has faced doubters who thought she couldn’t be honest about herself and win. But in every single campaign, she has proved them wrong. Now we’re seeing the proof that this race is winnable too – and that history can be made again.

It’s time for all of us to come together and take the next big step for equality. When Tammy raises her right hand to be sworn into the Senate this January, I know you’ll want to be a part of making that moment happen.  Join this historic campaign with a contribution, or volunteer one weekend in Wisconsin to help LGBT candidates running across the state.

Harvey Milk was a dreamer, and he dreamed big. But he never stopped there. He fought to make his dream a reality, and with the help of the Victory Fund and trailblazers like Tammy Baldwin, his dream lives on.

Photo:  Brook Pifer

The California state legislature recently passed a law requiring that public schools teach the historical contributions of LGBT individuals in social science classes.  That prompted a question in this week’s Gay Politics Report reader poll.  We asked our nearly 25,000 readers to identify a historically accurate statement about Harvey Milk, the famed LGBT rights advocate and San Francisco Supervisor who was slain in 1978.

We asked, “Based on your understanding of LGBT history, which of the following statements do you believe to be true about Harvey Milk?”  Two out of the five choices in our multiple choice question were correct.  They are:

“He was the first openly gay man elected to public office in San Francisco,” and “He was the first openly LGBT candidate elected to public office in California.”

Milk was not the first openly LGBT candidate, nor the first openly gay man elected to public office in the U.S.  The first successful openly LGBT candidate in the U.S. was Kathy Kozachenko, who won election to the Ann Arbor, Mich., City Council in 1974, a full 3 years before Milk’s victory.  The first out gay man to win an election was Minnesota State Sen. Allan Spear, who was reelected in 1976 after coming out during his previous term at the end of 1974.