Statue to honor Harvey Milk

A bronze bust of the first openly gay man to hold a prominent elected office in the United States is going up in City Hall, more than 28 years after he was assassinated. The statue to Harvey Milk will be unveiled at San Francisco City Hall on May 22 - on what would have been Milk's 78th birthday. Milk was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1977 and shot to death a year later, along with Mayor George Moscone, by fellow supervisor Dan White. White was convicted of manslaughter, and served a little more than three years in prison before committing suicide. In the years since his death, Milk has become the most recognizable martyr of the gay rights movement. The effort to honor the politician began in 2001 when the San Francisco Board of Supervisors passed a resolution supporting a memorial. Money to create the sculpture was raised by Harvey Milk City Hall Memorial Committee. It took four years to reach the goal and then a national competition was launched to find an artist. In January 2007 a panel of community leaders and arts professionals selected three finalists. Maquettes of their designs were displayed for community comment in City Hall and the panel, with overwhelming public support, chose Daub, Firmin, and Hendrickson Sculpture Group as the winning team. Last month the San Francisco Arts Commission formally approved the placement of the sculpture in the Ceremonial Rotunda in City Hall. The bronze sculpture will sit atop a stone base inscribed with a quote from one of his most famous speeches. "his tribute to Harvey Milk is long overdue… it is indeed time for his legacy to be commemorated with a place of honor and distinction in San Francisco's City Hall." said Mayor Gavin Newsom in a statement. The official unveiling will be open to the public. The ceremony will feature remarks by some of Milk's colleagues, local dignitaries and performances by Connie Champagne and the San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus. There already is a sculpture of Moscone outside San Francisco's City Hall. Milk has been immortalized in the film "The Life and Times of Harvey Milk", at a school named for him, and a plaza near Castro and Market Streets. Shooting was recently completed on a second film, a dramatization of Milk's life starring Sean Penn and directed by Gus Van Sant.