Harvey Milk: The Gay Saint or Boy Lover?

For many years, I respected much of the work done by the late author and journalist Randy Shilts, who was really one of the first gay literary figures to expose the rampant promiscuity within the gay culture; namely in his exhaustive And the Band Played On (1987.) Earlier in his career, he wrote a celebration of sorts about murdered San Francisco politician Harvey Milk. I found the following excerpts from The Mayor of Castro Street (1982) the most interesting:

"It would be to boyish-looking men in their late teens and early 20's that Milk would be attracted for the rest of his life." (page 24)

"...sixteen-year-old McKinley was looking for some kind of father figure...At 33, Milk was launching a new life, though he could hardly have imagined the unlikely direction toward which his new lover would pull him." (pages 30-31)

"Harvey always had a penchant for young waifs with substance abuse problems." (page 180)

From my own sad experiences within the gay environs of San Francisco, I found that Milk's predilections were far from uncommon. (In my upcoming book, I will go into greater detail.) For many older men within the gay world continually lure, deceive, and then feed upon those who are just entering the homosexual sphere. It's all sickeningly vampiristic. Much of this is the result of earlier childhood trauma; the molestation of a boy by a trusted adult. Tragically, when these wounded boys grow up, they repeat it all over again.

Note: In California public schools: May 22 is celebrated as “Harvey Milk Day.”