"Gordon Lau Gordon J. Lau (, August 22, 1941 – April 20, 1998) was the first Chinese American elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in San Francisco, California. He was elected to the city board of supervisors under Mayor George Moscone in 1977. Other notable supervisors at the time included Dianne Feinstein, Carol Ruth Silver, Quentin L. Kopp, Dan White, and Harvey Milk (the first openly gay individual to serve). Lau was born in Honolulu, Hawaii and moved with his parents to San Francisco when he was 11 years old. He attended elementary school at St. Mary's, graduated"
"are also addressed, as is his tenuous affiliation with troubled Supervisor Dan White; the film ends with White's double homicide of Milk and Mayor George Moscone. The film's release was tied to the 2008 California voter referendum on gay marriage, Proposition 8, when it made its premiere at the Castro Theatre two weeks before election day. The film opens with archival footage of police raiding gay bars and arresting patrons during the 1950s and 1960s, followed by Dianne Feinstein's November 27, 1978 announcement to the press that Harvey Milk and Mayor George Moscone had been assassinated. Milk is seen recording"
"Milk's head, killing him, followed by a fifth shot into his skull at close range. White fled the scene as Feinstein entered the office where Milk lay dead. She felt Milk's neck for a pulse, her finger entering a bullet wound. Horrified, Feinstein was shaking so badly she required support from the police chief after identifying both bodies. Feinstein then announced the murders to a stunned public, stating: ""As President of the Board of Supervisors, it's my duty to make this announcement. Both Mayor Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk have been shot and killed. The suspect is Supervisor Dan White."""
"shot and killed, and the suspect is Supervisor Dan White."" Milk was 48 years old. Moscone was 49. Within an hour, White called his wife from a nearby diner; she met him at a church and was with him when he turned himself in. Many people left flowers on the steps of City Hall, and that evening 25,000 to 40,000 formed a spontaneous candlelight march from Castro Street to City Hall. The next day, the bodies of Moscone and Milk were brought to the City Hall rotunda where mourners paid their respects. Six thousand mourners attended a service for Mayor"
"politician, Dan White, who had resigned from the Board of Supervisors two weeks earlier. Feinstein was in City Hall at the time of the shootings and discovered Milk's body after hearing the shots. Later that day Feinstein announced the assassinations had occurred. As President of the Board of Supervisors upon the death of Moscone, Feinstein succeeded to the mayoralty on December 4, 1978. Feinstein served out the remainder of Moscone's term and was elected in her own right in 1979. She was re-elected in 1983 and served a full second term. One of Feinstein's first challenges as mayor was the"
"city's first district elections for Board of Supervisors took place in November 1977. Among those elected were the city's first openly gay Supervisor, Harvey Milk, single mother and attorney Carol Ruth Silver, Chinese-American Gordon Lau and fireman and police officer Dan White. Milk, Silver, and Lau along with John Molinari and Robert Gonzales made up Moscone's allies on the Board, while Dan White, Dianne Feinstein, Quentin Kopp, Ella Hill Hutch, Lee Dolson, and Ron Pelosi formed a loosely organized coalition to oppose Moscone and his initiatives. Feinstein was elected President of the Board of Supervisors on a 6–5 vote, with"
"the city. However, on November 27, 1978, Milk and Mayor George Moscone were assassinated by Dan White, another city supervisor who had recently resigned but wanted his job back. In 1979 Stephen Lachs became the first openly gay judge appointed in the United States. He is also thought but not proved to be the first openly gay judge appointed anywhere in the world. He served as a judge of the Los Angeles County Superior Court from 1979 to 1999. John Ward founded GLAD in 1978 and filed its first case, ""Doe v. McNiff"", that same year. GLAD is a non-profit"
"mother to win a seat in the Board), Gordon Lau (the first Asian American member) and Ella Hill Hutch (the first African American female member). Dan White, a police officer and former firefighter, also won election for the first time. After both Harvey Milk and then-mayor George Moscone were assassinated by Dan White in 1978, the future of electoral districts were cast in doubt. Feinstein, serving as president of the Board during the 1978 fiscal year, was immediately made mayor in Moscone's stead to serve out his term (with Louise Renne replacing her in the Board seat), becoming the first"
"post. In a December runoff election, he easily beat the incumbent and took office in January 1980. Dianne Feinstein was elected Mayor in this same runoff, after having been appointed Mayor in November 1978 to serve out the balance of George Moscone's term. Along with Supervisor Harvey Milk, Moscone had been assassinated in their City Hall offices by recently resigned ex-Supervisor Dan White. Until 1986 there were no ""qualifications"" to run for the elected office of county sheriff. The fact that there were no limits on who could run for sheriff resulted in some interesting challenges to sheriffs in the"
"and asked Milk to join him. White then shot Milk in the wrist, shoulder and chest, and then twice in the head, execution style. Supervisor Dianne Feinstein heard the gunshots and called the police, who found Milk on his stomach, blood pouring out of his head wounds. On May 21, 1979, White was found guilty of the voluntary manslaughter of Mayor Moscone and Supervisor Milk. The prosecutor asked for a finding of first-degree murder with ""special circumstances"", which would have permitted the death penalty under the terms of a recently adopted capital punishment law in California, Proposition 7. The ""special"
"meaning he received statements put in voters' pamphlets and equal news coverage. His platform included unconventional points such as forcing businessmen to wear clown suits within city limits, erecting statues of Dan White, who assassinated Mayor George Moscone and City Supervisor Harvey Milk in 1978, around the city and allowing the parks department to sell eggs and tomatoes with which people could pelt the statues, hiring workers who'd lost their jobs due to a tax initiative to panhandle in wealthy neighborhoods (including Dianne Feinstein's), and a citywide ban on cars. Biafra has expressed irritation that these parts of his platform"
"intern in Milk’s office while studying political science at San Francisco State University. In 1978, Dan White assassinated Harvey Milk, recently elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, along with San Francisco’s Mayor George Moscone, and Jones was one of the first people to see Milk's body after the assassination. Jones went to work in the district office of State Assemblyman Art Agnos. In 1983, when AIDS was still a new and largely underestimated threat, Jones co-founded the San Francisco AIDS Foundation. Jones conceived the idea of the AIDS Memorial Quilt at a candlelight memorial for Harvey Milk in"
"get much support, and shortly after supporting the proposition, resigns from the Board. He later changes his mind and asks to be reinstated. Mayor Moscone denies his request, after being lobbied by Milk. On the morning of November 27, 1978, White enters City Hall through a basement window to conceal a gun from metal detectors. He requests another meeting with Moscone, who rebuffs his request for appointment to his former seat. Enraged, White shoots Moscone in his office and then goes to meet Milk, where he guns him down, with the fatal bullet delivered execution-style. The film suggests that Milk"
"as the ""Briggs Initiative"" because it was sponsored by John Briggs), which would have banned gays and lesbians from teaching in public schools in California. Milk was murdered on November 27, 1978 in the Moscone–Milk assassinations. Riots broke out after the perpetrator, Dan White, received a manslaughter conviction, and was sentenced to seven years in prison. Gilbert Baker raised the first LGBT Pride flag at San Francisco Pride on June 25, 1978. The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence started in the Castro District in 1979, and eventually became nationwide. The San Francisco gay community was devastated by the AIDS epidemic following"
"traditional government-furnished headstone issued for war veterans. He was survived by his two sons, an infant daughter, and his widow. In 1998, Frank Falzon, the homicide inspector with the San Francisco police to whom White had turned himself in after the killings, said that he met with White in 1984, and that at this meeting White had confessed that he had intended to kill not only Moscone and Milk, but another supervisor, Carol Ruth Silver, as well as then-member of the California State Assembly and future San Francisco Mayor, Willie Brown. Falzon quoted White as having said, ""I was on"
"Moscone at St. Mary's Cathedral. Two memorials were held for Milk; a small one at Temple Emanu-El and a more boisterous one at the Opera House. In the wake of the Jonestown suicides, Moscone had recently increased security at City Hall. Cult survivors recounted drills for suicide preparations that Jones had called ""White Nights"". Rumors about the murders of Moscone and Milk were fueled by the coincidence of Dan White's name and Jones's suicide preparations. A stunned District Attorney called the assassinations so close to the news about Jonestown ""incomprehensible"", but denied any connection. Governor Jerry Brown ordered all flags"
"White, who was another city supervisor. White had recently resigned to pursue a private business enterprise, but that endeavor eventually failed and he sought to get his old job back. White was sentenced to seven years in prison for manslaughter, which was later reduced to five years. He was released in 1983 and committed suicide by carbon monoxide inhalation two years later. Despite his short career in politics, Milk became an icon in San Francisco and a martyr in the gay community. In 2002, Milk was called ""the most famous and most significantly open LGBT official ever elected in the"
"against homosexuals, pot smokers and cynics"". Despite their personal differences, White and Supervisor Harvey Milk had several areas of political agreement and initially worked well together. Harvey Milk was one of three people from the city hall invited to the baptism of White's newborn child shortly after the election. White also persuaded Dianne Feinstein, then president of the board of supervisors, to appoint Milk chairman of the Streets and Transportation Committee. The Catholic Church in April 1978 proposed a facility for juvenile offenders who had committed murder, arson, rape, and other crimes, to be operated by the Sisters of the"
"City Hall to meet with Moscone and make a final plea for appointment. White snuck into City Hall through a basement window to avoid the metal detector at the main door. He carried his old police revolver. When Moscone agreed to talk with him in a private room, White pulled the gun out of his suit jacket and shot and killed Moscone. White then re-loaded his gun, walked across City Hall, went to Milk's office and shot Milk, killing him as well. Dianne Feinstein, President of the Board of Supervisors, was sworn in as the city's new mayor and in"
"Tony Taccone about the effects the assassination had on him. It premiered at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in 2011. A public television documentary about Moscone's political career, ""Moscone: A Legacy of Change,"" debuted in November 2018, the 40th anniversary of Moscone's death. Produced by Nat Katzman, written by Stephen Talbot and narrated by Peter Coyote. George Moscone George Richard Moscone (; November 24, 1929 – November 27, 1978) was an American attorney and Democratic politician. He was the 37th mayor of San Francisco, California from January 1976 until his assassination in November 1978. He was known as ""the people's mayor"","
"of what has occurred, such as White resigning from his position as the Supervisor of District 8 of San Francisco, and the discussion of his intent to possibly withdraw that resignation. They discuss White's background, where he grew up in San Francisco, served in Vietnam, and was a police officer and fireman in San Francisco. They then discuss the wounds of the victims, and question the witnesses to the shooting of Milk and Moscone. White explains his side of the story, and the end of the act is Dan White, his wife Mary Ann, and the Jurors sobbing. Court then"
"the following years would emerge as one of California's most prominent politicians. White later turned himself in at the police station where he was formerly an officer. The term ""Twinkie defense"" has its origins in the murder trial that followed, in which Dan White was convicted of the lesser crime of manslaughter. Outrage over White's lenient sentence provoked a mass riot in San Francisco during which police cars were set on fire by angry protestors. White was released from prison and then shortly afterward committed suicide in 1985. Moscone is interred at Holy Cross Cemetery in Colma, California alongside his"
"to nationwide attention that same year and soon Shilts devoted himself to covering the unfolding story of the disease and its medical, social, and political ramifications. In addition to his extensive journalism, Shilts wrote three best-selling, widely acclaimed books. His first book, ""The Mayor of Castro Street: The Life and Times of Harvey Milk"", is a biography of openly gay San Francisco politician Harvey Milk, who was assassinated by a political rival, Dan White, in 1978. The book broke new ground, being written at a time when ""the very idea of a gay political biography was brand-new."" Shilts's second book,"
"Anne Kronenberg Anne Kronenberg is an American political administrator and LGBT rights activist. She is best known for being Harvey Milk's campaign manager during his historic San Francisco Board of Supervisors campaign in 1977 and his aide as he held that office until he and mayor George Moscone were assassinated. As an openly lesbian political activist, Kronenberg was noted for her instrumental role in the gay rights movement, both for Milk's campaign and in her own right, though she has since married a man. Kronenberg appeared in the 1984 documentary film ""The Times of Harvey Milk"" and her role in"
"of gays."" The rising frustration of the gay community, says Shilts, eventually culminated less than two months later in the White Night Riots following what the LGBT community saw as a lenient verdict and sentence against Milk and Moscone's killer, Dan White. In other historical accounts, Peg's Place has been mentioned as one of a variety of lesbian bars that existed in the San Francisco Bay Area in the 1970s and 1980s, including the Jubilee, the Driftwood, and the Bacchanal in the East Bay and Maud's, Wild Side West, Amelia's, and A Little More in San Francisco. In the 21st"
"Willie Brown, Moscone announced on November 26, 1978, that he would not be reappointing Dan White to the seat he had vacated. The next morning White went to City Hall armed with his police .38 Smith & Wesson revolver and 10 extra cartridges in his coat pocket. To avoid the metal detector he entered the building through a basement window, and proceeded to the office of Mayor George Moscone. Following a brief argument, White shot the Mayor in the shoulder and chest, and then twice in the head.<ref name=""nyt11/28/78""> </ref> White then walked to his former office, reloading his gun,"
"White would later confirm that the killings were premeditated. In 1984, he told former police Inspector Frank Falzon that not only had he planned to kill Moscone and Milk, but also had plans to kill Assemblyman Willie Brown and Supervisor Carol Ruth Silver. He believed that the four politicians were attempting to block his reinstatement as Supervisor. When told of the verdict, Milk's friend and activist Cleve Jones addressed an audience of about 500 people that had gathered on Castro Street, telling them of the verdict. With shouts of ""Out of the bars and into the streets"" Jones led a"
"interior of the vehicle, which he let fill with carbon monoxide. Mayor Feinstein said, ""This latest tragedy should close a very sad chapter in this city's history."" According to Orange County lawyer Jeff Walsworth, White had expressed remorse for the killings in February 1984. White reportedly stated that it would always cause him inner turmoil. Inspector Falzone said the contrary, however, commenting that at no time did White express remorse in any form at the deaths of Moscone and Milk. The community had a long history of conflict with the San Francisco Police Department. Following World War II, gay bars"
"a scene in the 1987 science fiction movie ""RoboCop"" in which a deranged former municipal official holds the mayor and others hostage and demands his job back. In 2003, the story of Milk's assassination and of the White Night Riot was featured in an exhibition created by the GLBT Historical Society, a San Francisco–based museum, archives and research center to which the estate of Scott Smith donated Milk's personal belongings that were preserved after his death. ""Saint Harvey: The Life and Afterlife of a Modern Gay Martyr"" was shown in the main gallery in the Society's former Mission Street location."
"Week. In the run up to the 1984 Democratic National Convention, there was considerable media and public speculation that Democratic presidential nominee Walter Mondale might pick Feinstein as his running mate. However, he chose Geraldine Ferraro instead. In 1987, ""City and State"" magazine named Feinstein the nation's ""Most Effective Mayor."" Feinstein served on the Trilateral Commission during the 1980s while mayor of San Francisco. Mayoralty of Dianne Feinstein Dianne Feinstein became mayor pro-tem of the City and County of San Francisco, California on December 4, 1978, following the Moscone–Milk assassinations in which her predecessor in office, George Moscone and fellow"
"in state at San Francisco City Hall. Moscone's funeral at St Mary's Cathedral was attended by 4,500 people. He was buried at Holy Cross Cemetery in Colma. Milk was cremated and his ashes were spread across the Pacific Ocean. Dianne Feinstein, as president of the Board of Supervisors, acceded to the Mayor's office, becoming the first female to serve in office. The coroner who worked on Moscone and Milk's bodies later concluded that the wrist and chest bullet wounds were not fatal, and that both victims probably would have survived with proper medical attention. However, the head wounds brought instant"
"Harvey Milk Day Harvey Milk Day is organized by the Harvey Milk Foundation and celebrated each year on May 22 in memory of Harvey Milk, a gay rights activist assassinated in 1978. Harvey Milk was a prominent gay activist during the twentieth century. He ran for office three times before becoming the first openly gay person elected into California public office, where he acted as a city supervisor. Harvey Milk Day came about as a day to remember and teach about Milk's life and his work to stop the discrimination against gays and lesbians. In California, Harvey Milk Day is"
"Moscone Recreation Center Moscone Recreation Center is a park located between Chestnut Street and Bay Street, Laguna Street and Webster Street in San Francisco's Marina District. Formerly known as Funston Park, the area was renamed in honor of San Francisco mayor George Moscone, who was assassinated in 1978. The park includes tennis courts, baseball diamonds, children's playgrounds, basketball courts, and putting greens. The park has been a favorite of San Franciscans since its inception in the 1920s. Joe DiMaggio took Marilyn Monroe on a stroll at the park in the hours prior to their marriage at City Hall. Robin Williams,"