The only thing they have to look forward to is hope. And you have to give them hope. Hope for a better world, hope for a better tomorrow, hope for a better place to come to if the pressures at home are too great. Hope that all will be all right. Without hope, not only gays, but the blacks, the seniors, the handicapped, the us'es, the us'es will give up. And if you help elect to the central committee and other offices, more gay people, that gives a green light to all who feel disenfranchised, a green light to move forward. It means hope to a nation that has given up, because if a gay person makes it, the doors are open to everyone. So if there is a message I have to give, it is that if I've found one overriding thing about my personal election, it's the fact that if a gay person can be elected, it's a green light. And you and you and you, you have to give people hope....(Goodreads Inc.)

Every group of individuals in the United States, at one time or another, has faced discrimination, and many have had to fight for their rights. The path for civil freedom, for any group, is never easy. The fight for gay rights has had major events, seen as turning points that have had a lasting impact on society. Throughout the Gay Rights Movement organizations have been created, studies have been completed, riots have been led, and people have left their mark and died for the cause. The rights for marriage, hospital visitation, adoption, equal employment, housing opportunities, and protection from hate crimes were being fought for, for the entire gay community (Guardian US Interactive Team). The initial movement worked towards a simplistic goal of getting the gays to be treated equally in public. It wasn’t until after 1980 that the community began to work towards gaining all the same rights that straight individuals already had.

There are two major misconceptions of the Gay Rights Movement. The first being which rights are being fought for. When people hear gay rights they typically only think of same-sex marriage, but it is much more than that. Not only are they fighting for marriage equality, they are fighting for equal rights across the board as well as protection from hate crimes and discrimination (Guardian US Interactive Team). The main misconception people have about gay rights is that the Gay Rights Movement only fights for the rights of gay men and women. In reality the movement fights for the rights of the entire LGBT+ community. LGBT+ is an umbrella acronym which represents people of all gender and sexual identities including those who are, but not limited to, lesbian, gay, bisexual, pansexual, transsexual, asexual, transgender, intergender, queer, questioning, and/or intersex (Killermann).

The first documented event of the gay rights movement occurred on December 10, 1924 when the Society for Human Rights in Chicago becomes known as the first documented gay rights organization in America (Infoplease). Although this event happened in the early 1920s the next stepping stone in the movement was not until 1948, when biologist and sex researcher, Alfred Kinsey, published his findings in a book entitled Sexual Behavior in the Human Male (PBS). This book, as well as the one Kinsey published in 1953, Sexual Behavior in the Human Female, were dedicated to describing the variations in groups and individuals in sexual behavior (The Kinsey Institute).  Before providing specific statistics Kinsey generalizes the findings by saying,
Homosexual contacts account, therefore, for a rather small but still significant portion of the total outlet of the human male. The significance of the homosexual is, furthermore, much greater than the frequencies of outlet may indicate, because a considerable population, perhaps the major portion of the male population, has at least some homosexual experience between adolescence and old age. . .there is an additional group of adult males who avoid overt contacts but who are quite aware of their potentialities for reacting to other males. (Kinsey, 610)

In these few sentences Kinsey manages to not only point out the fact that homosexuality is present in a significant amount of males, but also states that the number would be higher if more males acted on the feelings and urges which they know are present. Kinsey later gives the exact statistics of his findings in which he states,
37 per cent of the total male population has at least some overt homosexual experience to the point of orgasm between adolescence and old age (Figure 156). This accounts for nearly 2 males out of every 5 that one may meet. (Kinsey, 650)

With his findings he was able to conclude that “37% of males and 13% of females had at least one” instance of same sex contact to the point of orgasm (The Kinsey Institute). These findings were the first to show just how widely spread homosexuality really was (Infoplease). Society had been aware of the fact that homosexuality was part of the world around them, but either few knew how widespread it was, or many were in denial of the extent to which it was present. With the statistical numbers now published the eyes of many people were opened.
Over the next few years the gay rights movement took several small steps, the first of which being the formation of the Daughters of Bilitis in September of 1955 (PBS). The organization was established in San Francisco and became the first lesbian rights organization in the United States. In January of 1958, the case of One, Inc. v. Olesen is taken to the Supreme Court (PBS). The lawsuit was due to the fact that the U.S. Postal Service and the FBI declared that the LGBT+ magazine, “One: The Homosexual Magazine” consisted of obscene material (PBS). The Supreme Court ruled in favor of the magazine saying that it was part of their First Amendment right. This case marked the first time that the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of the LGBT+ community. Four years later, in January of 1962, Illinois repealed its sodomy laws, laws stating that certain sexual acts are illegal (PBS). With this action Illinois becomes the first U.S. state to decriminalize homosexuality.
The next landmark date is July 4, 1965 when picketers staged the first Remember Day at Independence Hall in Philadelphia (PBS). The gathering, which occurred annually for five years, worked towards raising public awareness to the lack of civil rights given to the LGBT+ community. National Transsexual Counseling Unit was established in August of 1966, becoming the first peer-run support group in the world (PBS). The organization was set up after a police officer manhandled a transgender patron at a 24-hour cafeteria in San Francisco. The woman threw coffee at the police officer and a riot ensued. People began spilling out on to the streets and destroying public property (PBS).
Although these and other events had already occurred the Stonewall Riots were, “credited with reigniting the fire behind America's modern LGBT rights movement (PBS).” Although it was not the first of this kind of riot, it created the most momentum. In 1969 the act of homosexual relations was illegal in New York and many other urban areas (Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica). Gay bars were sanctuaries for members of the LGBT+ community where they could relax and socialize without public harassment. These bars were often times the location of police harassment. One well known gay bar in New York was a small crowded bar, the Stonewall Inn, in Greenwich Village (Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica).

Just after 3 a.m. on June 28, 1969, the Stonewall Inn was raided by the police (Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica). The raid came because the bar was supposedly serving alcohol without a liquor license . Nine policemen entered the bar and arrested the employees, beat many of the customers and cleared the bar (Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica). They took several people into custody due to a New York criminal statute that allowed the arrest of anyone who was not wearing at least three articles of gender appropriate clothing. This raid was the third in Greenwich Village over a short period of time.

This time the angry people outside of the bar did not disperse as they had each time in the past. “When three drag queens and a lesbian were forced into the paddy wagon, the crowd began throwing bottles at the police (A&E “Stonewall”).” The police barricaded themselves in the bar and waited for reinforcements to arrive to help break up the crowd. While barricaded in the bar the crowd grew to over 400 people and the bar was set on fire . The police reinforcements arrived in enough time to extinguish the fire and eventually managed to disperse the crowd, but the riot was not over yet (Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica).
The riot continued for the next five days . It is classified as being “a spontaneous protest against the perpetual police harassment and social discrimination suffered by a variety of sexual minorities in the 1960s (Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica).” The Stonewall incident was a major stepping stone because even though it was not the first riot brought about by the gay community, it was the first incident in which lesbians, gays, and transgender people united together against a common cause. Stonewall became a symbol of resistance and helped to unite the LGBT+ community for decades (Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica).
In an interview with NPR host Michael Martin, Danny Garvin and Martin Boyce spoke about their experiences at the Stonewall Inn on the night of the raid. Mr. Boyce had been down the street when the raid began. When asked about that night he said,

Well, there was a lot of commotion that we noticed down the block, and that's where Stonewall was. And a number of people passing would say, I think they're raided. I think they're raided. So we decided to go and see what happened. At that point, the paddy wagon started pulling out, and as they pulled out, we were left with the police in front of us. We were forming like an arc around the door or like an amphitheater, and then we started, like zombies, to move forward, and as we kept moving forward, they all of a sudden started moving backwards. In other words, they blinked, and then we looked at them as if, you know, Dachau was liberated, and there was nothing between us and our former captors. And we just kept going until they barricaded themselves in the Stonewall. Now they were prisoners of the situation. . . I was watching the police eyes through the speak-easy hole, and they were laughing at first, and they thought it was humorous. But there was a tinge nervousness and a growing sense of alarm when they started smashing the door down and lighting it on fire. (NPR)
Mr. Boyce did not view the riot as a win, he viewed it as a start. He speaks of the cause being, “Frustration, years of frustration (NPR).”
Later on in the same interview Martin asked Mr. Garvin what change he believed was brought about by Stonewall. He answered the question by saying,
The whole action of that night was we never realized how connected we were as a community. That it didn't make a difference if you were a drag queen, or if you were a leather queen, or if you were just a young kid, or if you were an older person over 30, we were all fighting for a right, at least to me to get back into the bar, to be able to dance, not be oppressed. You know, to be able to have the rights that these heterosexuals are claiming they have. I think that's what we were fighting for, what we're still fighting for 40 years later. (NPR)
Mr. Boyce added to the same question by saying,

I think before Stonewall there were really homosexualities. I mean like the scare drag queens like me sometimes would be mistreated really by older gay guys or what they call A-gays or regular gay guys, because we were giving them a bad image. We were divided that way. But all of us, in some way, knew something about ourselves and the thing that Stonewall changed is that our individual pride reached a consensus and now we had a group pride. (NPR)

These quotes from men who were present at the riots show just how influential the riot was to the LGBT+ community. The Stonewall Riots served as a major stepping stone and brought the community together as a whole.

With the many events that contained numerous people, the single people often get forgotten, but one of the major icons of the gay rights movement is Harvey Milk, a man born in New York in 1930 (A&E “Harvey”). After joining the U.S .Navy and later being a public school teacher in New York, Milk decided to move out west to San Francisco where he opened a small business called Castro Cameras (A&E “Harvey”). In late 1972 his business, located on Castro Street in the center of the city’s gay community, became a meeting place for members of the community (A&E “Harvey”). While living in San Francisco, Milk became outspoken in matter of politics and in 1973 he declared that he would be running for a place on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors (A&E “Harvey”). Milk the lost the election but did not give up there, two years later he ran again for the same seat and barely lost (A&E “Harvey”). During this time he became a well known outspoken leader in the gay community and gained political connections including connections with San Francisco mayor George Moscone, Assembly speaker Willie Brown and future United States senator Dianne Feinstein. In 1977 Milk finally won a seat on the San Francisco City-County Board and was inaugurated on January 9, 1978 (A&E “Harvey”). His election made him the city’s first openly gay officer and one of the first openly gay individuals to be elected into office in the U.S. (A&E “Harvey” ).

In 1978 Milk gave a speech entitled “The Hope Speech” in which he spoke about the way people are judged and how the voices of different communities are seen and heard (Roc). He talked about how groups are labeled with stereotypes at which point he said,

But today, the black community is not judged by its friends, but by its black legislators and leaders. And we must give people the chance to judge us by our leaders and legislators. A gay person in office can set a tone, can command respect not only from the larger community, but from the young people in our own community who need both examples and hope. (Roc)

Throughout his speech he talks about many groups, not solely the LGBT+ community. He brings up the idea of having hope, losing hope, and giving hope. Towards the end he discusses what happens when people lose hope. He does this by saying,

I can't forget the looks on faces of people who've lost hope. Be they gay, be they seniors, be they blacks looking for an almost-impossible job, be they Latins trying to explain their problems and aspirations in a tongue that's foreign to them. I personally will never forget that people are more important than buildings. I use the word "I" because I'm proud. I stand here tonight in front of my gay sisters, brothers and friends because I'm proud of you. I think it's time that we have many legislators who are gay and proud of that fact...(Roc)
He ends the speech by inspiring people to have hope as well as to give hope to other people.

While in office Milk and Mayor George Moscone worked to get rid of the city’s anti-sodomy laws, but working against them was Supervisor Dan White (A&E “Harvey” ). White had majorly different views and in 1978, a year after his election into office, White resigned from his position on the board (A&E “Harvey”). On November 27, 1978 White smuggled a .38 revolver into City Hall (A&E “Harvey”). He went to Mayor George Moscone and demanded to be reappointed, when the mayor refused White shot him a total of four times, twice in the head and twice in the chest (A&E “Harvey”). He then continued down the hall and shot Milk five times, twice in the chest, once in the back, and twice in the head (A&E “Harvey”).

When put on trial White was convicted of voluntary manslaughter rather than murder and served only six years in prison (A&E “Harvey”). As a result of his lowered conviction the peaceful demonstrations being put on by Castro's gay community outside of City Hall, turned violent. Riots ensued and the police responded by entering nightclubs and assaulting patrons. By the end of the riot 124 people were injured, with almost half being police officers (A&E “Harvey”). This night is referred to as the “The White Night Riots” (A&E “Harvey”). These riots as well as the life of Harvey Milk are well remembered among members of the LGBT+ community.

These events, which all occurred prior to 1980, worked towards getting the gay community viewed as equals to the rest of society, but the movement didn’t end there. The first event triggered a domino effect in the gay community and people began fighting for all their rights. After 1980 the community began fighting to the right to marry the one they love, regardless of gender. They began to fight less for the simple acknowledgement that they were equals to the rest of society and began the fight for equal rights.

When any group has to fight for their rights the process is expected to be long and hard. The battle for what they deserve is often full of undeserved obstacles and unnecessary violence. Due to the beliefs of the some, the rights for many are denied. In the Gay Rights Movement people have worked to create organizations, complete studies, lead riots, and live and die for the cause. Over time progress has been made, but the Gay Rights Movement still has a long way to go.

Bibliography
A&E Networks Television. "Harvey Milk Biography." Bio.com. A&E Networks Television, 2015.
Web. 15 Jan. 2015. .
A&E Television Networks. "The Stonewall Riot." History.com. A&E Television Networks, 2014. Web. 15 Jan. 2015. .
Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica. "Stonewall Riots." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica, 2015. Web. 23 Jan. 2015. .
Goodreads Inc. "Harvey Milk Quotes." Goodreads. Goodreads Inc., 2014. Web. 19 Nov. 2014. .
Guardian US Interactive Team. "Gay Rights in the US." The Guardian. Guardian News, 8 May 2012. Web. 19 Nov. 2014. .
Infoplease. "The American Gay Rights Movement: A Timeline." Infoplease. Infoplease, 2013. Web. 24 September 2014. .
Killermann, Sam. "Comprehensive List of LGBTQ+ Term Definitions." It’s Pronounced Metrosexual. It's Pronounced Metrosexual, 17 July 2014. Web. 16 Nov. 2014. .
Kinsey, Alfred C., Wardell B. Pomeroy, and Clyde E. Martin. Sexual Behavior in the Human Male. Philadelphia: W. B. Saunders, 1948. Print.
The Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender, and Reproduction, Inc. "Data from Alfred Kinsey’s Studies." The Kinsey Institute. The Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender, and Reproduction, Inc., 2014. Web. 24 September 2014. .
NPR. "Stonewall Rebellion A Marker For Gay Rights, Progress." NPR. NPR, 1 July 2009. Web. 25 Jan. 2015. .
PBS. "Timeline: Milestones in the American Gay Rights Movement." PBS. PBS, 2013. Web. 24 September 2014. .
Roc, Dana. "The Hope Speech : Harvey Milk." The Hope Speech : Harvey Milk. Dana Roc Productions, 2015. Web. Nov.-Dec. 2014. .The only thing they have to look forward to is hope. And you have to give them hope. Hope for a better world, hope for a better tomorrow, hope for a better place to come to if the pressures at home are too great. Hope that all will be all right. Without hope, not only gays, but the blacks, the seniors, the handicapped, the us'es, the us'es will give up. And if you help elect to the central committee and other offices, more gay people, that gives a green light to all who feel disenfranchised, a green light to move forward. It means hope to a nation that has given up, because if a gay person makes it, the doors are open to everyone. So if there is a message I have to give, it is that if I've found one overriding thing about my personal election, it's the fact that if a gay person can be elected, it's a green light. And you and you and you, you have to give people hope....(Goodreads Inc.)

Every group of individuals in the United States, at one time or another, has faced discrimination, and many have had to fight for their rights. The path for civil freedom, for any group, is never easy. The fight for gay rights has had major events, seen as turning points that have had a lasting impact on society. Throughout the Gay Rights Movement organizations have been created, studies have been completed, riots have been led, and people have left their mark and died for the cause. The rights for marriage, hospital visitation, adoption, equal employment, housing opportunities, and protection from hate crimes were being fought for, for the entire gay community (Guardian US Interactive Team). The initial movement worked towards a simplistic goal of getting the gays to be treated equally in public. It wasn’t until after 1980 that the community began to work towards gaining all the same rights that straight individuals already had.
There are two major misconceptions of the Gay Rights Movement. The first being which rights are being fought for. When people hear gay rights they typically only think of same-sex marriage, but it is much more than that. Not only are they fighting for marriage equality, they are fighting for equal rights across the board as well as protection from hate crimes and discrimination (Guardian US Interactive Team). The main misconception people have about gay rights is that the Gay Rights Movement only fights for the rights of gay men and women. In reality the movement fights for the rights of the entire LGBT+ community. LGBT+ is an umbrella acronym which represents people of all gender and sexual identities including those who are, but not limited to, lesbian, gay, bisexual, pansexual, transsexual, asexual, transgender, intergender, queer, questioning, and/or intersex (Killermann).
The first documented event of the gay rights movement occurred on December 10, 1924 when the Society for Human Rights in Chicago becomes known as the first documented gay rights organization in America (Infoplease). Although this event happened in the early 1920s the next stepping stone in the movement was not until 1948, when biologist and sex researcher, Alfred Kinsey, published his findings in a book entitled Sexual Behavior in the Human Male (PBS). This book, as well as the one Kinsey published in 1953, Sexual Behavior in the Human Female, were dedicated to describing the variations in groups and individuals in sexual behavior (The Kinsey Institute).  Before providing specific statistics Kinsey generalizes the findings by saying,
Homosexual contacts account, therefore, for a rather small but still significant portion of the total outlet of the human male. The significance of the homosexual is, furthermore, much greater than the frequencies of outlet may indicate, because a considerable population, perhaps the major portion of the male population, has at least some homosexual experience between adolescence and old age. . .there is an additional group of adult males who avoid overt contacts but who are quite aware of their potentialities for reacting to other males. (Kinsey, 610)
In these few sentences Kinsey manages to not only point out the fact that homosexuality is present in a significant amount of males, but also states that the number would be higher if more males acted on the feelings and urges which they know are present. Kinsey later gives the exact statistics of his findings in which he states,
37 per cent of the total male population has at least some overt homosexual experience to the point of orgasm between adolescence and old age (Figure 156). This accounts for nearly 2 males out of every 5 that one may meet. (Kinsey, 650)
With his findings he was able to conclude that “37% of males and 13% of females had at least one” instance of same sex contact to the point of orgasm (The Kinsey Institute). These findings were the first to show just how widely spread homosexuality really was (Infoplease). Society had been aware of the fact that homosexuality was part of the world around them, but either few knew how widespread it was, or many were in denial of the extent to which it was present. With the statistical numbers now published the eyes of many people were opened.
Over the next few years the gay rights movement took several small steps, the first of which being the formation of the Daughters of Bilitis in September of 1955 (PBS). The organization was established in San Francisco and became the first lesbian rights organization in the United States. In January of 1958, the case of One, Inc. v. Olesen is taken to the Supreme Court (PBS). The lawsuit was due to the fact that the U.S. Postal Service and the FBI declared that the LGBT+ magazine, “One: The Homosexual Magazine” consisted of obscene material (PBS). The Supreme Court ruled in favor of the magazine saying that it was part of their First Amendment right. This case marked the first time that the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of the LGBT+ community. Four years later, in January of 1962, Illinois repealed its sodomy laws, laws stating that certain sexual acts are illegal (PBS). With this action Illinois becomes the first U.S. state to decriminalize homosexuality.
The next landmark date is July 4, 1965 when picketers staged the first Remember Day at Independence Hall in Philadelphia (PBS). The gathering, which occurred annually for five years, worked towards raising public awareness to the lack of civil rights given to the LGBT+ community. National Transsexual Counseling Unit was established in August of 1966, becoming the first peer-run support group in the world (PBS). The organization was set up after a police officer manhandled a transgender patron at a 24-hour cafeteria in San Francisco. The woman threw coffee at the police officer and a riot ensued. People began spilling out on to the streets and destroying public property (PBS).
Although these and other events had already occurred the Stonewall Riots were, “credited with reigniting the fire behind America's modern LGBT rights movement (PBS).” Although it was not the first of this kind of riot, it created the most momentum. In 1969 the act of homosexual relations was illegal in New York and many other urban areas (Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica). Gay bars were sanctuaries for members of the LGBT+ community where they could relax and socialize without public harassment. These bars were often times the location of police harassment. One well known gay bar in New York was a small crowded bar, the Stonewall Inn, in Greenwich Village (Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica).
Just after 3 a.m. on June 28, 1969, the Stonewall Inn was raided by the police (Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica). The raid came because the bar was supposedly serving alcohol without a liquor license . Nine policemen entered the bar and arrested the employees, beat many of the customers and cleared the bar (Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica). They took several people into custody due to a New York criminal statute that allowed the arrest of anyone who was not wearing at least three articles of gender appropriate clothing. This raid was the third in Greenwich Village over a short period of time.
This time the angry people outside of the bar did not disperse as they had each time in the past. “When three drag queens and a lesbian were forced into the paddy wagon, the crowd began throwing bottles at the police (A&E “Stonewall”).” The police barricaded themselves in the bar and waited for reinforcements to arrive to help break up the crowd. While barricaded in the bar the crowd grew to over 400 people and the bar was set on fire . The police reinforcements arrived in enough time to extinguish the fire and eventually managed to disperse the crowd, but the riot was not over yet (Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica).
The riot continued for the next five days . It is classified as being “a spontaneous protest against the perpetual police harassment and social discrimination suffered by a variety of sexual minorities in the 1960s (Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica).” The Stonewall incident was a major stepping stone because even though it was not the first riot brought about by the gay community, it was the first incident in which lesbians, gays, and transgender people united together against a common cause. Stonewall became a symbol of resistance and helped to unite the LGBT+ community for decades (Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica).
In an interview with NPR host Michael Martin, Danny Garvin and Martin Boyce spoke about their experiences at the Stonewall Inn on the night of the raid. Mr. Boyce had been down the street when the raid began. When asked about that night he said,
Well, there was a lot of commotion that we noticed down the block, and that's where Stonewall was. And a number of people passing would say, I think they're raided. I think they're raided. So we decided to go and see what happened. At that point, the paddy wagon started pulling out, and as they pulled out, we were left with the police in front of us. We were forming like an arc around the door or like an amphitheater, and then we started, like zombies, to move forward, and as we kept moving forward, they all of a sudden started moving backwards. In other words, they blinked, and then we looked at them as if, you know, Dachau was liberated, and there was nothing between us and our former captors. And we just kept going until they barricaded themselves in the Stonewall. Now they were prisoners of the situation. . . I was watching the police eyes through the speak-easy hole, and they were laughing at first, and they thought it was humorous. But there was a tinge nervousness and a growing sense of alarm when they started smashing the door down and lighting it on fire. (NPR)
Mr. Boyce did not view the riot as a win, he viewed it as a start. He speaks of the cause being, “Frustration, years of frustration (NPR).”
Later on in the same interview Martin asked Mr. Garvin what change he believed was brought about by Stonewall. He answered the question by saying,
The whole action of that night was we never realized how connected we were as a community. That it didn't make a difference if you were a drag queen, or if you were a leather queen, or if you were just a young kid, or if you were an older person over 30, we were all fighting for a right, at least to me to get back into the bar, to be able to dance, not be oppressed. You know, to be able to have the rights that these heterosexuals are claiming they have. I think that's what we were fighting for, what we're still fighting for 40 years later. (NPR)
Mr. Boyce added to the same question by saying,
I think before Stonewall there were really homosexualities. I mean like the scare drag queens like me sometimes would be mistreated really by older gay guys or what they call A-gays or regular gay guys, because we were giving them a bad image. We were divided that way. But all of us, in some way, knew something about ourselves and the thing that Stonewall changed is that our individual pride reached a consensus and now we had a group pride. (NPR)
These quotes from men who were present at the riots show just how influential the riot was to the LGBT+ community. The Stonewall Riots served as a major stepping stone and brought the community together as a whole.
With the many events that contained numerous people, the single people often get forgotten, but one of the major icons of the gay rights movement is Harvey Milk, a man born in New York in 1930 (A&E “Harvey”). After joining the U.S .Navy and later being a public school teacher in New York, Milk decided to move out west to San Francisco where he opened a small business called Castro Cameras (A&E “Harvey”). In late 1972 his business, located on Castro Street in the center of the city’s gay community, became a meeting place for members of the community (A&E “Harvey”). While living in San Francisco, Milk became outspoken in matter of politics and in 1973 he declared that he would be running for a place on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors (A&E “Harvey”). Milk the lost the election but did not give up there, two years later he ran again for the same seat and barely lost (A&E “Harvey”). During this time he became a well known outspoken leader in the gay community and gained political connections including connections with San Francisco mayor George Moscone, Assembly speaker Willie Brown and future United States senator Dianne Feinstein. In 1977 Milk finally won a seat on the San Francisco City-County Board and was inaugurated on January 9, 1978 (A&E “Harvey”). His election made him the city’s first openly gay officer and one of the first openly gay individuals to be elected into office in the U.S. (A&E “Harvey” ).
In 1978 Milk gave a speech entitled “The Hope Speech” in which he spoke about the way people are judged and how the voices of different communities are seen and heard (Roc). He talked about how groups are labeled with stereotypes at which point he said,
But today, the black community is not judged by its friends, but by its black legislators and leaders. And we must give people the chance to judge us by our leaders and legislators. A gay person in office can set a tone, can command respect not only from the larger community, but from the young people in our own community who need both examples and hope. (Roc)
Throughout his speech he talks about many groups, not solely the LGBT+ community. He brings up the idea of having hope, losing hope, and giving hope. Towards the end he discusses what happens when people lose hope. He does this by saying,
I can't forget the looks on faces of people who've lost hope. Be they gay, be they seniors, be they blacks looking for an almost-impossible job, be they Latins trying to explain their problems and aspirations in a tongue that's foreign to them. I personally will never forget that people are more important than buildings. I use the word "I" because I'm proud. I stand here tonight in front of my gay sisters, brothers and friends because I'm proud of you. I think it's time that we have many legislators who are gay and proud of that fact...(Roc)
He ends the speech by inspiring people to have hope as well as to give hope to other people.
While in office Milk and Mayor George Moscone worked to get rid of the city’s anti-sodomy laws, but working against them was Supervisor Dan White (A&E “Harvey” ). White had majorly different views and in 1978, a year after his election into office, White resigned from his position on the board (A&E “Harvey”). On November 27, 1978 White smuggled a .38 revolver into City Hall (A&E “Harvey”). He went to Mayor George Moscone and demanded to be reappointed, when the mayor refused White shot him a total of four times, twice in the head and twice in the chest (A&E “Harvey”). He then continued down the hall and shot Milk five times, twice in the chest, once in the back, and twice in the head (A&E “Harvey”).
When put on trial White was convicted of voluntary manslaughter rather than murder and served only six years in prison (A&E “Harvey”). As a result of his lowered conviction the peaceful demonstrations being put on by Castro's gay community outside of City Hall, turned violent. Riots ensued and the police responded by entering nightclubs and assaulting patrons. By the end of the riot 124 people were injured, with almost half being police officers (A&E “Harvey”). This night is referred to as the “The White Night Riots” (A&E “Harvey”). These riots as well as the life of Harvey Milk are well remembered among members of the LGBT+ community.
These events, which all occurred prior to 1980, worked towards getting the gay community viewed as equals to the rest of society, but the movement didn’t end there. The first event triggered a domino effect in the gay community and people began fighting for all their rights. After 1980 the community began fighting to the right to marry the one they love, regardless of gender. They began to fight less for the simple acknowledgement that they were equals to the rest of society and began the fight for equal rights.
When any group has to fight for their rights the process is expected to be long and hard. The battle for what they deserve is often full of undeserved obstacles and unnecessary violence. Due to the beliefs of the some, the rights for many are denied. In the Gay Rights Movement people have worked to create organizations, complete studies, lead riots, and live and die for the cause. Over time progress has been made, but the Gay Rights Movement still has a long way to go.

Bibliography
A&E Networks Television. "Harvey Milk Biography." Bio.com. A&E Networks Television, 2015.
Web. 15 Jan. 2015. .
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