"Milk"

Saw Milk on Friday. Really enjoyed Sean Penn, who got that Five Towns accent down, and James Franco, who was just cute as a button in his '70s get-up and hairdo. I learned a lot -- about Cleve Jones, who went on to conceive the "NAMES Project" AIDs quilt -- and about Milk's coalition with labor unions, which was born in a Coors beer boycott. And I found myself nodding when Milk said, "They'll vote for us 2-to-1 if they know one of us" (because I only got over my own homophobia when I started to sit next to out gay people in the workplace).

I've read a couple of reviews that suggested that Harvey Milk's assassin, Dan White, was motivated by his own repressed homosexuality. Maybe. At least as portrayed in the film, what I got was that White was put off by and maybe jealous of the seeming ease with which Milk dealt not just with his sexual orientation, but with politics and friendship. White seemed just plain awkward, frustrated in every way, and unable to let his guard down and connect with anyone on any level, while Milk seemed like a real mensch.

Found myself wondering what might have been. My friend Exposito thinks Milk could have gone on to become mayor of San Francisco (and Moscone governor of California) and perhaps more. I found myself understanding the magnitude of the country's loss of the guy. So in honor of the late Harvey Milk and all the gay people who are still taking crap during what I believe is this last gasp of bigoted freaks, I give you something special. Stay with it until 0:34.