Happy Harvey Milk Day!

Keeping Faith + Hope Alive In These Desolate Times

HARVEY MILK
(May 22, 1930 – November 27, 1978)

Today, we celebrate what would have been Harvey Milk’s 95th birthday. And for those of us in California, we celebrate Harvey Milk Day too.

The celebrations offer more than just moments of remembrance—they invite quiet reflection and calls for renewed responsibility.

For me, Harvey Milk Day isn’t just a history lesson; it’s a call to action. A spark. A reminder that hope isn’t a passive feeling, but a daily choice we make—often in direct defiance of despair, fear, and injustice.

I often find myself imagining what the world might have looked like if Harvey Milk had lived a full, long life.

• What causes would he have championed in the '80s, during the AIDS crisis, as the streets filled with protestors screaming for the powers that be to give a fuck about us, our lives, and our lost loves?

• What alliances would he have built in the '90s, as queer visibility exploded but so did backlash?

• What words of wisdom would he have shared in the new millennium, when progress and polarization seem to travel hand in hand? Would he be organizing online town halls or old-school rallies with a bullhorn in his hand and a fire in his heart?

I like to think he’d be doing all of the above—and more.

CHANNELING MY INNER HARVEY MILK

Last night, I discovered a pro-Chump group had subscribed to my newsletter. And not just mine. Several other LGBTQ+ creators on Substack noticed the same thing.

Coordinated or not, it felt like a chilling intrusion—like someone walking uninvited into a safe space, not to listen or learn, but to surveil, mock, or worse.

I removed them. But so far, I haven’t found a way to block them permanently. There’s no "forever and for good" option—at least not yet.

IF YOU’RE HERE AND NOT QUEER—OR AN ALLY—KINDLY GO THE FUCK AWAY. YOU AND YOUR BULLSHIT ARE NOT WELCOME HERE, DEAR.

THIS HOMO ALSO DON’T PLAY THAT.
DON’T FUCK AROUND. DON’T FIND OUT.

The part that pisses me off the most? Our spaces remain vulnerable and platforms make it damn near impossible to protect ourselves from assclowns and idiot mfers.

It doesn’t take much to make us queer folk feel unsafe in a world that still insists on dick-tatoring gender, love, lust, and sex. Even here, in the corners of the internet we have built ourselves, with care and creativity.

ON THE SHOULDERS OF GIANTS

Harvey Milk, the first openly gay elected official in California, didn't wait for safety. He didn't wait for perfect conditions. He knew there were literal targets on his back. He knew the risks of being out and outspoken in 1970s America.

But he also knew the stakes were higher than his own life.
Harvey Milk knew you cannot negotiate with fascists and terrorists.

“You’ve gotta give them hope. If a bullet should enter my brain, let that bullet destroy every closet door.”
Harvey Milk

I ponder and repeat Milk’s words like a mantra, especially when I'm tired. When I’m tempted to shrink my circle, pull the blinds, and just be quiet. When the world feels especially desolate and unworthy of our efforts and/or faiths.

Hope is not a mood. It’s a muscle. And if Harvey taught us anything, it’s to use our muscles and our voices. Again and again. Loudly and proudly. With the stubborn belief that belong here. That we matter. That our stories deserve to be told and retold, even when our enemies’ are watching and appear to be winning. For now.

So today, I will light candles for Harvey Milk. And for all the dreamers, punks, artists, lovers, loners, drag queens, trans trailblazers, and everyday queers who he inspired and keep his legacy alive in parades, pixels, and protests.

And I will light one more for the hope I refuse to give up.

Happy Harvey Milk Day. Let’s keep the faith, even when it’s hard.
Especially when it’s hard.

Keep calm and fight the powers that be!
Clint 🌈✌️

P.S. Way back in 1989, Sananda Maitreya—then known as Terence Trent D’Arby—released his second album, Neither Fish nor Flesh. It was far from a commercial or critical success at the time, but remains one of my all-time favorites. The opening track, “I Have Faith in These Desolate Times,” has been a guiding light for me whenever the world feels like it’s falling apart. Thank you, Mr. Maitreya!

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FOR YOUR (SUBSTACK) CONSIDERATION

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ON THIS DAY = MAY 22

BIRTHDAYS

• 1844 = Mary Cassatt = American painter and educator

• 1848 = Fritz von Uhde = German painter and educator

• 1859 = Arthur Conan Doyle = British writer

• 1907 = Laurence Olivier = English actor, director, and producer 🌈

• 1927 = Peter Matthiessen = American novelist, short story writer, editor, co-founded The Paris Review

• 1930 = Harvey Milk = American lieutenant and politician 🌈

• 1940 = Bernard Shaw = American journalist

• 1954 = Barbara May Cameron = Native American photographer, poet, writer, and activist 🌈

• 1959 = Morrissey = English singer-songwriter 🌈

• 1969 = Michael Kelly = American actor

• 1970 = Mark Bingham = American businessman 🌈

• 1974 = Sean Gunn = American actor

• 1970 = Naomi Campbell = English model

EVENTS

• 1846 = The Associated Press is formed in New York City as a non-profit news cooperative.

• 1849 = Future U.S. President Abraham Lincoln is issued a patent for an invention to lift boats, making him the only U.S. president to ever hold a patent.

• 1874 = Giuseppe Verdi's Requiem was first performed in the San Marco church in Milan to commemorate the first anniversary of Alessandro Manzoni's death.

• 1906 = The Wright brothers are granted U.S. patent number 821,393 for their "Flying-Machine.”

• 1992 = Encino Man is released in theaters.

• 1996 = Mission: Impossible is released in theaters.

HOLIDAYS + OBSERVANCES

• Harvey Milk Day

  • Harvey Milk Day 2025 (City of West Hollywood)

  • Harvey Milk Day 2025 (San Francisco Pride Band)

• National Maritime Day

PORTRAIT + QUOTES OF THE DAY

“All men are created equal. No matter how hard they try, they can never erase those words. That is what America is about.”
Harvey Milk, The Harvey Milk Interviews: In His Own Words

“I know you can't live on hope alone; but without hope, life is not worth living. So you, and you and you: you got to give them hope; you got to give them hope.”
Harvey Milk

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