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Birth/ Early years
Born on May 22, 1930 in Woodmere, New York. He resided in a small middle class town with his two brothers. At the time he was also working at his family department store by the name “Milk’s.” He would then go on to graduate from the New York State College for Teachers in 1951 followed by joining the U.S. Navy for a short while. Once he finished he’d move to New York City in 1955 where he worked various jobs involved with teaching or broadway whilst also making a few lgbt friends. -
Time in San Francisco
After a while in 1972, he’d move to San Francisco, California. While he was there he opened a small camera shop called Castro Camera, in the middle of the city’s LGBT community. He’d always been discreet about his sexuality and stayed mainly on the sidelines. Now that he was in San Francisco he’d be more open about himself and the rights towards other LGBT community members at the time, his camera shop became a neighborhood center as he found himself becoming a leader and activist -
Declared Presidency
In 1973 he decided to run for a position on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, so he declared his candidacy. With being a beginner and not having much money he lost the election, but he of course didn’t let that stop him from trying again. Two years later he lost the second election again but by that time he’d become a leader for the LGBT community with political connections included such as George Moscone, Willie Brown and Dianne Feinstein, so he had much more support. -
Elected in San Francisco's Board of Supervisors
In 1977 he got himself the nickname “Mayor of Castro Street” where his camera shop was located as he finally won a seat on the San Francisco City-Country Board, being inaugurated on January 9, 1978 becoming the city’s first openly gay individual to be elected to office in the United States, he did a lot of things for the LGBT community during his run, such as passing a gay rights ordinance for the city of San Francisco that prohibited anti-gay discrimination in housing and employment. -
Assasination
Dan White was troubled by the uprise in anti-gay discrimination, perceiving it all as a breakdown on “traditional values.” After White resigned from the board, he tried to get reappointed but got refused. On November 27, 1978 White snuck past security into the City Hall with a revolver, asking the mayor to be reappointed again and shooting him once the mayor stated his refusal. After, he headed down and shot Milk, soon after the events he turned himself in at the police station.