Gay People Make Me Cry

I was watching "The Sex Revolution" on VH1 tonight (this morning?).

They covered the shooting of George Muscone and Harvey Milk. That shit always gets me emotional. Something to do with the combination of prejudice against sexual minorities and failings of the legal system that seems to get me teary-eyed.

If you're not familiar with the case, George Muscone was the mayor of the city of San Francisco in the early 70s (which at that time was primarily conservative, remember that Ronald Reagan came from California...remember that people also consider him conservative...) The city also had a 'democratically' elected Board of Supervisors. Harvey Milk was elected to the Board of Supervisors and was the city's first elected openly homosexual city official. Dan White, a former police officer and conservative, was also on the Board of Supervisors until he tendered his resignation because he claimed the job didn't pay enough.

A few weeks later, White went to Muscone to ask that his resignation be redacted. Muscone said that he'd have to talk to the attourney general to see if that were allowed for elected officials (turns out it wasn't). Harvey Milk, who was wary of White's social conservatism and unpopularity within his base (the Castro District - a primarily gay area), suggested that White not be reappointed.

White learned that he was not getting his position back on the board, and a couple of days later went into city hall through a window and shot George Muscone and Harvey Milk in their offices 4 times each (that's 8 rounds that he shot with a six-shooter).

White was sentenced seven years (of which he served five years, getting paroled) for voluntary manslaughter after having a psychiatrist give testimony saying that the diet Mr. White had taken to after he found out that he wouldn't be getting his job back (Twinkies and Coca-Cola) had the potential to cause aggression and irrational behavior. Due to his alleged 'diminished capacity', he was not held fully responsible for shooting two men in two different locations at point blank range.

A year after his parole, he committed suicide by running a gardening hose from the exhaust pipe of his car to the cabin and turning it on.

The first time I was deeply moved by the event (to tears, actually) was when reading Emily Mann's play "The Execution of Justice" this past semester. I was angry partially about the fact that a white man who definitely shot two city officials got off with 5 years, but a man who might have shot a police officer (Mumia Abu Jamal) is currently on death row. I was also angry at the manipulation of the jury with respect to their prejudices against homosexuals.

I strongly recommend reading the play and crying. Well, reading the play at least.