SWD 5

Harvey Milk

“If I turned around every time someone called me a faggot, I'd be walking backwards." (Homage to assassinated San Francisco alderman & gay equality proponent Harvey Milk)

Art: 2006
Media: Pencil, gouache, gold ink, silver ink, india ink, colored pencil and a TSA (Transportation Security Administration) ‘Cleared-JFK' metallic luggage sticker.

Framed, 30 inches H x 23 W

The quote of the title was attributed to Milk.

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The cartoonish dancing figure at lower left was based on a quick pencil sketch Segan drew of a former girlfriend when she danced at a performance at On the Boards, Seattle, late 1980's.

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The toy gun, mask, hair dryer, sheriff's badge and handcuffs were bought in a set of toys at a dollar store in Seattle,  December 5, 2006; they were manufactured in mainland China.

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The Tweety Bird cartoon character (lower left) was inspired by a pillowcase the artist had at the time he was working on the drawing. 

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The portrait of Milk was drawn from a photo by Daniel Nicoletta, p. 600,  in the book The American Century, by Harold Evans (pub. by Knopf, NY, 1998.)

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Milk was born May 22, 1930, Long Island, N.Y.; murdered Nov. 27, 1978, San Francisco. He was the first openly gay elected politician in the United States, serving on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.

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San Francisco's mayor, George Moscone, was also assassinated. Milk was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, 2009.

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A conservative and Barry Goldwater supporter in the 1964 Presidential election, Milk had enlisted in the Navy to fight for the U.S. during the Vietnam War. He was a deep sea diver and Chief Petty Officer on an aircraft carrier.

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After it became known he was gay, he was dishonorably discharged. Later he moved to San Francisco, where he became one of the first openly gay politicians in America.

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According to Evans, in 1978 Milk was shot in the head, execution style, by City Supervisor Dan White, an "All American churchgoer and veteran concerned about moral corruption in San Francisco." (San Francisco had a large gay and lesbian population.)

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White also murdered San Francisco Mayor George Moscone at point blank range with bullets to the head. White's attorneys pled "The Twinkie Defense," claiming his consumption of junk food caused him to be irrational. White served seven years, eight months of his eight and a half years-long sentence and committed suicide within a year of his release.