Milking It

I'll get this out of the way right away: I condemn murder. With that said, I want to look at Eric Bailey's article from a couple of weeks back in the Los Angeles Times on a push to get an official "Harvey Milk Day" in California – currently as SB 572. Yes, this is the kind of thing legislators are doing while the state goes through what they themselves call a budget crisis.

But despite those posthumous accolades, a legislative push to create a day of recognition for Milk became one of the most contentious issues in the Capitol this year.

Recognizing individuals with a special day is reserved for people who have done something positive for society in general.

In addition to being a murder victim in a personnel dispute, Harvey Milk is notable because he was the first openly homosexual person to be elected to such an important office. So because he was attracted to men and/or because he engaged in homosexual behavior, he should be honored with a special day? What if someone who announced that he likes to stick peeled bananas into his ear gets elected - should he get a special day, too? What's the difference?

[Much more after the jump.]

One proposal before the Legislature would let transgender Californians alter their birth certificates to reflect a new identity.

Really? Say I want to claim that my birth occurred somewhere else than it did – can I change that, too? What if I really, really felt like I was born there?

Conservatives are pushing hard for Schwarzenegger to veto Leno's legislation, which would proclaim Milk's May 22 birthday a day of recognition and encourage schools to consider commemorating his life.

If anything, his story should be presented as a workplace violence issue.

"Harvey Milk is and was a terrible role model for kids," Randy Thomasson, president of SaveCalifornia.com, said before a Thursday news conference outside the Capitol.

Thomasson calls Milk a "public liar" because Milk twisted the truth while running for office about his military career, and a "sexual anarchist" who had multiple boyfriends, one as young as 16.

Randy, Randy, Randy – none of that matters to these people. Or rather, if anything, to them that is all the more reason to celebrate him.

As the article hints, this is part of a piecemeal uh... backdoor end-run around the California Marriage Amendment. For example, an official state Harvey Milk Day would make it more difficult for parents to prevent their public school children from being subjected to marriage-neutering propaganda presented with school resources during the school day.