SAN DIEGO — Celebrating the legacy of Harvey Milk, an audience of more than 1,200 assembled at the Hilton San Diego Bayfront Hotel this morning for the 5th annual San Diego Harvey Milk Breakfast.
In a fast-moving program and through inspirational speakers the sold-out audience was taken through a journey that celebrated LGBT history, advances and the promise of a better future.
The three award recipients’, former Oregon governor, Barbara Roberts, Oscar- winning screenwriter Dustin Lance Black (Milk) and youth essay award recipient Iman Usman underlined why 2013 is turning into such a historic year for LGBT equality by delivering powerful and uplifting speeches that enraptured the audience.
The event commenced with the presentation of the Colors by the Navy Medical Center San Diego Color Guard which was followed by a powerful rendition of the national anthem by the San Diego Gay Men’s Chorus.
The invocation, delivered by Rev. Dan Koeshall of the Metropolitan Community Church, Rev. Jane Via of the Mary Magdalene Catholic Community and Rabbi Laurie Coskey of the Interfaith Committee for Worker Justice was a perfectly choreographed three-way delivery that set the upbeat tone for the event.
Co-chairs of the event, Nicole Murray Ramirez and Robert Gleason delivered the welcome and introduced and acknowledged a host of local and state-wide LGBT officials.
Mayor Bob Filner and his first lady Bronwyn Ingram spoke passionately and then to the delight of the audience summoned Nicole Murray Ramirez back to the stage to present him with a special nameplate bearing the title, “Commissioner for Life.”
Stuart Milk, founder of the Harvey Milk Foundation and Harvey Milk’s nephew gave an emotional speech stating how important San Diego was to Harvey Milk and indeed to himself. For the first time ever in public Stuart Milk recounted some anecdotal stories of interaction between him and his uncle; among them how at the age of two his uncle had written him a six page letter! “Clearly, he felt my development was advanced for my age,” Stuart quipped.
Iman Usman, the Harvey Milk Youth Essay Award recipient spoke from the heart as she recounted her experiences as a triple minority: “… a Pakistani-Indian, lesbian Muslim.” She summed up the changes that had occurred to her through her experiences by stating, “… I realized my life isn’t about being gay or Pakistani or a lesbian, it’s about being Iman.”
Next LGBT icon Terry Bean, co-founder of the Human Rights Campaign, the Victory Fund and the National Gay Games, introduced Oregon’s first woman governor, Barbara Roberts as the recipient of the Harvey Milk Lifetime Leadership Award. Roberts has spent decades fighting for equal rights, particularly for the LGBT community, and delivered a stirring speech recounting how, in 1984, she had organized the Portland Gay Men’s Chorus to sing at her swearing-in
ceremony as secretary of state in the capital rotunda. This being a national first Roberts was asked whether she would drop the word gay from the Chorus’ name and just call them the Portland Men’s Chorus. Roberts’ answer was a resounding, “Absolutely not!” In 1990 Roberts was elected as Oregon’s first woman governor and one of the first ten female governors in America.
Billed as part of “a new generation of LGBT leaders and role models” by Nicole Murray Ramirez, Dustin Lance Black rounded off the event with a lively speech predicting the return of same-sex marriage to California.
Harvey Milk has a very special place in the heart of San Diego and as the Harvey Milk Diversity Breakfast goes from strength to strength becoming ever more popular the speakers, the award recipients and the audience with their passion, strength and commitment did Harvey proud.
