Waiting on the Supremes in California

The rumor on the street is that the California Supreme Court was going to hand down its decision on Prop 8 today, but refrained because it is the 30th anniversary of the White Night Riots - in 1979, gays rioted in San Francisco because of what they felt was a "too lenient" sentence given to Dan White, the city councilman who murdered, along with Mayor George Moscone, fellow councilman Harvey Milk.

If true to any extent, does that mean that the decision will be that the means by which the voters modified the state Constitution is legal and thus Prop 8 stands? I feel it is likely - regardless of the date - that if Prop 8 wins, there will be at best demonstrations, and at worst riots, in the state's "gay ghettos," such as Castro Street in San Francisco, the Hillcrest neighborhood in San Diego, and the city of West Hollywood.

But if they wait for tomorrow - May 22nd - and Prop 8 stands, that would likely inflame homosexuals further since presently there is a bill in Sacramento to have May 22nd of each year by "Harvey Milk Day."

Well, we wait and see. In the meantime, I read an interesting article that takes the sheen off of the legend that Hollywood made of Harvey Milk:

In naming the onetime camera-shop proprietor one of the 100 most important people of the twentieth century, Time conceded, “As a supervisor, Milk sponsored only two laws—predictably, one barring anti-gay discrimination, and, less so, a law forcing dog owners to clean pets’ messes from sidewalks.” Eleven months on the city council hardly seems the stuff of Hollywood legend. So Hollywood invented a legend.

Rather than the gentle, soft-spoken idealist portrayed by Sean Penn, the real Harvey Milk was a short-tempered demagogue who cynically invented stories of victimhood to advance his political career. During his successful run for city supervisor, for instance, Milk’s camera store was the object of a glass-shattering attack by low-grade explosives. Milk blamed singer Anita Bryant, the outspoken opponent of gay-friendly legislation. “Years later friends hinted broadly that Harvey had more than a little foreknowledge that the explosions would happen,” biographer Randy Shilts noted. One friend explained to Shilts: “You gotta realize the campaign was sort of going slow, and, well . . .”