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during this time however was that he met a man named Joe Campbell in 1956 whom he dated for better than six years. As fate would have it this would not only be his first serious romantic relationship, but also his longest lasting. He didn't always make the best choices during this time. Finding it difficult to hide his homosexuality, they tried moving to Texas of all places, then back to New York, but nothing seemed to save the relationship. Upon breaking up with Joe he considered the most common option many closeted gay people at the time chose, marrying someone for the sake of appearances. He had a woman a mind, a lesbian friend of his living in Miami, but it never panned out. In the end he stayed in New York and took a job selling insurance until about 1962.

As fate would have it, 1962 served as a year that began Changing Harvey's life. The first big change was accepting a position with an established Wall St. firm Bach & Company as a researcher. it was also the year he left his second lover Craig Rodwell. Wile there was no denying Harvey and Craig had the potential for a solid relationship, Craig was a very out gay man involved with the Mattachine Society, New York's leading gay activist group at the time. Rodwell was not satisfied with Harvey being in the closet, and Harvey was unhappy that Craig refused to lead a quiet life. Craig became increasing militant in a sense about being gay and refused to hide it from anyone which meant that life with Harvey had to end.

This led to Harvey's third important relationship in his young life, one with Jack Galen McKinley whom he worked on Barry Goldwater's presidential campaign with. This was important because Milk got his first real taste of politics and it planted the seed in his head that maybe New York was not really the place for him to spend the rest of his life. His relationship with McKinley was instantly toxic as Jack was given to fits of jealousy and depression, often threatening suicide if Harvey were ever to leave him. Although they stayed together on and off for several years, mostly as friends, their lives went in two very different directions. Their move to San Francisco together ended when Jack returned to New York to work on the Broadway production of Jesus Christ Superstar. Harvey stayed and became a bit of an anti-war protester. He grew his hair, got fired from his job, and got involved in the community as an organizer.

It was about 1970 when Harvey began to really make his mark on the local

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