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window that allowed him to avoid metal detectors, the very day he resigned his office under pressure. He first shot Mayor Moscone four times, three landing in the head. He ran into Milk in the hallway and told him to step aside. Milk refused. He was shot five times including two at close range to the head with hollow point rounds. Death was instant. The Mayor was 49, Harvey was 48. White escaped and then turned himself in an hour later at the urging of his wife. White showed no remorse for his murder of Milk, and his former cronies on the police force began wearing "Free Dan" tee shirts.

In 1979 White was acquitted of the murders on what is now known as the "Twinkie defense." Many believed had he not killed Milk, he would have been convicted, but as Milk was involved and so hated by many in power behind the scenes it was believed his murder was in fact viewed as a good thing. While that allegation was never proved, to this day there are many people that still believe it. While Acting mayor Feinstein and others that knew and or served with Milk denounced the jury decision as a sham, it did little to quell an angry city. A mob sprang up, a mob of not just gays, but people that were angry and disenchanted sprang up and marched on City Hall chanting "Avenge Milk!" The Mob could not be stopped and the over 3,000 people hurled rocks and overturned police cars before torching them. Unable to stop them, they were simply left to vent for several hours in what became known as the "White Night Riots." Those who were detained took the defense the ate too many Twinkies as White had and therefore did nothing wrong. Few were prosecuted.

Milk's real legacy will always lay within the hope and strength he provided a nation of queer people at a time when they had no true leader willing to take a stand for what was right. Milk may not have been loved, or even liked by all, but he was respected. We will never see another Harvey Milk because there cannot be another. He blazed the trail for all others follow. Consider his own words in closing from Gay Pride, 1978:

"On this anniversary of Stonewall, I ask my gay sisters and brothers to make the commitment to fight. For themselves, for their freedom, for their country ... We will not win our rights by staying quietly in our closets ... We are coming out to fight the lies, the myths, the distortions. We are coming out to tell the truths about gays, for I am tired of the conspiracy of silence, so I'm going to talk about it. And I want you to talk about it. You must come out. Come out to your parents, your relatives."

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