1978 was a critical year for many reasons and in the corner of the world where I lived at the time, San Francisco, two events stood out, both of which I was affected by as both a by-stander and an active participant. They both had repercussions on the international stage and sparked huge interest for many years after.
Let me start the year before in 1977 when after several years of trying Harvey Milk was finally elected as a supervisor (city councillor) representing the district of the Castro. He broke new ground by being the first out gay person elected to public office in the USA. This was a monumental achievement. There was such a huge street party to celebrate this. He represented a district that I also lived in, although because of my registered alien status I was unable to vote for him, as I certainly would have. I first came across him personally when I used to buy film and get it developed at a store in the heart of the Castro called Castro Camera, which was run by this friendly, cheerful, gay man called Harvey Milk, who was also a keen photographer. He was a larger than life character with a warm smile and a great sense of humour and was very community minded, who I heard speak at rallies and demonstrations several times, including a very colourful and celebratory Gay Freedom Day in the summer of 1978, the forerunner of today’s Pride. Sylvester’s high energy disco tune ‘You Make Me Feel Mighty Real’ was the hit of that summer which he performed at the Castro Street Fair that year.

Castro Camera and Harvey Milk’s campaign HQ

To put events into chronological order the other noteworthy event that year came from The People’s Temple which was run by a charismatic preacher and political power broker called the Reverend Jim Jones. He was influential in San Francisco politics in the Democratic Party and was appointed by Mayor George Moscone to head the housing authority. I heard him speak once at a political rally, he was certainly charismatic and had a strong oratory, preachy manner, sprinkled with socialism, that drew people to him. The temple had been based in the city for a long while, but had suddenly moved to Guyana in South America in 1977 when the Temple was being exposed in the media for being not quite what it seemed and things had started to unravel. Hundreds of people from the Temple joined Jones in a settlement carved out of the bush called Jonestown in Guyana, many of these people, most of whom were black, were from San Francisco, so when the fateful news came out of the mass murder by poisoning all of them it hit the city like a tidal wave. It was as if a pall of death hung over the city, such was the feeling in the air. This happened on November 18th. As if this wasn’t enough just 10 short days later another event occurred that had even bigger local repercussions, if that was possible. I remember seeing a poster flyposted on a wall which simply said “The centre is missing”, it hit home.

In November 1978 a right wing city councillor and former firefighter called Dan White resigned his post, then changed his mind and asked for his position back from the mayor, the progressive George Moscone. The mayor refused to have him back and with that White produced a handgun he had smuggled into City Hall and shot him dead in his office. He then deliberately sought out Harvey Milk alone in his office and shot him dead too. White, a former police officer, who held a grudge and didn’t like the fact that Harvey Milk was both gay and popular and regarded him and all gay people as deviants. I was standing in my local post office that day when someone came in and spread the news, there was disbelief and silence. The double killing in cold blood more than shocked the city and thousands of us took part in a huge candlelit procession and vigil that snaked its way from the Castro to the downtown city hall where the two men were killed. It was silent and peaceful, the outpouring of grief was enormous and heartfelt.

At White’s trial a few months later his lawyer’s defence was that he had eaten too much junk food and that he was under a lot of stress, but when the news broke that he had he got off with manslaughter and a sentence of just five years in prison the whole city erupted. This was in January 1979 and when the news from the tv and radio was broadcast people spontaneously piled on the Market Street buses downtown, and surrounded City Hall. I joined forces with my Dutch friend Hans and we were swept along on a tide of rising anger and outrage. The huge crowd of angry men and women that filled the area were determined to make a statement. This was seen as a homophobic hate crime which hadn’t been in any way handled fairly or justly by the legal system. I saw several police cars in a line all on fire, an image I will never forget, I thought that the City Hall would end up being burnt down, it nearly was. I witnessed the breaking of shop windows as people vented their fury. Anything could have happened, such was the fury. Police reinforcements arrived with clubs and began to chase people back. I had to run away fast to avoid being caught and beaten. I experienced that extraordinary power of people when they are angry and trying to make sense of a senseless situation. This night has been called the White Night Riot ever since. Harvey Milk was only in office for one year, but he made an extraordinary contribution in the fight for equality. His legacy remains in that city to this day. He had a premonition that his life would be cut short, but that didn’t stop him speaking out for equality. One piece of local law he enabled to be passed was the country’s first gay rights ordinance, protecting the rights of workers in the city. It was one of those life changing situations and I can’t ever forget it. For me it’s all about equal rights, tolerance and understanding. I came to the city thinking that it was a peaceful and progressive place to live but these two events shook me to the core. If you haven’t seen it there’s a documentary that came out in 1984 called The Times of Harvey Milk that contains very dramatic footage and then there was the 2008 film Milk with Sean Penn in the title role. Both recommended. The People’s Temple story was recently featured in a documentary on BBC.