Like many people in the media, I receive many press releases each day: We’re talking up to 75 in a single day, and those aren’t the ones that automatically go to the junk mailbox. Most are from people or organizations with no relevance to our community, so they actually can be junked. Others are from start-up organizations, start-up businesses and the performing arts. One this past week got my attention.
It was from the White House, announcing that President Obama would honor the newest Medal of Freedom recipients and, for the first time in history, the list includes Americans who are gay or lesbian.
First up, Harvey Milk. A good choice that we can all be proud of — but, here’s the first line the White House press office put in a press-release bio:
“Harvey Milk: Harvey Milk became the first openly gay elected official from a major city in the United States when he was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1977.”
It’s wrong. You would think that someone in the White House would get this correct. When Milk was elected, there were already several officials — who were out when they were elected — throughout the country. Most notably were Massachusetts state Rep. Elaine Noble (elected in 1974) and Minnesota state Rep. Allan Spear (reelected as an out politician in 1976).
Now, it could be that the White House is trying to say Milk was the first gay politician at the city level; the first lesbian to hold that distinction was Kathy Kozachenko, elected to Ann Arbor City Council in 1974.
But why do I get the feeling that the White House, in its efforts to show diversion and inclusion, always at the last minute says, “Oh, do we have any gays in that one?”
For the record, they also included Billy Jean King. Another excellent recipient who deserves to be on the list — but then it hit me. Both are rather uncontroversial, and would only be attacked by the far right-wingers who complain about everything anyway.
What I’m suggesting is the White House played it safe, but that’s OK. Just get it right: After all, this is American history.
I’m still hopeful in this administration and I’ve been around long enough to appreciate that their politics on our issues are pragmatic, but let’s start pulling it together. Please.
Mark Segal is PGN publisher. He can be reached at [email protected].
[Editor’s note: On Wednesday, the White House released an updated bio, calling Milk “one of the first openly gay elected officials.”]