May 15, 2009

Harvey Milk Day Passes Cal Senate; Repub Maldonado Credits Dustin Lance Black for Change of Heart

Well, that and actually reading the bill this time:

Harvey Milk bill passes Senate; Maldonado has change of heart

A bill declaring a Harvey Milk Day in California - to honor the slain gay rights figure - passed the state Senate [Thursday] 24-14 and now goes to the Assembly.

No surprise that all 23 Democrats present voted yes. But Sen. Abel Maldonado, R-Santa Maria, changed his vote from a “no” on the same bill last year to the sole GOP “yes” on the floor Thursday.

Two things swayed him, said Maldonado, who earned flak from GOP collegues recently when he became one of six in his party to vote for the February budget deal. On Thursday, Maldonado said he was already feeling heat from conservative callers to his office about the Milk vote.

He said he is telling those who object that he read the Milk bill closely, as he did this time, rather than listening to groups complaining about what it supposedly would do. “There’s nothing in this bill that mandates teaching that Harvey Milk was a homosexual,” Maldonado said. “For folks calling this “Gay Day,” I say read the bill.” …

But Maldonado also credited recent testimony before the Senate Education Committee recently with changing his mind. That testimony happened to come from a young gay man, Dustin Lance Black, who won an Academy Award this year for his screenplay of the movie “Milk.” …

Maldonado said he doesn’t see why Milk Day shouldn’t be declared for the entire state.

He called Milk, who was slain by a fellow San Francisco supervisor in 1978, “a dedicated public servant. And I think he should be honored for it.”

“He was murdered,” Maldonado said. “To me, he was a man who was a capitalist, and an entrepreneur who happened to be gay.”

It’ll pass the Assembly again, wethinks. The only question is: What will Arnold do this time?

Follow the saga of the long-overdue Harvey Milk Day.

Posted by: Sapphocrat

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