Sacramento’s Harvey Milk Day Committee hosted the first organizational meeting at Hamburger Patties, Wednesday February 3. Approximately 24 volunteers, recruited from both inside the EAN organization and from the community, attended the meeting.
Harvey Milk Day was enacted and signed into law last October by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Under the measure, May 22 is officially Harvey Milk day in California, coinciding with Milk’s birthday. While it is not a state holiday, schools are encouraged to hold lessons “remembering the life of Harvey Milk, recognizing his accomplishments and familiarizing pupils with the contributions he made to this state”. This year Harvey Milk Day is on a Saturday.
Being this is the first year to honor Harvey Milk, the planning committee is “flying by the seat of our pants, so to speak, since no one has ever done this before,” admitted Tina Reynolds, chairman of the committee and co-founder of Equality Action Now. “All I know is we are all very excited to be a part of hosting the first one here in Sacramento.”
“I spend a great deal of time fighting for civil rights. It is about time we set aside a day to celebrate a gay hero for so many and to pass on to future generations the history of his life and his legacy. Harvey Milk taught me to be a better activist and is a reminder for all of us, that our struggle is one of civil rights and respect for each other, not just gay rights. I hope the message of inclusiveness that Milk exemplified while representing the Castro District in San Francisco will be the focus of this historic event,” explained Reynolds.
Any profits from the event will be donated to youth leadership scholarships for LGBTQI (Lesbian, Gay, Bi, Transgender, Questioning, Intersex) community members, and funding for Harvey Milk Curriculum materials.
Volunteer leads for committees were assigned. Committees that could use further help include Sponsorship, Finance, Harvey Milk Traveling Display, Documentary Production, the showing of “MILK” movie and “The Times of Harvey Milk” documentary, Fundraisers, March and Rally at State Capitol, Street Team, Media/PR/Social Networking, Housing/Lodging, and Curriculum Committees. The design of all promotional materials, including the official logo will be donated by Tina Reynolds and her Uptown Studios design team.
The next meeting of the planning committee is Thursday March 11, 2010, 6:00pm at Hamburger Patties, 1630 J Street, Sacramento. Anyone willing to donate time, or experience/interest in the areas of getting organizational and business sponsorship, donations, or connections to potential speakers/entertainers, teachers, school administrators, for this event are welcome to attend. Please contact Tina Reynolds at (916) 446-1082 or email tina@uptownstudios.net to sign up.
