Harvey Milk Day is celebrated each year on 22 May to mark the birth of the late Harvey Milk, the gay pioneer and politician who tragically became a martyr. A hero of the LGBTQ+ rights movement, Milk, who would have turned 96 this year, was the first out gay man ever elected into public office in California. It was a seismic victory at a time where fledgeling LGBT+ rights movements were being curtailed by conservative lobbies, yet Milk managed to galvanise support and, during his time in office, pass a stringent ordinance outlawing discrimination based on sexual orientation. Less than a year after being elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1977, he was fatally shot by his former city supervisor opponent, Dan White. Ever since, his legacy has been celebrated in books, an opera, an Oscar-winning film, a navy ship in his namesake and even a postage stamp. #harveymilk #harveymilkday #lgbtq #lgbthistory #california #usnews #ukpolitics