Sharyn Saslafsky remembers getting that awful phone call. She was at home in Greenbrae on Nov. 27, 1978 when a friend called to tell her their friend Harvey Milk had been shot.
“Turn on the TV,” he urged.
Saslafsky was in disbelief. Even now, she can still recall Milk’s energy, optimism and humor. She often went into his store on Castro Street just to say hello.
Though her friend and fellow Jewish gay activist has been dead for 30 years, on Dec. 1 at the Kabuki Cinemas in San Francisco, he lived again.
“Sean Penn was just fantastic — at times, he became Harvey,” she said after seeing the film “Milk” for the first time. “It was just extraordinary.”
Saslafksy, who now lives in San Francisco, was one of 170 people to attend a special screening of the highly acclaimed film, which opened in San Francisco on Nov. 28. It chronicles Milk’s rise from 1970s activist to groundbreaking politician: Winning a seat on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1977, he was the first openly gay man elected to public office in a major American city.
The screening was organized by the S.F.-based Jewish Community Federation and co-sponsored by the S.F. Jewish Film Festival and Congregation Sha’ar Zahav in San Francisco. It was preceded by short speeches by Saslafsky, a longtime member of Sha’ar Zahav, and four others.
“I had the good fortune of going into Harvey and [his partner] Scott’s photo shop more than once. Opera music was always blaring, and we’d speak in Yiddish,” Saslafsky told the audience. “Not really good Yiddish, but whatever we could remember from when we were kids.”
Other speakers were Avi Rose, director of Jewish Family and Children’s Services of the East Bay; Deb Kinney of Equality California; Peter Stein, director of the S.F. Jewish Film Festival; and Daniel Sokatch, director of the federation.
All addressed the importance of learning from Milk’s life and legacy, and of continuing to fight for equal rights in the aftermath of the last month’s passage of Proposition 8, which amended California’s constitution to define marriage as being between a man and a woman.
“When you watch the movie tonight, you’ll see that Milk did what we have to do,” Kinney said. “He was always educating, always reaching out. … We have to come out to each person we know and keep the conversation going.”
Rose recalled arriving in San Francisco in the late 1970s, when “every day felt like we were making history.” He was involved in the “Lost Tribe,” a group of young gay Jews who fought against the Briggs Initiative (Proposition 6), which would have made firing gay teachers, and any public school employees who supported gay rights, mandatory. The initiative failed by more than a million votes. Rose recalled dancing in the streets of the Castro, thinking of Milk as a “gay Jewish icon.”
And so it was strange to watch Milk’s onscreen joy, knowing that 30 years after that success, the gay rights movement he led would suffer a major setback with the passage of Proposition 8. “This defeat still stings, and it serves as a wakeup call to everyone,” Rose said. “We can’t be complacent. There is power in being out and visible.
“We Jews are good at remembering, it’s one of the reasons we’re still around,” Rose added. “So let us never forget the legacy of Harvey Milk.”
“Milk” begins in 1970, just before Milk (Sean Penn) and boyfriend Scott Smith (James Franco), move to San Francisco, where they rent an apartment in the Castro and open a camera shop. The local merchants association shuns the gay-owned business, so Milk starts his own group, the Castro Village Association.
Milk realizes that the gay movement needs one of its own in public office. The long-haired hippie runs for S.F. supervisor in 1973 and loses. He cuts his hair, shaves his beard and swears off marijuana for a second run, and loses. He takes a stab at State Assembly, with no better luck.
With each campaign, Milk grows more fiery, passionate and confident as a leader and voice of the gay rights movement. He marches through the streets with a bullhorn and counsels young gay men to come out to their parents, friends and colleagues.
In 1977, he finally wins a seat on the board of supervisors. A year later, Milk and Mayor George Moscone are assassinated by Supervisor Dan White (Josh Brolin).
As the credits rolled at the screening, the audience applauded.
“I found the movie very inspiring,” said Tsipora Prochovnick, 18, a senior at the San Francisco School of the Arts and a member of Sha’ar Zahav. She worked on the No on 8 campaign, and felt that had “Milk” come out before the Nov. 4 elections, the results might have differed.
Sharon Papo and her wife, Amber Weiss, who married in June at San Francisco City Hall and volunteered on the No on 8 campaign, were heartened by the film. “I’ve felt devastated since Prop. 8 passed, but the film rejuvenated and reinspired me,” Papo said. “And to see it with Jews from all walks of life makes me very proud of my Jewish community.”