Following the lead of other towns, the metropolis of Portland has just renamed a street of their city after the assassinated civil rights icon Harvey Milk.
The new Harvey Milk street consists of a thirteen-block run along Southwest Stark Street. The area was described as a once-popular neighborhood for Portland’s LGBTQ population.
A unanimous vote of the City Council of Portland made it official. The renaming was made official on Sunday June 17, the official start of the Portland pride for the city’s LGBTQ community.
During the meeting, a dozen witnesses testified to the importance of Milk to the Council.
Milk rose to fame as a politician and advocate for LGBTQ rights in Seventies San Francisco. He was the first openly gay elected official in California.
According to Gay Star News, “After the city council adopted the ordinance, a member said they ‘went out on a little limb’. Then he pulled out the Harvey Milk street sign, showing the confidence that the vote would go this way. The moment was met with great applause.”