11:15am | Mere days prior to the city’s annual Gay Pride celebration, the Long Beach City Council voted Tuesday night to back a proposal by Councilman Robert Garcia to name a proposed park in downtown Long Beach after famed LGBT rights advocate Harvey Milk.
The roughly one-fifth-acre park would be located where a vacant lot currently sits near a parking structure adjacent to Third Street and the Promenade. Currently the space features nothing more than a roughly 40-foot tile mural depicting a beach-themed scene.
Known by many as a “martyr for gay rights,” Milk was the first openly gay man to win elected office in the state of California in 1977, when he won a San Francisco Board of Supervisors race. Just a year later, he and San Francisco’s then-mayor, George Moscone, were assassinated by former San Francisco Supervisor Dan White, a conservative who had resigned from the board but wanted his job back.
Garcia, who is gay, said that while the city has a large, thriving gay community, it lacks a single public amenity named for a member of the gay community. The time to do so, he said, is now.
The Council’s unanimous 5-0 vote does not approve naming the park after Milk, but rather asserts the Council’s support in doing so. The final decision on naming the park will be made by the Housing and Neighborhoods Committee and the Parks and Recreation Commission. for review.
Council members Gary DeLong, Patrick O’Donnell and Rae Gabelich were absent from last night’s meeting, and Councilwoman Gerrie Schipske left the meeting early after falling ill.
Schipske, the Council’s only other openly gay member, is against the naming because she believes the park should bear the name of a local gay rights advocate.
The various neighborhood associations in downtown Long Beach near the park have all announced their support for Garcia’s proposal.
Mayor Bob Foster said that while naming the park after Milk appeared to have widespread community support, the committee and commission could choose not to recommend the name.
As part of the First District councilman’s plan, an area in the park would be dedicated to pay tribute to leaders from the Long Beach gay community.
Garcia on Monday hosted an event announcing his proposal prior to last night’s meeting.
During that event, he compared Milk to other civil rights trailblazers in American history.
“To us, in many ways, he’s our Rosa Parks; he’s our Cesar Chavez,” Garcia said.
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