Forty-two years ago Dan White murdered Harvey Milk, the first openly gay elected US official, at City Hall in San Francisco.
I was five years old. It was another ten years before I knew my dad was gay, and another ten years before I knew who Harvey Milk and Dan White were.
Once I learned about the murder, it became a main driver for the work I do.
Throughout history, there have been people like Dan White who are threatened by people like Harvey Milk.
And today is no different.
The person who is so used to their privilege and prestige and dominance that they feel threatened by the mere suggestion that someone who is different could not only exist but exist equally and enjoy the same respect and autonomy and agency.
The person who is so used to 100% that 98% feels oppressive.
The person who is ruled by fear, intimidated by difference, and who will defend the status quo at all costs.
Up to and including murder.
Dan White murdering Harvey Milk is a high profile example of how fear of the other manifests in the real world.
And there are countless less high profile, less severe, less well known – but equally disturbing, equally discriminatory, equally prejudiced – examples that happen to everyday people every day.
The question is: How are you helping to change that narrative?