1978 California Proposition 6

You know, I fought against this very thing in like 1977.

In my high school, I wrote an editorial about the Briggs Initiative.

The Briggs Initiative... was a law that was going to say that there could be no gay teachers, and if another teacher knew that another teacher was gay, they had to turn them in.

And Harvey Milk came down and spoke against that.

That's where I first saw him.

So I mean, we were in these two separate universes that had never really come together.

Okay, a little bit on the Briggs Initiative in 1978-

Yes

... which was a initiative in California to not allow LGBT teachers, right? That kinda brought people together, but nobody really left their towns.

The United Teachers of Los Angeles, UTLA, transformed into a formidable political force.

It repeatedly mobilized educators, parents, and students into massive demonstrations, strikes, and legal battles, notably organizing to oppose statewide anti-gay initiatives like the nineteen seventy-eight Briggs Initiative and fighting severe inner-city budget cuts.

The teachers and parents brought the students into the fight.

Conversely, activism within the Conejo Valley Unified School District didn't look like street protests, but rather organized parental and community pushback aimed at maintaining traditional frameworks.

Also, there are similarities between the late twentieth-century Republican values with the current Democrat Socialist Party of America, DSA.

The primary similarity between the nineteen seventies to nineteen nineties Republican values and current DSA platforms is their alignment with loosening border restrictions and LGBTQ rights.

Both political parties rallied for matching political outcomes on major historical issues, such as Ronald Reagan fiercely campaigning against the 1978 Briggs Initiative to protect gay teachers and later executing sweeping immigration amnesty in 1986.

This creates a fascinating paradox where mid-century free market conservatives and modern Democratic socialists both actively reject the construction of southern border walls, favor pathways to legal status for undocumented workers, and oppose state-directed discrimination within public schools.

We all have our mentors.

And while this author remembered Dr. Cole, while he remembered that, reading this story reminded me of when I was in high school and went to cover Harvey Milk speaking at a local school about the Briggs Initiative and doing a debate.

And I saw Harvey on stage being out and proud and articulate and holding his own.

And I thought to myself, well, that's me.

But not everyone was happy with this direction.

Anti-gay sentiment was gaining national momentum, especially in the form of California's Proposition 6.

The proposition, which sought to make it illegal for homosexuals to work in Californian schools, would prove to be the biggest battle of Milk's career.

Supporters of Prop 6 attacked the LGBT community, calling them unfit to work with students.

San Francisco Chronicle Meanwhile, Milk was becoming a national figure.

California's Proposition 6, the Briggs Initiative, threatened to bar gay men and lesbians from teaching in public schools.

Milk threw himself into the campaign against it, speaking with the theatrical confidence that had made him a star in the Castro.

The initiative was defeated on November 7, 1978.

The symbolism made the reaction worse.

Milk had spent his political career telling gay people that invisibility was dangerous.

He had won office after repeated defeats, helped fight the Briggs Initiative, and become a national figure.

Now a former colleague had killed him and the mayor, and the verdict seemed to many supporters to confirm their worst fear, that a gay politician could be murdered in City Hall, and the killer could still escape a murder conviction.