Dan White

Robert Opel was a gallerist who was an early shower of Robert Mapplethorpe, Thomas Finland, Rex, and others.

On June 24, 1979, at the San Francisco Pride Parade, with Camille O'Grady and Ruby Zebra, Robert and others performed what was labeled the mock execution of Dan White.

Dan White was an ex-cop who assassinated Harvey Milk and Mayor Moscone on November 27, 1978.

Melk was the first out-elected politician in California.

Dan White used to be a police officer.

The day of the murder, he crawled through an open window at City Hall and used his old police gun to assassinate Melk and Moscone.

His sentence was a mere seven years and eight months.

The gay community was livid.

And people were, you know, it was dark and people were carrying candles.

And there was Harry Britt on the corner screaming at the crowd saying, where is your anger? Where is your anger? And it came after the verdict for, you know, that Dan White got involuntary manslaughter, which was ridiculous.

But he just couldn't understand.

The injustice was so huge and so wrong.

They showed early Mapplethorpe, early Thomas Finland, early Rex, and many others.

Mere weeks before he was murdered, Robert Opel, Camille, Ruby Zebra, and others performed what was labeled the mock execution of Dan White.

Dan White, an ex-police officer, had killed Harvey Milk, the first out elected politician in California.

Somehow Dan White crawled through an open window at City Hall and proceeded to shoot Milk five times with his old police gun.

Now, the injustices was continuing with another corpse.

[upbeat music] Before we continue into this fascinating saga and glimpse into fascinating and fascinated characters, I want to just take a moment to say my name is August, and I am the host of the Queer Core Podcast.

Many of the dead had come from the Bay Area.

Nine years later, Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk were assassinated inside City Hall by former supervisor Dan White.

The woman who became mayor in the aftermath was Dianne Feinstein, then president of the Board of Supervisors.

By 1980, Feinstein was attempting to govern a city whose national reputation for liberation and experimentation now existed beside a much darker recent history.

That's such a difficult role, too.

He plays Dan White, the guy who ultimately kills-

Mm-hmm

...

San Francisco in the late 1970s was swallowing itself alive.

In the aftermath of the assassination of Harvey Milk, the first out gay elected official in California, and the subsequent meager sentencing of his assassin, ex-cop Dan White, the gay community was livid.

White used what the media called the Twinkie defense, arguing that his poor diet was a symptom of his steep mental decline.

Ultimately, he was sentenced to seven years and eight months.

How is that justice? Riots began.

Robert Opel and Camille O'Grady had a plan.

They, along with others, including Ruby Zebra, remember that name, would perform a mock execution of Dan White at that year's Pride March, June 24th, 1979.

The performance would take the San Francisco Police Department and its view of justice head on, questioning everything.

That's all that really matters.

You're not on edge like Dan White on edge, are you?

No.

All right.