One year before his 1978 assassination, California's first openly gay official Harvey Milk recorded his final words

One year before a gunman shot him dead at city hall, California's first openly gay public official sat down to record his final words.

Harvey Milk had been elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1977.

He had won by 30 per cent against more than a dozen other candidates and made national headlines.

At the same time, singer and anti-gay rights activist Anita Bryant was pushing her "Save Our Children" campaign, aiming to make it legal to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation.

In San Francisco, a gay man had been attacked on the street and stabbed to death — the community blamed simmering homophobia.

Milk, with a new high profile, was bracing himself for the worst.

"This is to be played only in the event of my death by assassination," he said.

"If a bullet should enter my brain, let that bullet destroy every closet door."

One year and nine days later — on November 27, 1978 — he would be dead.

A champion of the gay community meets his future killer

Milk was not just the first openly gay public official in California — he was one of the first in the United States.

He had made a name for himself as a representative of San Francisco's LGBTQ+ community, also championing low-cost housing, marginalised communities and environmental issues.

During his brief time as a city supervisor, he helped prohibit anti-gay discrimination in employment and housing.

Also on the Board of Supervisors was Dan White — who later resigned after clashing with Milk and other members repeatedly.

When his business failed, White reversed his resignation, a move which was ultimately rejected by the city's mayor, George Moscone.

In just minutes, an assassination at city hall unfolds

On that day in late November 1978, White got a lift to city hall from his assistant, telling her he wanted to meet with Moscone and Milk.

About 10:25am, he climbed through a basement window of the building — bypassing the metal detectors and security at the front entrance.

Moving quickly upstairs, he asked to see the mayor alone.

Down the hall, then-president of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors Dianne Feinstein called out to him as he passed her office door.

"[He] said something to the effect [of] 'just a moment', or, 'I have something to do first', and went by very rapidly," Feinstein testified later.

Inside the mayor's office, White had pulled a revolver and shot Moscone four times, twice in the shoulder and chest and twice in the head.

Then he reloaded the weapon and dashed for the door, running towards the other side of the building, intercepted for a brief moment by Feinstein.

"I have something to do first," he told her again.

Catching up with Milk, he asked to speak in White's old office.

When Milk obliged, White closed the door and blocked it with his body before shooting Milk five times.

Feinstein had smelled the gunpowder.

"I went down the hall [and] found Harvey on his stomach," she said in a later interview.

"I tried to get a pulse and put my finger through a bullet hole."

By 10:55am, Milk was dead at 48 years old.

The White Night Riot and a seven-year sentence

That same night, a crowd of thousands marched silently through the streets of San Francisco to city hall in Milk's memory.

White had left city hall without incident and later handed himself in to San Francisco police, where he confessed to both killings.

He would later be acquitted of murder and instead sentenced to seven years for the lesser crime of voluntary manslaughter.

The verdict sparked fury among the city's queer community.

What began as a peaceful march following the trial descended into what would become known as the White Night Riot, a violent clash between San Francisco police and the gay community.

Dozens of police officers and members of the public were hospitalised and dozens more were arrested.

White was later released on parole after just over five years behind bars.

In 1985, he took his own life.

Harvey Milk's legacy of 'hope', 50 years after his death

More than 50 years after the assassination of Milk, the state of California leads the US for the number of openly LGBTQ+ elected officials — with 203 in total elected as of November 2025.

As of 2025, 49 out of 50 US states have at least one out LGBTQ+ official in office, according to research organisation the LGBTQ+ Victory Institute.

Milk's life has since been the subject of books, an opera and films.

Multiple public schools, community centres, plazas, public libraries and more have been named in his honour.

In 2009 his nephew, Stuart Milk, accepted a posthumous Medal of Freedom from president Barack Obama in his uncle's honour.

In those recordings made before his death, Milk said he considered himself "part of a movement".

"I ask for the [gay rights] movement to continue, for the movement to grow," he said.

"It's not about personal gain, not about ego, not about power.