Bang on Milk

We get the disclaimer up front: this is not about the dairy product, or mama’s fluid after a child’s birth, nor have misspelled a word in the title to ban the dispensing of the same!

It involves Harvey Milk who would have been 80 years old today, an assassinated SF supervisor along with Mayor George Mascone, done in by another supervisor, Dan White. Milk was a cutting edge symbol of an emerging public acknowledgment of same-sex unions and the legalization of the same. 

Milk and Mascone were 48 and 49 years old respectively while White was a decade and a half younger. In an alleged fit of anger, White shot Mascone and Milk, charged but acquitted on first-degree murder but found guilty of manslaughter in what is now known as the “Twinkie defense” since diet-conscious Dan consumed Twinkies the night before. After five years in jail White was paroled, only to commit suicide on carbon monoxide before he turned 40.

Actor Sean Penn as Harvey portrayed the circumstances of that assassination in a Gus Van Sant 2008 biofilm Milk, critically acclaimed in the Academy Awards.

Not too long ago, MHS junior Lee Ann Jastillana dramatically opened her speech for the AG’s Cup with an extended arm and a pointed finger at her audience, mimicking the sounds of five bangs. That’s the number of shots it took to kill Harvey Milk, with the fifth bang directly and fatally to the head. Lee Ann then proceeded to explicate her support of same-sex union to be legally recognized in the CNMI.  Of eight speakers for the AG’s Cup, six were for and two were against legalizing same-sex union.

Jastillana ended her drama with naming five bangs and the invitation to reset one’s aim: bang – on social injustice, bang – on inequality, bang – on unequal distribution of human rights, bang – on inequality of freedom, and bang – on the CNMI’s ban on same-sex marriage!

Here’s the count among states in the U.S.: 37 states allow same-sex marriage, 13 have existing bans, though eight have been declared unconstitutional and are currently under judicial appeal. The five holdouts are Georgia, Louisiana, North Dakota, Ohio, and Tennessee. If we knew how to read trends, and Justice Ruth Ginsburg excoriating one of the defense lawyers arguing before the U.S. Supreme Court that is currently hearing same-sex marriage case an indication, the SC will decide in favor of same-sex unions.

The District of Columbia voted for same-sex marriage in 2010, and Guam is the first among the U.S. territories to recognize the same. The CNMI might follow, if the AG Cup’s sentiment is any indication. Though conservative due to the influences of evangelical missionaries in the territories, it is most unlikely that the remaining areas will not hold out any longer.

Obviously, we count more than heads. The principle of equality before the law is a compelling right and since civil rights legislation in place declares discriminatory acts on the basis of sex, gender, race and religion as illegal, the legality of same-sex unions is simply a matter of time.

Bang! Thanks, Lee Ann. Rest easy, Harvey! © 2015 Saipan Tribune