‘Milk’ screenwriter calls gay rights the ‘civil rights fight of your generation’

COLUMBIA — Dustin Lance Black was in high school in 1988 when he heard about Harvey Milk, the first openly gay man elected to public office in California. Black said that at that point, he had never heard of an out gay man before, joking his first thought was that Milk must have been bad at hiding it.

Black, who won an Academy Award this year for best original screenplay for “Milk,” spoke at MU on Sunday evening. The movie, starring Sean Penn, recounts Milk’s election in 1977 to the board of supervisors in San Francisco and his murder by fellow supervisor Dan White. Penn won an Oscar for best actor.

Black’s speech at MU included some serious and not-so-serious topics that seemed to engage the mostly student crowd. Full and equal federal rights should be the goal, he told them, and not the current “bit-by-bit civil rights.”

“This is the civil rights fight of your generation,” Black said. “This is the civil rights fight of the 21st century.” See a’Milk’ screenwriter calls gay rights the ‘civil rights fight of …

Columbia Missourian