MILK hits select theaters in just a few short weeks, and glaadBLOG is celebrating by providing YOU with a daily “fun fact” about Harvey Milk, courtesy of San Francisco magazine. In honor of Election Day, we’re sharing a political act involving the power of the people.According to gay union activist Howard Wallace, Harvey Milk turned the unions into allies.
The Teamsters wanted our support in boycotting Coors, which was non-union. Gays didn’t like Coors, either, because the company had a lie-detector test for prospective employees and one of the questions was, “Are you a homosexual?” [But the Teamsters weren't much better, so] before saying yes, Harvey wanted them to hire gay drivers. Because of the gay and lesbian contribution, we got Coors out of over 100 bars. San Francisco was the first place in the country to make the boycott work — to this day, I still don’t know of any bars [in the Castro] that carry Coors. And when Harvey finally won the election, the whole joint council of Teamsters was behind him.Learn more about Harvey Milk and the movie about him by checking out GLAAD’s MILK Resource Kit. MILK opens November 26. Don’t miss it!
November 4, 2008
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