Bay Shore High Alum Harvey Milk Commemorated At LGBT Prom In Hauppauge

HAUPPAUGE, NY — Hundreds of youth across Long Island attended an annual LGBT prom Thursday in commemoration of the 75th anniversary of Harvey Milk’s graduation from Bay Shore High School. Milk, the son of Lithuanian immigrants and the first openly gay public official, was assassinated in 1978, but his legacy will live on, according to the New York LGBT Network, a non-profit queer advocacy group.

"Harvey Milk was a man of incredible courage and charisma who selflessly changed the landscape of possibility for all members of the LGBTQ community,” Dr. David Kilmnick, president and founder of the New York LGBT Network, said in a statement. “I suspect a good number of young people today may not have heard of Harvey Milk or may have only seen the movie about his life.”

In 2008, “Milk,” a biopic about the Woodmere-born politician was released and went on to get Oscar-winning acclaim.

“We must make sure that everyone knows about Harvey and how his bravery, courage and leadership affords us some of the rights we have today,” added Kilmnick. “He did what no one else dared to do 50 years ago and the challenges he had to fight, and how he paid the ultimate sacrifice to stand for what he believed in must be part of our history books and taught to every student."

On November 27, 1978, Milk, a city supervisor in San Francisco, and Mayor George Mascone were gunned down in San Francisco City Hall by a disgruntled conservative former elected official, according to the LGBT Network.

Founded in 2001, the LGBT prom was the first of its kind in the suburbs of America, and youths from 58 neighborhoods across Long Island went to the event, which was held at the non-profit’s Hauppauge center at 125 Kennedy Dr., where they danced the night away listening to rapper Cardi B’s song “I Like It” and participated in a talent competition.

The LGBT prom is a place where teens have the opportunity to be free and be themselves, according to the LGBT Network president.

“Many of them are carrying fear upon their shoulders,” Kilmnick said to Patch. “If we recognize our history we can draw inspiration from it. And everyone will know the name Harvey Milk and his great contributions.”