Harvey Milk: Charismatic Leader

Question 1 Response:

I think Harvey Milk is a perfect example of someone who is a charismatic leader. Harvey faced numerous obstacles throughout his life and showed complete courage as well as compassion throughout all them all, two traits a charismatic leader would need to have in order to be successful. Harvey’s compassion helped him to interact in the LGBTQ community and be able to relate to others and help them to make sure they knew that they were not alone. Harvey specifically showed his compassion when he got a phone call from a teen boy in utter distress, who was scared about coming out as gay to his parents feeling that they would not understand or be happy about it. Harvey calmly talked to the boy trying to convince him …show more content…
Harvey became a voice for the community that they had never had before, and started a fight for their basic human rights when no one else was ready to step up to the challenge. Trying to become the first openly gay Supervisor was a step that needed to be taken in order to help try to eliminate discrimination and enforce equal rights in the community. Harvey truly became a hero to the community by doing a job that took so much hard work and determination in order to help truly make a difference.

Question 2 Response: There were numerous factors that helped to both move along as well as delay change in the gay community. One factor that was important to creating social change was having the support of the community. Without getting a large group of people to fight for the rights of the gay community, there would have been no way to get word out and get support to protest the injustices that were constantly occurring. Having the support of the community is essential because Harvey needed to have the support of many in order to influence the rest society to join the fight for equal rights. Harvey first started out with a small group of people supporting him, and then …show more content…
Alienation played a major role in the evolution of gay rights because of the way society alienated the gay community. A large majority of society at the time believed that being gay was wrong and that homosexuals should not be treated as equally as those who were heterosexual. Many people in the gay community (especially youth) felt like they were not normal or thought that there was something wrong with them, because that’s what society had taught them. Speeches protesting gay rights were frequently televised; spreading messages to people everywhere that being gay made you different from everyone else or even claimed that children being in the presence of homosexuals could cause them to become homosexual themselves just by being around them. The gay community there for didn’t feel like they belonged and felt as if they were alone in their struggles because of the mentality at the time. Since everyone in the gay community was alienated, it meant that many people were afraid in their everyday lives and often felt as if they didn’t have a voice. The community received tons of discrimination on a daily basis, often being refused service or having slurs yelled at them on the street, making so many people not want to speak out and stand up for what was right due to the fear that they would then receive more torment and unequal treatment from society then they even had before.