Gay icon gay rights. Milk's image as a positive role model led to him becoming the namesake for the first high school designed primarily for gay teenagers, the Harvey Milk High School, in the East Village of New York City. The portrayal of those efforts in the critically acclaimed film "Milk" earned Sean Penn an Oscar and comparisons to the contemporary battle over the anti-gay ballot initiative Proposition 8 raging in California at the time of the film's release in 2008. An ironic icon is Anita Bryant, who worked to oppose homosexuality. During the 1970s, Bryant led a national campaign, "Save Our
Harvey Milk Day recognized by the state's government as a day of special significance for public schools. The day was established by the California legislature and signed into law by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2009 after a series of petitions led by gay rights activist Daren I. Ball and in the wake of the award-winning feature film "Milk" retracing Milk's life. Harvey Milk Day Harvey Milk Day is organized by the Harvey Milk Foundation and celebrated each year on May 22 in memory of Harvey Milk, a gay rights activist assassinated in 1978. Harvey Milk was a prominent gay activist during the twentieth