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
Scott Smith (activist) model; sometimes Milk spent entire rolls of film just taking pictures of Smith. Smith fell into a very deep depression after Milk was killed. With Frank M. Robinson, he was the executor of Milk's last will and testament. Smith died of pneumonia, possibly stemming from HIV/AIDS on February 4, 1995 at the age of 46. In the 2008 feature film "Milk", the role of Scott Smith was played by James Franco. Scott Smith (activist) Joseph Scott Smith (October 21, 1948 – February 4, 1995) was a gay rights activist best known for his romantic relationship with Harvey Milk, for whom