The day after the incident, two answering machine messages outed Sipple to "San Francisco Chronicle" columnist Herb Caen. One was from Reverend Ray Broshears, the head of a gay activist group called the Lavender Panthers. The other message was from local gay activist Harvey Milk, a friend of Sipple and on whose campaign for city council Sipple had worked. While discussing whether Sipple's sexuality should be disclosed, Milk told a friend, "It's too good an opportunity. For once we can show that gays do heroic things, not just all that caca about molesting children and hanging out in bathrooms." Milk outed Sipple in order to portray him as a "gay hero" and so to "break the stereotype of homosexuals" being "timid, weak and unheroic figures". According to historian Harold Evans, "here was no invitation to the White House for Sipple, not even a commendation. Milk made a fuss about that. Finally, weeks later, Sipple received a brief note of thanks." Three days after the incident, Sipple received a letter from President Ford. It read: