Film Questions for Milk

1. During the movie, keep a list of traits that help to make Harvey Milk a successful political organizer. Youll be asked later
what these qualities tell you about political organizing in general and Harvey Milk specifically.

2. Why did Milk use the phrase Im here to recruit you? What is the historical and revolutionary significance of that phrase?

3. Why do you think Harvey Milk and Scott Smith are cautious when they first meet?

4. What evidence do you see in the film of the rapid shift in the Castro neighborhood and the resistance gay men faced to
creating an accepting enclave? Think imagery, interactions with others, enforcement of laws, etc.

5. Why does Milk lead a boycott of Coors Beer?

6. What major obstacles does Milk face in trying to become the first openly gay man elected to public office?

7. Who is Anita Bryant, and what is she trying to accomplish?

8. What groups and types of people supported Milk in his fourth run for office?

9. What was the Briggs Initiative (Proposition 6)?

10. Why did it lose, despite the fact that polls showed it winning?

11. What is the significance of the passage of the San Francisco Gay Rights Ordinance?

12. Why was Harvey Milk, specifically, one of the first openly gay elected officials?
13. Why did Milk and Jones use the phrase Out of the Bars and Into the Streets? What is the historical and revolutionary
significance of that phrase?

14. What makes someone an activist? Do Milk and Jones and Kronenberg all approach activism from the same place?

15. What lesson could you take away from the example of the defeat of Anita Bryant and the Briggs Initiative, with regard to
how political and social change happens?

16. How does this movie portray Dan White? Do you agree with this portrayal or not? Why? What might have been done to
make White a more rounded character?

17. What role do depression and mental illness play in the film? Why do you think it was so important to include conversations
and portrayals of mental illness and suicide?

18. Why are films like Milk important to the LGBTQ community and movement?

19. What do you still want to know about Harvey Milks story and legacy?

20. What are your overall reactions to his film and why?