After about an hour of public comment,
Salt Lake City council on Tuesday voted unanimously to rename a
street after Harvey Milk.
900 South will be renamed “Harvey
Milk Boulevard” in honor of the slain politician and gay rights
leader.
Milk was the first openly gay elected
official of a major U.S. City. He was elected to the San Francisco
Board of Supervisors in 1977 on a pledge to back gay and lesbian
rights. The following year, Milk was killed by Dan White, a former
supervisor.
Salt Lake City Councilman Stan Penfold
proposed the name change.
“Harvey Milk imagined a brave world
where everybody – everybody – had value and civil rights,” an
emotional Penfold said during Tuesday's meeting. “I like to
imagine that world, too.”
According to Fox
13, about half of those who testified opposed the idea, with one
man saying that honoring Milk in such a way was “contrary” to his
personal beliefs.
Salt Lake City is home to The Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which is strongly opposed to
marriage equality.
Equality Utah, the state's largest LGBT
rights advocate, will raise funds to pay for the new street signs.