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Harvey Milk (1930–1978) was an American politician and the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in California. Milk moved to San Francisco in 1972 and opened a camera store. He settled in the Castro District, a neighborhood that was experiencing a mass immigration of gay men and lesbians. He ran for city supervisor in 1973, though he encountered resistance from the existing gay political establishment. His campaign was compared to theater; he was brash, outspoken, animated, and outrageous, earning media attention and votes, although not enough to be elected. He campaigned again in the next two supervisor elections, dubbing himself the "Mayor of Castro Street". Voters responded enough to warrant his running for the California State Assembly as well. Taking advantage of his growing popularity, he led the gay political movement in fierce battles against anti-gay initiatives. Milk was elected city supervisor in 1977 after San Francisco reorganized its election procedures to choose representatives from neighborhoods rather than through city-wide ballots. On November 27, 1978, Milk and Mayor George Moscone were assassinated by Dan White, another city supervisor who had recently resigned and wanted his job back. Milk has become an icon in San Francisco and "a martyr for gay rights", according to University of San Francisco professor Peter Novak. (more...)

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November 27: Thanksgiving in the United States (2008)

• 1095 – At the Council of Clermont, Pope Urban II called for the First Crusade, declaring holy war against the Muslims who had occupied the Holy Land and were attacking the Eastern Roman Empire.
• 1868 – American Indian Wars: George Armstrong Custer's 7th U.S. Cavalry defeated Chief Black Kettle and the Cheyenne Indians on the Washita River near present-day Cheyenne, Oklahoma.
• 1895 – Swedish chemist and industrialist Alfred Nobel signed his last will and testament, setting aside the bulk of his estate to establish the Nobel Prize after his death.
• 1975 – Members of the Provisional Irish Republican Army assassinated Ross McWhirter, co-founder of the Guinness Book of Records, a few weeks after McWhirter offered a £50,000 reward for information leading to a conviction for several recent high-profile bombings that were publicly claimed by the IRA.
• 2001 – The Hubble Space Telescope detected sodium in the atmosphere of the extrasolar planet HD 209458b (artist's impression pictured), the first planetary atmosphere outside our solar system to be measured.

• More events: November 26 – November 27 – November 28

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