America’s first openly gay politician, Harvey Bernard Milk was an icon for the gay community in the United States and a champion of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) civil rights movement. Basically a native of New York, he moved to San Francisco during a mass migration of gay men to the city. The environment in San Francisco was more encouraging towards the gay rights movement and he began to actively participate in local politics. During his initial years he had kept his sexual orientation a secret but later came out of the closet as he realized that he would be able to do more for the LGBT community as an openly gay politician. After running unsuccessfully for political office three times he was finally elected as a city supervisor. His selection made national headlines in the country as it was the first time an openly gay candidate had been elected. Upon occupying the office, one of the first initiatives he took was to sponsor a civil rights bill that outlawed discrimination based on sexual orientation—this was a very significant step in furthering the civil rights of the LGBT community. He became a very popular politician due to his concern for the people. Unfortunately he was assassinated after serving just 11 months in office.