San Diego Becomes First City with Harvey Milk Street

Pioneering San Francisco LGBT civil rights leader and assassinated politician Harvey Milk will soon have a street honoring his memory. But it won't be in the city where he rose to prominence.

The San Diego City Council has voted unanimously to change the name of Blaine Street in the city's densely gay Hillcrest neighborhood to Harvey Milk Street. The vote, which was introduced to the council by member Todd Gloria, makes San Diego the first city to name a street after Milk.

"The time had come to honor an LGBT civil rights leader in San Diego the same way we have given honor to other civil rights leaders such as Cesar Chavez and Martin Luther King, Jr," said San Diego LGBT Pride Executive Director Dwayne Crenshaw in a recent release.

The official unveiling of Harvey Milk Street will be timed to coincide with what would be Milk's 82nd birthday on May 22. City leaders, as well as Milk's own nephew, Stuart Milk, are slated to speak at the event.