San Francisco Railway Streetcar No. 1051 defaced & The SafeSpace Bus Ad!

Most people are familiar with the name Harvey Milk, the American Politician who was a human rights pioneer and transit advocate.  Milk is perhaps known most for being the 1st openly gay man to be elected to public office in California as a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, he was also murdered because of his sexual orientation, making what happened to Harvey Milk a hate crime!  Milk moved to the Castro District in San Francisco in the 1970's.

Harvey Milk had a passion for improving Muni and city government in general for all San Fransicans.  In October 2008 a Muni streetcar, No. 1051 was dedicated to Harvey Milk.  The streetcar was referred to as a "rolling classrom" to inform Muni customers on the F Market line about Milk's passion.  The dedication was a meaningful way to help visitors and residents appreciate this pivital civic leader.  Streetcar No. 1051 was also featured in the film "MILK".

Streetcar No. 1051 was defaced with anti-gay graffiti sometime in June.  No one reported the homophobic graffiti and it was allowed to remain in public view for the last six weeks.  When brought to the attention of the transit's chairman he addressed the issue and is having it taken care of. 

Another clear message painted and perpetuating hate....the hate we all hear about....the hate some of us experience....the hate that is meant to effect an entire community...that does effect entire communities.

SafeSpace, the anti-violence Program of the RU12? Community Center ran a bus ad a few months back.  I hope that some of you readers got a chance to see it.  The bus ad's purpose was to provide education about hate speech as well as to reach out to individuals who have been on the receiving end of these words.  We all hear the words "faggot", "dyke", and "freak" used in an insulting and hurtful way all too often.  We decided to use these words in our ad so that we could "call out" what is being used against people.  We are hopeful that people know about us and will call us if they experience hate speech...or any kind of violence.  

The penning of the hateful language on the streetcar dedicated to Harvey Milk was unnecessary, hurtful and intended to send a message to the entire community.  The thing about hate speech that is the same throughout the country is that it is used to hurt...and hurt it does.

If you or someone you know needs assistance please contact the SafeSpace office at 802-863-0003.