1978 Harvey Milk becomes the 1st openly gay person elected to public office in California. First openly gay person to be elected to public office in California when he won a seat on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. Milk served almost 11 months in office until he was assassinated along with Mayor George Moscone by Dan White, another city supervisor who had recently resigned but wanted his job back.During his time in office Milk was responsible for passing a stringent gay rights ordinance for the city and became an icon in San Francisco and a martyr in the gay community.