That’s one reason it’s not a good idea to assassinate people.
Would this sleazebag be lionized if White hadn’t made a martyr of him?
Well, White had snapped and obviously wasn’t considering the consequences of his actions. A week earlier, suburban SF Congressman Leo Ryan had been assassinated on Rev. Jim Jones’s orders, so it’s possible that might’ve spurred him on. Remember, he also planned to shoot a few others (including Willie Brown, the future Mayor & CA Assembly Speaker).
It had nothing to do with Milk’s sexual proclivities, but that he had become a political enemy after they had been former allies. If anything, Milk may have spurred on the murders, since after White had hastily submitted his resignation as a City Supervisor (the equivalent of a Councilman/Alderman) and White tried to walk it back, supposedly Mayor Moscone was going to reappoint him until Milk read Moscone the riot act and it changed the Mayor’s mind.
Milk thought he’d gotten rid of an enemy, and supposedly was quite self-satisfied. Anybody should know, you don’t taunt someone who has snapped.
Why the adulations over Milk based on any accomplishments other than the fact he had sex with men (and apparently a boy, as well) ? He had been in office a grand total of 10 months (!) Had he lived, at some point perhaps, he might’ve ended up as Mayor (likely facing off with Feinstein, who was actually a part of the Conservative faction of the Supervisors).
It’s amazing how much Moscone was left in the dustbin of history. It was expected that in 1982 he would run for Governor (and presumably would’ve run to L.A. Mayor Tom Bradley’s left), and quite possibly might’ve managed to beat Deukmejian (as the claim that Bradley’s race may have played a part in his narrow loss that Moscone wouldn’t have faced). Had he won, it would’ve been a given he would’ve been a Presidential candidate by either 1984, 1988 or 1992. Far higher and more influential than Milk.
Of course, with CA having sadly gone moonbat, it’s also possible Milk would’ve been in Pelosi’s House seat today (she wouldn’t have won at all) or even would’ve made it to the Senate instead of either Boxer or Feinstein. But, it’s all speculation. He also might’ve died of AIDS before the ‘80s were out, as so many of his Castro District constituents did.