Penn lends star power to Harvey Milk Day effort

Sean Penn and state Sen. Mark Leno want California to recognize May 22 as Harvey Milk Day and kicked off efforts on Tuesday to make that happen. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed a similar bill last September but that might be a little tougher for him to do without major backlash what with the release of the movie Milk and two high-profile Oscar wins for Penn and screenwriter Dustin Lance Black.

The San Francisco Chronicle writes that the announcement at Tosca Cafe attracted many leaders of the city’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community and reports Leno as saying that Penn’s powerful portrayal of Milk gives his bill an immediacy it didn’t have last year: “If there’s one thing Arnold Schwarzenegger understands, it’s box office,” Leno said. “And Harvey Milk now has box office.”

Penn said Milk’s call for political activism and volunteerism is a message that’s important to get into California schools: “It’s not just important but essential with such a heroic and seminal figure as Harvey Milk that we honor him in this way.”

A new television ad released Tuesday by Equality California, a gay rights group, makes an explicit connection between Milk and Prop. 8, which is billed as an example of gays and lesbians “still being denied equal rights.”