With mere weeks until the California Supreme Court reviews the constitutionality of the state's same-sex marriage ban, Proposition 8, a new document could show that one of the leaders of the gay rights movement played by his own rules from the beginning.
Reader Thomas Ostly reached out to The Huffington Post with photos of a document he believes to be Harvey Milk's unofficial "marriage license." While the document does not use the word "marriage," the hand-written note outlines the "terms, conditions and clauses" of a contract between Harvey Milk and Joe Scott Smith to be "lovers from this day on." It is signed and dated on December 22, 1971.
The terms of Milk and Smith's alleged agreement were simple: "It is agreed that both parties shall love each other."
Smith, Milk's longtime boyfriend, was named executor of Milk's estate and curator of the Harvey Milk Archives after Milk's death, according to documents from the Gay and Lesbian Center of the San Francisco Public Library.
Ostly claims he discovered the contract along with several other documents after he began buying and selling storage lockers in San Francisco. Ostly also found what he alleges to be Milk's bible, a family tree and vaccination information.
While The Huffington Post has not verified the authenticity of the document, we have to admit it would be quite the discovery.
Think the find is authentic? Let us know what you think in the comments section.
Related
Before You Go
