California Gov. Gavin Newsom has attacked a school board president in Temecula for calling LGBTQ icon Harvey Milk a pedophile.
Earlier this week, Temecula Valley Unified School District board President Joseph Komrosky called Milk a “pedophile” when discussing a textbook that would be “assigned to the district’s 18 elementary schools in southern Riverside County,” according to the Los Angeles Times.
A supplemental section of the book includes a biography of Milk, a pioneering gay activist who served on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1977. He was gunned down, along with Mayor George Moscone, the following year by a disgruntled former city supervisor.
The Temecula school board’s conservative majority claimed that parents did not have enough involvement in approving the social studies textbook, and two members — including Komrosky — said they opposed the book because of the section on Milk.
“My question is, why even mention a pedophile?” Komrosky asked during a hearing, to which board member Allison Barclay responded, “He’s not a pedophile.”
“I beg to differ,” Komrosky shot back. “What does that got to do with our curriculum and schools? Why?”
When Barclay said that Milk protected LGBTQ people from discrimination, Komrosky asked, “So, you think pedophilia is protected?”
USNS Harvey Milk departs the General Dynamics NASSCO shipyard after a ceremonial address in San Diego, California on November 6, 2021. One of the first openly gay politicians in the U.S., who was assassinated four decades ago, now has a ship named after him. (ARIANA DREHSLER/AFP via Getty)
“Excuse me, absolutely not,” Barclay said. “I am not talking about pedophilia.”
Upon hearing the story, Gov. Gavin Newsom attacked Komrosky in a post on Twitter.
“An offensive statement from an ignorant person. This isn’t Texas or Florida. In the Golden State, our kids have the freedom to learn. Congrats Mr. Komrosky you have our attention. Stay tuned,” he said.
Newsom issued his comment after his office along with his Attorney General Rob Bonta as well as California Supt. of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond issued a letter to school boards warning them about banning certain books.
“In the first half of this school year alone, 1,477 books were banned nationally, with teachers and librarians threatened with prison time for shelving the wrong book,” the officials wrote.
“As state leaders elected to represent the values of all Californians, we offer our response in one shared voice: Access to books — including books that reflect the diverse experiences and perspectives of Californians, and especially, those that may challenge us to grapple with uncomfortable truths — is a profound freedom we all must protect and cultivate,” it added.
File/City Councilman Harvey Milk and actress Jane Fonda at a political rally opposing Initiative 6. (Photo by Roger Ressmeyer/Corbis/VCG via Getty)
Daniel Greenfield of Frontpage Mag addressed the claims of Harvey Milk being a pedophile, citing a book claiming the icon had relationships with two teenagers, who were allegedly 16 and 17 years old, respectively, at the time. The legal age of consent in California is 18 years old.
“As Daniel Flynn explains in Cult City: Jim Jones, Harvey Milk and 10 Days That Shook San Francisco, ‘Milk’s taste in men veered toward boys.’ Milk was nearly 17 years older than teenager Joe Campbell and Jack Galen was only 16 to Milk’s 33. Former Marine Oliver “Bill” Sipple slept with men and “knew that Harvey Milk slept with boys.” In a letter to Sipple, Milk said he had many things to do that day, such as “cook dinner, fuck Jack, take a bath, fuck Jack, listen to some music, fuck Jack, wash the dishes, fuck Jack,” and so on.
Jack was a teenage runaway. He ended up heavily on drugs.
In just this past decade, Harvey Milk, the former “Mayor of Castro Street” portrayed by Sean Penn in the Academy Award-winning Milk, has been given an honorary postage stamp, a naval vessel with his name on it, and an airport terminal dedicated in his name at San Francisco International Airport.
Harvey Milk became the first openly gay man to serve in public office when he was elected to the SF Board of Supervisors in 1977 before being assassinated by former Supervisor Dan White over a political betrayal.
Paul Roland Bois joined Breitbart News in 2021. He also directed the award-winning feature film, EXEMPLUM, which can be viewed on Tubi, Google Play, YouTube Movies, or Vimeo on Demand. Follow him on Twitter @prolandfilms or Instagram @prolandfilms.