Later this evening, President Obama, who has been soft on gay issues thus far during his administration, awarded Harvey Milk a posthumous Presidential Medal of Freedom. Sapphic tennis player Billie Jean King, Sen. Edward Kennedy, thespian Sidney Poitier, Judge Sandra Day O'Connor, and smart guy Stephen Hawking are also among tonight's honorees. more ›

FuncheapSF alerted us to a free screening of Milk on Monday night at 8 p.m. at the Independent. We just might go and swoon over James Franco and Emile Hirsch some more, while stifling our desire to strangle Diego Luna (this character ruined him for us). FuncheapSF smartly suggests "booing and hissing" at Anita Bryant, but maybe "boozing and hissing" is more accurate, since there is a two-drink minimum with the free admission. FuncheapSF adds in parentheses that they've never seen the rule enforced though. more ›

State Senator Mark Leno and Sean Penn plan to reintroduce a bill Tuesday to mark Harvey Milk's birthday as a "day of significance" across California. Originally vetoed by Arnold Schwarzenegger -- the lug said only people in San Francisco would care about it -- the success of Gus Van Sant's biopic about the former slain San Francisco supervisor at this year's Oscars has prompted the method acting, Marin resident to push for a holiday honoring the murdered gay rights activist. more ›

As refined "commie, homo-loving sons-of-guns" approached last night's Oscars, here's what they were greeted with before arriving to the Kodak Theater in Los Angeles. The folks from God Hates Fags ilk. Yep, they showed up in full regalia last night, coagulating at the corner of Sunset Blvd. and Highland Ave. They even managed to garner a cocked eyebrow from Sean Penn during his acceptance speech. more ›

Since most of you think you're too smart to watch the Academy Awards, do let us cram them down your throat this morning. Especially since San Francisco got a major tip of the hat at last night's "excellence in cinema" awards orgy. more ›

The shirt, suit, and tie donned by Sean Penn in Gus Van Sant's Milk will be auctioned off online to benefit Variety - the Children's Charity of Southern California and the Hetrick-Martin Institute, home of the Harvey Milk High School. Danny Glicker's created the outfit especially for Van Sant's Harvey Milk biopic. The scene in which it is worn recreates the ensemble "November 7th, 1978, the Election Night on which he celebrated the statewide defeat of Proposition 6." more ›

A group that bills itself as the Marin Breastfeeding Coalition has started an unusual campaign in Marin County to get women to breastfeed their babies. In the next coming weeks, life-sized cardboard cutouts of woman breastfeeding will be put up across the North Bay, with cutouts of the making their debut this week at The Village shopping center in Corte Madera. (To check out images of the ads, go here and here.) more ›

Gus Van Sant's Milk, the biopic about slain San Francisco supervisor and gay activist Harvey Milk, was nominated for eight Oscars this morning. In addition to a Best Picture nomination, Dustin Lance Black (Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen), Van Sant (Best Directing), Josh Brolin (Best Supporting Actor), Sean Penn (Best Actor), and Danny Elfman (Best Score) all received Oscar love. more ›

The San Francisco Film Critics Circle awarded Gus Van Sant's Harvey Milk biopic ). more ›

What a smashing idea. Courage Campaign, an organizing network that connects 300,000+ grassroots and "netroots" activists to push for progressive change in California to get Prop 8 overturned, is getting people to host a Milk screening in their community on the 20th, and then bring everyone straight from the screening to the candlelight vigils happening that night. It's called "Milk + Love." more ›

Senator Mark Leno and (new!) Assemblymember Tom Ammiano will introduce measures that prove Proposition 8 is "an improper revision of the California State Constitution," according to reports. The measure, which should be announced today during the second day of the 2009-20101 legislative session, is sponsored by Equality California and the National Center for Lesbian Rights. Prop 8, if you recall, could ban same-same marriage, effectively altering the California constitution to allow discrimination. more ›

Hey, Gus Van Sant's Harvey Milk biopic Milk, which is pulling in phenomenal reviews and audience reaction, somehow managed to crack the top ten this with only a fistful of theaters screening the movie. more ›

A new theory is percolating about Gus Van Sant's ?" and "[I]f the film had found an audience early enough, could it have made a difference?" In our post-Prop. 8 world those are good questions, ones that we personally cannot answer. But one thing is for sure: Milk will land the sympathy vote come Oscar night.
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, will open next week. In 1977, Milk became the first openly gay man to be elected to a major public office in the United States, only to be assassinated within his first year of serving on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. At turns tragic and exhilarating, the film chronicles the last eight years of Milk’s life (played by Sean Penn), when he worked on campaigns for public office and the protection of gay employees. more ›

Yeah, yeah. We stuck this in Day Around the Bay, but we feel it merits its own post. (Besides, we'd hate for some local bloggers to go one day without bashing us in private for being "too gay now." We digress.) more ›

Gus Van Sant has always held a warm and fuzzy spot in our hearts since My Own Private Idaho (Helloooo Keanu Reeves and River Phoenix!) but Van Sant has won us all over again with the shooting of Milk, which we stalked covered while shooting was happening. more ›

Well, it's been fun. The trailers, the megawatt celebrity sightings, the lights, the cameras, the not being invited to cast/crew parties -- SFist will miss it all. As most of you know, Gus Van Sant's biopic -- the story of assassinated San Francisco Supervisor and gay rights advocate, Harvey Milk -- started shooting in January. This past Sunday, the production came to an end. Alas. more ›

We just got word that Gustaf Van Sant needs more extras this Sunday for . You know what that means, don't you? Time to throw on your hippest and tightest '70s duds revealing the most chest hair possible in order to help the poor Palme d'Or winner out. You will help him out this coming Sunday, won't you? Good. more ›

The weekend's coming up, and that means that Muni's got a long list of street closures and cancellations. And this week, the radical homosexual agenda is to blame: for several nights, streets around the Castro will be closed due to filming for the hilarious smash-hit romantic comedy . In the film, Hilary Swank plays a cold-as-ice milkmaid who's sworn she'll never fall in love again. But when she unwillingly becomes the guardian of a precocious 14-year-old lesbian (Zack Efron), everything she thought she knew about life ... will come squirting out her nose. more ›

Although most of us are giddy that Hollywood has come to our little town to film a moving picture show, others are less than gay about it. Namely, a few Castro merchants who have seen business drop since production began late last month. According to the BAR: more ›

Remember the bedlam over at that local homo political clique last year? You know, that time when Carole Migden (D-San Francisco) "stole" the vote from Mark Leno? And then gay-on-gay hair-pulling violence erupted? Well, it looks like the vote for Carole is going to stick. Now that Rafael Mandelman has been elected president of the Harvey Milk LGBT Democratic Club, the lcoal group, according to the B.A.R., "is Carole Migden's club." And that, it seems, is that. more ›

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Recreating Harvey Milk's campaign poster for SF Supervisor, Penn is downright adorable. And surprisingly endearing. more ›

Seeing as how castroshopper's Ray F. has some choice shots of the Castro's conversion to 1978, we thought we'd thrill you with a few more recent images of the world's most flowery neighborhood. more ›

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Undergoing a procedure to erase 30 years from its face, the Castro neighborhood is going retro, circa 1978, for the filming of Gus Van Sant's Harvey Milk biopic, Milk, which starts shooting this week. Already the Castro Theatre, right, and boutique shop Given, formerly Milk's camera store / campaign headquarters, are being renovated to get that '70s vibe. Rumor has it that Castro Street between 18th and 19th streets (i.e., the staphicenter) will be closed on Thursday. We'll update with more info as it comes in. more ›

Yeah, we plan on running this bit into the ground. And then some. Well, well, well. Well. Huh. It looks like Mr. Van Sant is having yet another open casting call for his Harvey Milk biopic, Milk. Seeing as how are the Gena Rowlands of bit-part/background acting, we're going to attend the casting call. Again. Clearly, our picture taken at the last audition was either destroyed by a envious auditioners, or it was lost... more ›