Nephew dedicates stamp honoring late gay-rights pioneer Harvey Milk

WASHINGTON — Determined to promote equal rights in Florida and around the world, Stuart Milk stood proudly at a WhiteHouse dedication ceremony Thursday as postal officials unveiled an image of his uncle: a giant replica of theHarvey Milk Forever Stamp.

Dignitaries in the audience leapt to their feet to applaud.

The new stamp — depicting Harvey Milk’s engaging smile, with a band of colors in the corner— was hailed as a rallying point for a worldwide movement to promote human rights regardless of sexual orientation.

“We have this beautiful stamp to remind us that hope resides in you, hope resides in me,” said Stuart Milk, who leads the Harvey Milk Foundation fromthe South Florida city of Wilton Manors. “As President Obama said about Harvey: `Hope unashamed. Hope unafraid.’”

Obama, who was traveling to New York to visit the National BaseballHall of Fame, did not attend the ceremony. But a host of officials took part, includingHouse Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi and U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Weston, a longtime advocate of gay rights.

Stuart Milk, 53, is thenephewand protégé of the lateHarvey Milk, a San Francisco supervisorwhowasoneof the nation’s first openly gay public officials and was assassinated in 1978. The Harvey Milk Foundation pushes for equal rights while encouraging lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people to embrace their identity and showit to theworld.

“He gave his life,” Milk said of his uncle. “He knew those bullets were coming. That did not stop his message, which was that people have to be present, they have to be authentic, they have to take off their masks.”