Harvey Bernard Milk, 48, was assassinated on November 27, 1978, at San Francisco City Hall. Milk was a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors and is noted as the first openly gay man elected to public office in California. He and Mayor George Moscone were shot and killed by Dan White, a former supervisor who had resigned and sought reinstatement. After Moscone refused to reappoint him, White entered City Hall through a basement window to avoid metal detectors, shot Moscone in his office, then went to Milk’s office and fatally shot him.

White was charged with first-degree murder; his defense argued diminished capacity, pointing to depression and altered behavior including junk food consumption. On May 21, 1979, White was convicted of voluntary manslaughter and sentenced to seven years and eight months, a verdict that sparked the White Night riots and led to abolition of the diminished capacity defense in California. Milk had championed an anti-discrimination bill based on sexual orientation that the Board passed and Moscone signed.