"I know that you can't live on hope alone, but without it, life is not worth living."

Before Barack Obama, there was Harvey Milk.

A politician who brought a message of hope and empowerment to a place that had suffered under years of conservative rule. Who broke down a major barrier for a group of long-persecuted Americans. Who knew how to reach out to sometimes hostile and different groups to build a coalition for change.

30 years ago today Harvey Milk, the first openly homosexual person elected to office in America, was assassinated in San Francisco City Hall by a fellow Supervisor, Dan White. White went on to kill Milk's close ally and another great San Francisco liberal, Mayor George Moscone.

All this is from a wonderful tribute published today on dKos, where I hope you will go to read it in full and then recommend it if you can so as to direct more widespread attention to it.