It’s been almost 31 years since Dan White took Harvey Milk from us, and who knows where we would be now if he were still with us. Harvey’s courage and wisdom would have guided us though the AIDS crisis here in San Francisco and the growing gay rights movement that followed. He would have been 79-years-young today.

Even though Governor Schwarzenegger has yet to sign a bill instituting Harvey Milk Day, there’s no reason why we can’t celebrate it. California Ripple Effect put together a great list of things we could do to honor Harvey’s memory…

• For starters, let’s make it official. Make sure you’ve added your name to the petition urging Gov. Schwarzenegger to sign Harvey Milk Day into law at www.eqca.org/HarveyMilkDay.
• If you’re in Sacramento, you can join your LGBT Caucus on the North Lawn of the Capitol for a Harvey Milk birthday celebration tomorrow from 11:30 to 1 p.m.
• A grassroots group has also organized candlelight vigils tomorrow night across the state to mark the occasion.
• If you want to tuck in with a good movie, or organize a screening for your friends, there are two excellent Oscar-winning flicks about Harvey Milk’s life, the documentary Times of Harvey Milk and Gus Van Sant’s Milk starring Sean Penn.
• Finally, wish those you see tomorrow a “Happy Harvey Milk Day”. This is a great opportunity to share his story with someone new if they don’t know it.

I’ll close with Harvey’s famous “Hope” speech, used so eloquently in the video below. And where ever your are Harvey, Happy Birthday!