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Might we call it Harvey Milk Boulevard?
The Salt Lake City Council voted unanimously Tuesday evening to consider a new name for 900 South in honor of the late San Francisco gay activist and community leader. The resolution will go through a public hearing next week before the council votes on a final measure, according to council staff.
Milk was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1977 — one of the first openly gay officials in the United States.
One year later, he was shot and killed by a former board member, Dan White, who also shot and killed Mayor George Moscone.
Salt Lake City Councilman Stan Penfold sponsored the resolution to name the street Harvey Milk Boulevard. Penfold said the designation was fitting because Salt Lake City is an inclusive place that has been proactive in the struggle for equality for the LGBT community.
"It is a little bit of a personal thing for me," he said. "Harvey Milk was the first openly gay person to be elected to a city council in California. I was the first to be elected to a city council in Utah."
Milk was born in New York in 1930, and he moved to San Francisco in 1972. There, he became vocal as a gay activist and a leader in his community around Castro Street. In 1973, he ran for a seat on the Board of Supervisors and lost. Two years later, he narrowly lost a second bid for the same seat.
Nonetheless, Milk's political clout grew and he locked up the seat in the following election. His activities in San Francisco are seen by many as among the roots of the modern gay movement.
President Barack Obama awarded Milk a Presidential Medal of Freedom posthumously in 2009. He was included in TIME Magazine's "100 Heroes and Icons of the 20th Century." In 2014, the United States Postal Service issued a postage stamp to honor Milk.
A public hearing will be held Tuesday at the Salt Lake City Council chambers in City Hall. The meeting will address the naming of the street, and the council could vote on the measure that night.
Other Salt Lake City Streets named for civil rights activists include Martin Luther King Boulevard (600 South), Rosa Parks Boulevard (200 East) and Cesar Chavez Boulevard (500 South).