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The user behind the spoken version of the article seems to have vanished under the right to vanish. The user also has nominated the file for deletion on Wikimedia Commons and said that they wanted the article to be "deleted out of privacy". Should the template be kept or removed? Certified Terror (talk) 18:45, 9 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
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The maths don’t add up in this section:
“ Before Milk's thirty-fourth birthday,[18] he started a romantic relationship with a 16-year-old boy (b. October 18, 1946)[19] named Jack Galen McKinley after he left his hometown on October 22, 1963.”
When McKinley left his hometown he was 17, not 16. As they started the relationship before Milk’s 34th birthday (May 64), we conclude they started the relationship between 1963/10 and 1964/5. McKinley wasn’t therefore 17. He was however 16 years younger than Milk, hence the confusion in the original source. 87.196.82.14 (talk) 09:52, 4 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]
It seems most news accounts of the relationship have McKinley as being 16 years old at the time. Not sure if this is a simple arithmetic error or an editorial decision intended to make Milk look worse because of McKinley being a minor at the time. 216.152.18.132 (talk) 20:43, 4 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]
Partly done: I've marked the relevant sentence in the article as {{Contradictory inline}} to highlight the issue. Because this may (haven't read the sources myself) be the case of sources stating something which is untrue, editorial discretion will need to be applied to determine how to handle it. As such, it is ineligible for the edit request queue, though any interested editors are invited to investigate and make a call. —Sirdog(talk) 00:11, 6 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]
As I'll explain, Wikipedia does a great disservice in report as fact allegations used to disparage Harvey Milk.
But what "news accounts of the relationship"? The only one's I find in extensive searches on Google, Gale databases, etc., are either allegations by or reporting of allegations by far-right or hate groups that rely entirely on combining partial sentences & phrases from Stilt's biography. So, it appears you're citing unidentified sources that are either second-hand allegations motivated by at least bias or third-hand reports about said allegations.
At best, that's a basis for saying "X alleges ..." But the independent facts dispute that (to be charitable) interpretation and other primary sources, like Lillian Faderman, Harvey Milk: His Lives and Death (2018) say McKinley was 17. Stilts doesn't clearly say McKinley was 16 when he started with Milk.
The whole "Milk had a relationship with a 16-year old when Milk was 33" assertion is almost always accompanied by accusations Milk was a pedophile. Not only is the factual basis incorrect, but legally McKinley could consent even if he was 16. Milk isn't even accused of ever having relations with any other minor and none of this fits "pedophila" anyway.
If these allegations are to be included in Milk's profile, they should not be reported as facts, but as allegations. With what Stilts actually says and what independent sources say - in context.
Published news stories indicate the Department of the Navy is considering the renaming of the USNS Harvey Milk due to Milk’s alleged reputation as a homosexual predator, as well as part of a general push to remove DEI policy from the military. Perhaps something should be added to this article about that, as the renaming of a Navy ship is highly unusual.
"Harvey Milk: His Lives and Death" by Lillian Faderman claims that McKinley was 17 (and not 16) at the start of their relationship, as cited by the Snopes articled linked below. All of the current claims saying he was 16 are coming from right-wing sources attempting to smear Milk. But considering New York's age of consent is 17, and they moved to California when McKinley was 23, there is no real evidence he broke any laws.
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change "16 year old boy" to "17 year old man"
per the source material Shilts, The Mayor of Castro Street [p. 30], Jack Galen McKinley decided to move to NYC when he was 16; but it was only after his 17th birthday that he left his hometown; the age of consent is 17 in NY therefore he was not a 16 year old boy when he moved in with Harvey Milk but a 17 year old man; please correct this misinformation Alan Grosenheider (talk) 22:34, 9 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]
I too would like this disinformation corrected.
This link will display official documentation of the birthdate.
I won't repeat my longer post under "Semi-protected edit request on 4 June 2025," but will add the following:
Groups seeking to disparage Harvey Milk have strung together partial sentences from Randy Shilts's 1982 biography of Milk to allege Milk began a relationship in late October or November 1963 with John (Jack) Qalen McKinley when Milk was allegedly underage at 16 and Milk was 33.
In 1963, the age of consent in New York was 14-16 (raised to 17 in 1965). [1] As in most states, at 16, one could consent to marriage in New York. [2] All but the one biography are clear that Jack McKinley was 17 when he met Harvey Milk or they got together in 1964. [3] I have found no source via Google, Gale databases, JSToR, databases, other library databases, etc., that reports otherwise.
Shilts says that Jack McKinley was 16 when he left his hometown for New York in 1963, but never says he was still 16 when even met Milk. [4] To the contrary, McKinley was born on October 18, 1946. [5] He ran away from Hagerstown, MD for New York on October 22, 1963.[6] Do the math: McKinley was 17 before he went to N.Y.
Even if he was 16, McKinley could legally consent in New York and most of the nation.
McKinley was street hustling & living with an older man for many weeks before he met Milk, who recruited him to work on conservative Republican Barry Goldwater’s campaign for President. [7] Shilts says McKinley & Milk “settled into a middle-class domestic marriage” and Milk was McKinley’s “perfect protector.” [8] A friend described them as “trying to lead the perfect middle-class life with the perfect monogamous marriage.” [9] They stayed together for over 5 years & Milk moved to California because McKinley was stage manager for the Broadway hit “Hair,” which was touring to San Francisco. [10]
[6] Shilts, id. at 30; (1963, November 4), “Lanvale St. Boy Missing.” The Morning Herald, Hagerstown, Maryland, Vol. XCI(No. 260), p. 2; (1963, November 4), “Lanvale St. Boy Missing.” The Daily Mail, Hagerstown, Maryland, p. 12. Po-tee-weet (talk) 01:44, 13 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]
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The USNS Harvey Milk was renamed to the USNS Oscar V. Peterson on June 27th 2025. The article briefly stated the Secretary of Defense ordered Harvey Milk’s name removed from the vessel but does not list the new name of the vessel. Further, later in the article it refers to the USNS Milk in the present tense, where that is no longer the name of the ship. 2601:45:8101:2070:B9B6:E59C:8379:2E36 (talk) 15:03, 27 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]
level-4 vital article is rated FA-class on Wikipedia's content assessment scale.
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Partly done: I've marked the relevant sentence in the article as {{Contradictory inline}} to highlight the issue. Because this may (haven't read the sources myself) be the case of sources stating something which is untrue, editorial discretion will need to be applied to determine how to handle it. As such, it is ineligible for the edit request queue, though any interested editors are invited to investigate and make a call. —Sirdog (talk) 00:11, 6 June 2025 (UTC)
