Harvey Milk's (sexual and sacred) body. (24th July 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Gilders, William K
• Is Part Of: Body and religion. Volume 5:Number 1(2022)
• Page Start: 15678
• Page End: 15678
• Publication Date: 2022-07-24
• Subjects: Human body -- Religious aspects -- Periodicals; 202.2
• DOI: 10.1558/bar.15678
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2057-5823

Abstract

Abstract : Harvey Milk has been constituted as a queer saint. This article, in the self-identifying voice of a gay man, explores the significance of Harvey Milk's queer cultural sanctity in relation to his sexual embodiment, emphasizing that 'Saint Harvey' was a leading figure in a movement of sexual liberation and was himself a strongly sexual being, facts sometimes downplayed in his representation as a sacred figure in contrast with his vitally sexual pre-assassination body. Examining the phenomenon of the 'canonization' of a sexually embodied gay Jewish agnostic, the article asks what happens when Milk's sacralization is explicitly tied to his sexuality, focusing on a central question: can a saint be a sexual being, not peripherally or incidentally, but centrally and essentially?