In 1978 Harvey Milk became the first openly gay man elected to public office in the United States , and the first openly gay or lesbian person to be elected to public office in California , when he won a seat on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors . Milk served almost 11 months in office and was responsible for passing a stringent gay rights ordinance for the city . However , on November 27 , 1978 , Milk and Mayor George Moscone were assassinated by Dan White , another city supervisor who recently resigned but wanted his job back . In 1979 , Stephen Lachs became the first openly gay judge appointed in the United States . He is also thought but not proved to be the first openly gay judge appointed anywhere in the world . He served as a judge of theLos Angeles County Superior Court from 1979 to 1999
assassinated
Moscone–Milk assassinations
History of gay men in the United States