Newsom defends book with ‘pedophile’ Harvey Milk, defying local, elected school board

California Gov. Gavin Newsom ratcheted up the heat in a dispute with a local school board via Twitter.

In June, the Temecula Valley Unified School Board (TVSB) voted 3-2 to exclude a social studies book that contains references to Harvey Milk.

Newsom pledged to defy the ban by having the state of California buy the books directly for students.

“A school board in Temecula decided to reject a textbook because it mentioned Harvey Milk,” said Newsom via Twitter. “CA is stepping in. We’re going to purchase the book for these students—the same one that hundreds of thousands of kids are already using. If these extremist school board members won’t do their job, we will — and fine them for their incompetence.”

It’s unclear how Newsom intends to distribute the books to children.

Milk has an odious reputation with conservatives, especially conservative Christians, because of his portrayal in a biography, Mayor of Castro Street.

In the book, Milk took in 16-year-old live-in lover Jack Galen McKinley, who was a runaway, in 1964, according to an American Family Association account of the biography.

After moving with him to San Francisco, Milk became bored with him when the runaway became more mature, said AFA. 

McKinley subsequently committed suicide by jumping from a building. 

During the debate for removal of the book from Temecula Valley school’s curriculum, TVSB Board President Dr. Joseph Komrosky asked, “Why even mention a pedophile?” in reference to Milk, according to CBS News Los Angeles. 

Milk, revered by the left as being one of the first openly gay politicians, was killed by a former San Francisco city employee during an employment dispute in 1978, which the left refers to as an assassination, implying some political motive for the killing, which is untrue. 

The pedophile claims seem to center around the question of the age of consent.  

That Milk and McKinley began their relationship when the latter was 16 years old is beyond dispute.  

At the time, both were living in New York, where the age of consent was then 14 years old, said CNN. The age of consent wasn’t raised to 18 years of age in New York until 2017, said the cable network.  

“I’ll ask you one simple question, governor, do you approve of any 33-year-old person, regardless of their gender identity or sexual preference, having a sexual relationship with any 16-year-old?” asked Board President Joseph Komrosky, when Newsom first stepped into the fray, according to local ABC News 7 Chicago.  

Newsom said that he will propose legislation that would prohibit school boards from removing books they find offensive and impose fines on any school boards for doing so, according to the Sacramento Bee.