Say what you want about actor Sean Penn. But he delivers an outstanding performance in the Gus Van Sant bio-pic about Harvey Milk, the country's first openly gay politician.

The film covers the political rise and eventual assassination of Milk and then San Francisco mayor George Moscone in 1978.

The film also has two sub-stories: the city of San Francisco divided by the counterculture of the early 1970's, and the gay rights movement.

Along with a generation that doesn't remember John F. Kennedy's assassination or the Vietnam War, young gay men and women know little of what it was like to be gay in America just 30 to 40 years ago.

San Francisco, now a gay Mecca of sorts, was once a battleground for acceptance just as in most US cities. Milk survived numerous political skirmishes that probably would have sunk the aspirations of most people, but he had a talent for building coalitions between unlikely groups. By the time he finally won a seat on San Francisco's Board of Supervisors, Milk was already nicknamed the "Mayor of Castro Street," a predominantly gay district.

But it was his battles with Anita Bryant, singer and spokesperson for Florida's orange juice industry, and California State Senator John Briggs that put the state's growing gay political influence on full display.

This wasn't just a tiff about acceptance. This was a fight for jobs, housing, and personal safety. Briggs had written a bill that would have denied gay teachers employment in public schools.

Milk's strategy to counter conservatives was to encourage gays and lesbians to simply be themselves. Be the gay teacher, lawyer, nurse, florist, or mechanic - and come out of the closet. It was a turning point in the gay movement.

"I didn't know the police raided the bars that way," said one young man leaving the film

Yes, my friend - and it happened right here in Rochester, too.

The LGBT community owes a lot to Milk. He was not perfect. His personal life was erratic and messy for a politician. But he stepped up when others with wealth and political influence hung back.

Milk stood up with nothing to lose, except his life.