Harry Britt (June 8, 1938 – June 24, 2020) was an American political activist and politician in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17t ...

. Britt was involved during the late-1960s in the civil rights movement when he was a Methodist minister in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

. He was first appointed to the

San Francisco Board of Supervisors The San Francisco Board of Supervisors is the legislative body within the government of the City and County of San Francisco. Government and politics The City and County of San Francisco is a consolidated city-county, being simultaneously a c ...

in January 1979 by Mayor

Dianne Feinstein Dianne Goldman Berman Feinstein ( ; born Dianne Emiel Goldman; June 22, 1933) is an American politician who serves as the senior United States senator from California, a seat she has held since 1992. A member of the Democratic Party, she wa ...

, succeeding

Harvey Milk Harvey Bernard Milk (May 22, 1930 – November 27, 1978) was an American politician and the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in California, as a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. Milk was born and raised in ...

, who was

assassinated Assassination is the murder of a prominent or important person, such as a head of state, head of government, politician, world leader, member of a royal family or CEO. The murder of a celebrity, activist, or artist, though they may not have ...

in City Hall along with Mayor George Moscone by former Supervisor Dan White.

Career

San Francisco Board of Supervisors

Britt served as President of the San Francisco Gay Democratic Club. Additionally, he was elected to the Board of Supervisors in November 1979, 1980, 1984, and 1988 and served as President of the Board of Supervisors from 1989 to 1990. Britt was one of a few members of the

Democratic Socialists of America The Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) is a Left-wing politics, left-wing Democratic Socialists of America#Tendencies within the DSA, multi-tendency Socialism, socialist and Labour movement, labor-oriented political organization. Its roots ...

to be elected to public office. Britt, who was openly gay, introduced

domestic partner A domestic partnership is a legal relationship, usually between couples, who live together and share a common domestic life, but are not married (to each other or to anyone else). People in domestic partnerships receive benefits that guarantee ...

legislation in 1982, which was passed by the Board of Supervisors but vetoed by Mayor Feinstein. In 1989, under Britt's leadership, the board again passed domestic partner legislation, which was this time signed by Mayor

Art Agnos Arthur Christ Agnos (born Arthouros Agnos; [] September 1, 1938) is an American politician. He served as the 39th Mayor of San Francisco, mayor of San Francisco, California from 1988 to 1992 and as the Regional Head of the United States Department ...

. However, voters repealed the domestic partnership law by

initiative In political science, an initiative (also known as a popular initiative or citizens' initiative) is a means by which a petition signed by a certain number of registered voters can force a government to choose either to enact a law or hold a ...

; a modified version was reinstated by another voter initiative, 1990's Proposition K, also written by Britt.

Other campaigns

Britt chose not to run for reelection in 1992. He ran unsuccessfully for

California's 5th congressional district California's 5th congressional district is a U.S. congressional district in California. The district is located in the northern San Joaquin Valley and central Sierra Nevada. The district includes all of Amador, Calaveras, Tuolumne and M ...

in 1987, narrowly losing to

Nancy Pelosi Nancy Patricia Pelosi (; ; born March 26, 1940) is an American politician who has served as Speaker of the United States House of Representatives since 2019 and previously from 2007 to 2011. She has represented in the United States House of ...

in a special election to fill the seat left after the death of

Sala Burton Sala Burton (née Galante; April 1, 1925 – February 1, 1987) was a Polish-born American politician who served as a United States Representative from California from 1983 until her death from colon cancer in Washington, D. C., in 1987. Early ...

, winning 32 percent of the vote to Pelosi's 36 percent. He also was unsuccessful in his 2002 race against

Mark Leno Mark Leno (born September 24, 1951) is an American politician who served in the California State Senate until November 2016. A Democrat, he represented the 11th Senate district, which includes San Francisco and portions of San Mateo County. Bef ...

for a seat in the

California State Assembly The California State Assembly is the lower house of the California State Legislature, the upper house being the California State Senate. The Assembly convenes, along with the State Senate, at the California State Capitol in Sacramento. The ...

Later career

Britt directed the Weekend BA Degree Completion Program at

New College of California New College of California was a college founded in the San Francisco Bay Area in 1971 by former Gonzaga University President John Leary. It ceased operations in early 2008. New College's main campus was housed in several buildings in the Missio ...

, which closed in January 2008 due to financial problems.

Death

After a long illness, Britt died at Laguna Honda Hospital in San Francisco on June 24, 2020.

References

External links

New College of California website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Britt, Harry 1938 births 2020 deaths 20th-century American politicians 21st-century American politicians Activists from California California Democrats Gay politicians LGBT city councillors from the United States LGBT people from the San Francisco Bay Area LGBT rights activists from the United States Democratic Socialists of America politicians from California‎ New College of California faculty People from Port Arthur, Texas San Francisco Board of Supervisors members