NEW YORK -- A fundamentalist Christian group in the US has told its members to refuse any mail sent with a stamp featuring the face of 1970’s gay activist Harvey Milk.
The US Postal Service recently released the set of stamps commemorating the country’s first elected gay official, however an organisation called the American Family Association (AFA) has demanded its followers do not accept packages or letters bearing the “predator’s” face, arguing, “He is the last person we should be featuring on a stamp”.
Released on Wednesday, an AFA press release stated: “Honouring predator Harvey Milk on a U.S. postage stamp is disturbing to say the least. Harvey Milk was a very disreputable man and used his charm and power to prey on young boys with emotional problems and drug addiction.”
Milk, who was tragically assassinated in 1978, worked tirelessly for the advancement of LGBT rights in San Francisco, having campaigned for office three times before finally being elected in 1977. The subject of a 2008 biopic starring Sean Penn, President Obama posthumously awarded Milk the Medal of Freedom in 2009.
However, the AFA, which has long-campaigned against LGBT rights, and was listed as a hate group 2010, has decried the stamps as “perversity… not diversity”, arguing that their release is part of a nefarious plot by the “radical homosexual lobby”.
Should a member of the AFA receive a missive bearing Milk’s “disreputable” face, they have been advised to either refuse to accept it from the postman, or write "return to sender" on the envelope. Should they be offered the Milk stamp at the Post Office, members have been told to reject it in favour of a postmark bearing the American flag.