A campaign to have Harvey Milk’s image commemorated on a United States postage stamp began some four years ago, but if reports are to be believed, you’ll be pressing your tongue against the back of the pioneer’s head by next May.
Linn’s Stamps News, a weekly publication that covers the mail service (yeah, that’s a thing) reports that the Milk stamp was chosen by the Citizens Stamp Advisory Committee (also a thing) during closed doors meeting. According to The Bay Area Reporter:
An anonymous source sent Linn’s a copy of the panel’s January 31 and February 1 meeting minutes where 2014 stamps were debated and chosen. It included a notation that the minutes regarding the Milk stamp, along with a number of other choices, had been approved at an April 13 meeting.
Reporter Bill McAllister, who provided the Bay Area Reporter with a copy of the article posted to the website of the subscription-only publication May 13, cautioned in the story that “there is no certainty” that the Milk or other listed stamps would be issued in 2014. The documents McAllister was provided, nonetheless, list the Milk stamp for release in May next year.
Actress and AIDS activist Elizabeth Taylor, Apple founder Steve Jobs and whimsical chef /noted homophobe Julia Child are also fit to be licked next year. Milk, who would have been 83 years old this year, is honored annually with his own day on May 22, so it’s possible the USPS may hold off until his 85th birthday to release an official Harvey Milk stamp. Either way, the Postal Service is keeping mum on the issue and has “neither confirmed nor denied what the line-up will be for 2014.”
