SAN DIEGO (KGTV) - On what would've been Harvey Milk's 92nd birthday, a special event was held to honor his legacy.
Wreaths made by members of LGTBQ+ community placed along the Hillcrest street who's namesake is the civil rights leader all to honor him.
"He was a coalition builder and built bridges to other communities. That was a visionary for the 1970s,” Nicole Murray Ramirez, President of San Diego GLBT Historic Taskforce, said.
"Harvey Milk is very special to San Diego because of his military service. This is a military town. And for me, a former Marine, it's really special to me,” Bob Lehman, Founder of American Veterans for Equal Rights - San Diego
As they honor what milk did for this community some 50 years ago, there’s a fear of what could happen if the Supreme Court overturns Roe V. Wade.
It comes following a draft opinion showing the court was poised to make that decision.
"It has been spoken, those that have organized to take this women's right the next step is to take marriage equality,” Murray Ramirez said.
Legal experts said those worries are more than valid given the draft opinion’s position regarding privacy laws.
"So if it's not part of the federal constitution and states can make whatever they want in terms of statuary laws, they could criminalize gay marriage,” Gretchen von Helms, a criminal defense attorney, said. "Through the rights of marriage flow the right to inherit, the right of property, the right of pension, all of those things. And that can be severally impacted."
Milk's legacy is something that will never be forgotten despite what could be on the horizon for this community.
"If they go after our marriage rights, I don't think they're going to stop. And so we're very concerned about that,” Lehman said.
"Not only for our community but for people of color communities for the women, and also for the nation; these are troubling difficult times. So, we know that we have to continue his work,” Murray Ramirez said.
Both legal experts and political leaders are saying if people are concerned about the legal impacts of Roe V. Wade being overturned that they need to vote to have their voices heard.
