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One who is catching up is a 20-year-old wearing a leather cross, dangling earrings and a black leather cap angled on a head that is shaved but for red tendrils over an ear. He sits in his jaunty outfit learning fractions and writing poems. The young man's mind is so keen that when a deaf student came to class, he learned to sign in half an hour. This makes him think he may eventually work with the handicapped, but until this year he was not a dedicated student. "I'm quicksilver," he says. "I need stability. Everything else has shifted, but this school is stabilizing."
Another student, who plans to be a fashion designer, observes, "We get along with each other as best we can. At least here we can be ourselves." The school clown, he has been at Harvey Milk for a year. "At my old school, everyone asked me why I didn't do sports. I wouldn't change for anyone, but I went to two at-home games. It was great to be with the gang, but it didn't really change anything. The kids hit me and pushed me around, and finally I stopped going. My parents support my being here because they support my being in school. They're handling my being gay, so I guess they're handling my being here." So far, eight students have graduated from Harvey Milk; a handful of others have returned to mainstream schools.
Harvey Milk students want to be accepted, especially the 15-year-old with cornrowed red hair, a fashionable rhinestone nose stud and doelike eyes outlined in blue. "She" seems to be an exquisite young girl but turns out to be a boy. "My cousin is a drag queen, and he told me about Harvey Milk," he says. "At my other school, some people didn't know I was a guy; others called me a faggot." He adds, "I used to fight them, and I hit first. At Harvey Milk I can wear what I want." The issue is learning, nothing more, nothing less.