Yep! Finally, after vetoing it in the past, stating that slain San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk should be honored locally, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a bill recognizing May 22 (Milk’s birthday) as “Harvey Milk Day” in the state of California.  This comes almost two months to the day after President Barack Obama posthumously awarded Milk (and 15 other recipients) the Presidential Medal Of Freedom.

Sean Penn, as you know, won a much-deserved Oscar for his monumental portrayal of Milk in Gus Van Sant’s great MILK. The film also won an Oscar for screenwriter Dustin Lance Black, who gave a moving acceptance speech (watch it after Penn’s below.  The official Oscar page on YouTube doesn’t allow videos to be embedded, so click on the link within the frame to watch both speeches).

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Also, Schwarzenegger signed Senate Bill 54,  a measure that recognizes gay marriages that were performed out-of-state:

“The bill provides the same legal protections that would otherwise be available to couples that enter into civil unions or domestic partnerships out-of-state. In short, this measure honors the will of the people in enacting Proposition 8 while providing important protections to those unions legally entered into in other states.”

After the despicable PROP 8 passed last November, Californians finally have something to celebrate.