Long before Sean Penn won an Oscar for his role in Gus Van Sant's Milk, director Rob Epstein picked up the same trophy for Best Documentary with his incredible portrait of Harvey Milk, the first openly gay member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors—and the first openly gay elected official in California history. His political career was cut short, however, when he was assassinated alongside San Francisco mayor George Moscone at the hand of their colleague, supervisor Dan White. But Milk's legacy has endured longer than his brief tenure as a public servant, and his courage and passion for social justice has inspired countless LGBT activists in the four decades since his murder. -- Esquire