Dan White's Motive More About Betrayal Than Homophobia

Sloan's life changed dramatically immediately after the killings. Mo Bernstein called and told him to leave town for good. Because of the public outrage against White, Sloan went into hiding for a time, and then moved to Los Angeles, where he worked for the John Anderson presidential campaign in 1980. But two high-ranking staffers flew to Washington to notify Anderson's campaign management that Sloan was a potential liability because of his association with White.

"That's when I understood how badly my career had been damaged," Sloan says. "It was always going to follow me."

Dennis Desilva

White gets a haircut at a Visitacion Valley barbershop.

Dennis Desilva

Campaign manager Ray Sloan, unidentified priest, Mary Ann White, and Dan White at White's campaign headquarters.

Related Content

• Still Getting Over It
  November 16, 2011
• Save California, Pro-Family Group, Demands Kids Skip School on Harvey Milk Day
  May 17, 2012
• San Diego Claims Harvey Milk as One of Its Own
  May 10, 2012
• Supervisor John Avalos Claims He Talked to Harvey Milk's Ghost
  May 23, 2012
• Happy Harvey Milk Day: Have a Milkshake
  May 22, 2012

More About

• Ray Sloan
• Dan White
• Harvey Milk
• LGBT Issues
• Arts, Entertainment, and Media

Like this Story?

Sign up for the Weekly Newsletter: Our weekly feature stories, movie reviews, calendar picks and more - minus the newsprint and sent directly to your inbox.

Privacy Policy Cancel Continue

DeSilva says Sloan was deeply affected by the killings and drank heavily for about a year afterward. Sloan scoffs at that, saying he was drinking pretty heavily before. He continues to work as a political consultant, though he has never fulfilled the promise he showed in 1977. Still, he says he has done well for himself. Some of his current clients, however, say he lives a nomadic life and can disappear for weeks at a time without explanation.

Sloan says he will withhold judgment on Milk, though he remains skeptical of how Dan White will be depicted.

"I don't go to many movies," he says. "I don't have the patience. But I'll see this one."

Dennis DeSilva was Dan White's official photographer during his 1977 campaign and his 11 months as a supervisor. Shortly after White murdered Moscone and Milk, DeSilva put hundreds of undeveloped negatives he had taken of White in a portable home safe. Over the years, DeSilva forgot the combination and the negatives were locked away until the SF Weekly paid to have the safe opened. Many of the photos that accompany this story have never been seen before.