SAN FRANCISCO -- A vigil was held in San Francisco's Castro District on Friday night to commemorate the 31st anniversary of the assassination of Supervisor Harvey Milk and Mayor George Moscone by former Supervisor Dan White.

Milk was the nation's first openly-gay man to be elected to public office when he won the supervisor's race in 1978.

Milk became a martyr to the L.G.B.T civil rights cause when he said in a recording he made in the event of his assassination, "If a bullet should enter my brain, let that bullet destroy every closet door in the country."

State Senator Mark Leno praised those who attended the small vigil on the corner of Castro and Market streets: "These are the faithful that keep the flame alive, that remember the struggles that we fought in those days and the struggles we continue to fight to be first-class citizens."

The vigil for Milk and Moscone has been held every year as the LGBT community faced the AIDS crisis and other struggles. Many of those in attendance at Friday night's vigil called for a new effort to overturn Proposition 8, which banned same-sex marriage in California last year. LGBT activists remain divided on whether a repeal effort should be attempted in 2010 or held off until 2012.

Leno said the vigil also marked the passage of a bill making Milk's birthday a day of special recognition in California.

"Every May 22nd, Harvey's birthday will now be declared as Harvey Milk Day in California, which will help teach that chapter of history to more and more Californians," said Leno.