Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger surprisingly signed a bill late Sunday that will give the late Harvey Milk a day of recognition for the work that he had done for gay rights in California.

“Harvey Milk Day” will be May 22, the birth date of the slain politician, according to the Associated Press. It will not be an official state holiday, thus government workers won’t have the day off. But Schwarzenegger recognizes this day to be of “special significance,” and according to the New York Times, encourages schools to “conduct suitable commemorative exercises” in honor of Milk.

According to the Times, Schwarzenegger rejected this same bill last year, which was introduced by State Senator Mark Leno, a Democrat representing part of San Francisco and other sections in the Bay Area.

The governor argued that Milk should be celebrated only locally in San Francisco, by those who were most affected by Milk’s work. The AP said that Schwarzenegger did not sign a message this year to explain his change of mind, but the Times reports that the governor was supposedly convinced to honor Milk after he saw the 2008 biopic Milk, for which Sean Penn won an Academy Award for Best Actor. Another persuasive factor was the induction of Milk into the California Hall of Fame.

Penn also spoke in favor of the bill last year, the AP reported. He said that he would not assume that Schwarzenegger would veto this bill again, because he did not want to insult his intelligence.

“Harvey Milk symbolizes the importance of the gay community in California,” said Aaron McClear, a spokesman for the governor. “And the governor wanted to honor that community...He has become much more of a symbol of the gay community than he was a year ago because of those things. That made the difference from last year: he’s really come to symbolize the gay community in California.”

Leno said he was pleased with this change. However, not everyone shared the same feelings. According to the AP, Randy Thomasson of SaveCalifornia.com, an organization that opposes gay marriage, said in a statement, “Sadly, children in public schools will now have even more in-your-face, homosexual-bisexual-transsexual indoctrination.”

Our Take:

Ah, I think Arnold Schwarzenegger still makes a funny governor to me… He had a change of heart from the film? Really? Good one.

I really think that Harvey Milk deserves this day. Whether it should be a federal holiday or not, I’m not quite sure. Of course, personally, I think it should be. But I agree with Leno, who also mentioned that he is fine with it not becoming a federal holiday, so the state wouldn’t have to pay overtime wages.

He also said, in response to Thomasson, that the bill’s opponents “wish to lock the fact of LGBT Californians into a dark closet of the 20th century,” when everyone else is moving on. I also agree with that. Must we really backtrack on progress? Come on, people.