[3] His father was George Joseph Moscone, a corrections officer at nearby San Quentin, and his mother, Lena, was a homemaker who later went to work to support herself and her son after she separated from her husband.

[2] On the Board, Moscone was known for his defense of poor people, racial minorities and small business owners, as well as supporting the first successful fight in San Francisco to block construction of a proposed freeway that would have cut through Golden Gate Park and several neighborhoods.

[citation needed] In 1966 Moscone ran for and won a seat in the California State Senate, representing the 10th District in San Francisco County.

[6] Moscone was quickly rising through the ranks of the California Democratic Party and became closely associated with a loose alliance of progressive politicians in San Francisco led by the Burton brothers.

He successfully sponsored legislation to institute a school lunch program for California students, as well as a bill legalizing abortion that was signed into law by Governor Ronald Reagan.

In conjunction with his friend and ally in the Assembly, Willie Brown, Moscone managed to pass a bill repealing California's sodomy law.

[citation needed] Moscone ran a grassroots mayoral campaign which drew volunteers from organizations like Glide Methodist Memorial Church, Delancey Street (a rehabilitation center for ex-convicts) and the Peoples Temple which was initially known as a church preaching racial equality and social justice but turned into a fanatical political cult.

[10] Moscone passed legislation reducing marijuana sentences, granting abortion rights, establishing a school meals program and overturning the state's anti-sodomy laws.

[12] Moscone's first year as mayor was spent preventing the San Francisco Giants professional baseball team from moving to Toronto and advocating a citywide ballot initiative in favor of district election to the board of supervisors.

Moscone was the first mayor to appoint large numbers of women, homosexuals and racial minorities to city commissions and advisory boards.

[citation needed] In April 1977, Moscone stood up to officials in Washington by supporting a 25-day occupation of San Francisco's federal building by a group of over 100 people with disabilities demanding their civil rights in what would become known as the 504 Sit-in.

Thanks in part to Moscone's support, the occupation was successful, and helped pave the way for passing the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) thirteen years later.

Among those elected were the city's first openly gay supervisor, Harvey Milk, single mother and attorney Carol Ruth Silver, Chinese-American Gordon Lau, and fireman and police officer Dan White.

Recognizing this, those who supported a more conservative agenda and opposed integration of the police and fire departments talked White into changing his mind.

[20] Dianne Feinstein, president of the board of supervisors, was sworn in as the city's new mayor and in the following years would emerge as one of California's most prominent politicians.

Outrage over White's lenient sentence provoked a mass riot in San Francisco, during which police cars were set on fire by angry protestors.

Arneson included as part of the sculpture on the pedestal the likeness of a pistol, and references to Harvey Milk, the assassinations, the "Twinkie Defense", the White Night riots, and Dianne Feinstein's mayoral succession.

In a critique of the event, Frederic Stout wrote that "Arneson's mistake was in presenting the city mothers/fathers with something honest, engaging and provoking, that is to say, a work of art.

[25] Moscone's son Jonathan, aged 14 at the time of his father's murder, later co-wrote the play Ghost Light with Tony Taccone about the effects the assassination had on him.