Calling slain civil rights hero Harvey Milk a “predator” on its website this week, the fundamentalist Christian group American Family Association (AFA) urged members to refuse any mail postmarked with a recently-released commemorative stamp featuring the late San Francisco supervisor.

“Harvey Milk was a very disreputable man and used his charm and power to prey on young boys with emotional problems and drug addiction,” reads the AFA’s press release. “He is the last person we should be featuring on a stamp.”

Milk, who in 1977 became the first openly gay person elected to public office in California, served just 11 months on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors before he was assassinated along with Mayor George Moscone on Nov. 27, 1978. Dan White, a fellow supervisor, was charged with murder, but convicted of voluntary manslaughter – a lesser charge – instead.

Close video Harvey Milk honored with new stamp Gay rights activist Harvey Milk is honored with a USPS stamp while marriage equality gets a big win this week. Stuart Milk joins us for an exclusive interview. Gay rights activist Harvey Milk is honored with a USPS stamp while marriage equality gets a big win this week. Stuart Milk joins us for an exclusive interview. share tweet email Embed

In the short time he was in office, Milk played an instrumental role in passing a gay rights ordinance considered at the time to be the toughest in the nation. President Obama posthumously awarded him the Medal of Freedom in 2009.

On May 22, in honor of Harvey Milk Day, the U.S. Postal Service released a much-anticipated series of stamps featuring the gay rights icon. But AFA – listed as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center – criticized the move as the “result of seven years of lobbying by a self-described drag queen.”

Read the AFA’s full release: