A proposal to rename Southwest Stark Street in downtown Portland for Harvey Milk, the gay rights leader who was assassinated in San Francisco in 1978, moved one step closer to reality.

Portland's Planning & Sustainability Commission unanimously approved the plan Tuesday to rename a 13-block stretch of Stark after Milk. The proposal heads to the City Council for a hearing and vote June 14.

The Stark section from Burnside Street to Naito Parkway was once a hub of gay nightlife and culture in Portland. In recent years, it's transformed into a string of shopping and dining spots.

A coalition of Portland LGBTQ advocates, allies, business owners, and former governors Barbara Roberts and Ted Kulongoski have pushed to rename the area for the gay rights icon.

The group said renaming the street is a way Portland can show its commitment to equity and inclusion, despite the fact many of the businesses that once lined the epicenter of gay culture in Portland are no longer there.

"Only a handful of these remain on SW Stark," they wrote in documents to the city, "but renaming this street after LGBTQ hero Harvey Milk will commemorate the cultural/historical significance of this street to the LGBTQ community for generations to come."

Supporters were required to get 2,500 signatures to support the plan, and the City Council in February agreed to waive rules that prohibited renaming only sections of a street. New street signs would cost an estimated $6,700. The Milk Street signs would stand alongside the old signs for five years.

Portland's auditor mailed a survey to more than 560 property owners and occupants at businesses on or abutting Southwest Stark. Only 114 responded and 40 percent supported the plan.

Lisa Schroeder, the owner of Mother's Bistro on Stark, told the commissioners Monday the survey results are not reflective of neighborhood sentiment. She said 32 out of 45 business owners surveyed approved the change.

Cameron Whitten told commissioners he came out as queer late in his adulthood, and leaders like Milk were "never talked or taught about."

"I see this as a no-brainer," he said.

San Diego and Salt Lake City have renamed streets for Milk in recent years, and in 2014 he became the first open LGBTQ activist featured on a U.S. postage stamp.

Milk moved to San Francisco in 1972 and was active in civil rights movements there. He was one of the first openly gay Americans to be elected to a public office when he was voted onto the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1977. He was assassinated in 1978.

Portland does plan to honor local gay rights leaders or former businesses in some way on the thoroughfare, but those plans have yet to be finalized.

Stacy Brewster, Portland Commissioner Dan Saltzman's communications director, told the commission the city is in the early stages of finalizing how to honor locals.

"It could be murals, it could be rainbow crosswalks," he said, or it could be a broader designation to honor the district's history similar to Chicago's Boystown area.

Update: This story has been updated. Whitten come out queer in his late adulthood. A previous version of this story stated otherwise.

-- Andrew Theen

atheen@oregonian.com

503-294-4026

@andrewtheen