I wonder if the AIDs crisis would have played out differently had Harvey lived. While there are plenty of people to admire that tried to get things done in the early days, Harvey had a machine ready to go and I would like to think he would have had a major impact.

Actually, he was a masterful politician and manipulator. His polemical, refusal to accept the status quo was groundbreaking. He acted like the ultimate politician - divide and conquer! To refer to what Milk did as 'poetic sensibility', is to do him a great disservice.
He was astute.