Five questions for two candidates

As the special runoff election for mayor draws near, San Diego LGBT Weekly posed five questions on behalf of this city’s LGBT community to the two remaining candidates, District 2 City Councilmember Kevin Faulconer and David Alvarez, Councilmember for San Diego’s District 8.

Unfortunately, despite several attempts to fulfill the vision for this article and what the headline promises, Councilmember Kevin Faulconer failed to reply to multiple direct emails, phone calls and even outreaches via third parties closely aligned with the candidate.

Originally, the format for this article was to have been that both candidates would answer the three identical questions, followed by two custom-tailored questions – all focused on issues of interest to San Diego’s LGBT community. For posterity’s sake, we’ve annotated this article with the two unique (and ultimately unanswered) questions that were presented to Kevin Faulconer.

San Diego LGBT Weekly: Aside from personnel appointments, how will you differ from your opponent regarding policies that impact LGBT San Diegans, specifically?

David Alvarez: Look at my record on LGBT issues during my time on the City Council and prior. I opposed Proposition 8 and supported a resolution on the Council for marriage equality. I knocked on doors and made phone calls to defeat Proposition 8. During that same year, my opponent voted against the city of San Diego signing a “friend-of-the-court” brief asking the Supreme Court to overturn the prohibition of same-sex marriages. I also supported a resolution on the Council supporting the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” My commitment to supporting issues important to the LGBT community has been life-long for me and has never wavered.

I continued my support for the LGBT community on the City Council when I voted to rename Harvey Milk Street, supported permitting for the Hillcrest Pride Flag, used savings from my Council office to fund LGBT programs at The Center and worked to implement a requirement that city contractors provide domestic partners equal benefits. I also support passing ENDA.

It’s also important to look at who is supporting our campaigns. The San Diego County Democratic Party and San Diego Democrats for Equality, two groups that fight for LGBT rights, have endorsed my campaign. Former Sen. Christine Kehoe, Assembly Majority Leader Toni Atkins, Jess Durfee and dozens of other LGBT leaders know, trust and endorse me. The Lincoln Club of San Diego, Republican Party and Doug Manchester, three vocal opponents of LGBT rights support Faulconer. Manchester was the largest contributor to the Yes on Prop. 8 campaign and is now one of Faulconer’s largest contributors.

Will your administration include an official liaison to the LGBT community? If so, any idea whom you might select to fill that post?

Yes. One of my priorities as mayor will be to create an open and transparent government that reaches out to our communities and gets them actively involved in decision-making in City Hall – particularly those who have historically been underserved. To achieve that goal, as mayor, I will appoint an official liaison to the LGBT community who will work with key leaders like Assemblywoman Toni Atkins, Council President Todd Gloria, Dr. Delores Jacobs, Nicole Murray Ramirez, Commissioners Bob Nelson and Robert Gleason to identify who could best serve in this role and ensure that person has a prominent position in my administration.

Do you support a referendum of AB1266, the new law that Gov. Jerry Brown signed, which gives California’s transgender students in K-12 the right to access restrooms of their choice – even though a referendum could lead to revocation of that right?

No, I oppose a referendum of AB1266. This is another example of special interests abusing the direct initiative process to fool voters into signing petitions toward a referendum. Furthermore, I applaud the San Diego Unified School District for being trailblazers and already adopting the approaches outlined in the new law.

What are your thoughts about the fact that LGBT Weekly columnist, activist and city commissioner, Nicole Murray Ramirez chose to endorse your opponent?

Nicole has spent his whole life fighting for civil rights and the betterment of the LGBT community and I admire him for that and his important contributions to the city. Any individual has a right to express their preferences for a candidate, and it’s my understanding his relationship with my opponent is lengthier than he and I share. I respect old friendships, and I hope to build a stronger connection with Nicole in the coming year and earn his support as well.

How important is your endorsement by San Diego Democrats for Equality?

I am so thankful to have earned the endorsement of San Diego Democrats for Equality. It has been guided by some of the community’s smartest political minds and has been one of the most effective groups fighting for LGBT issues in San Diego for more than three decades. They support me not just because of my unwavering commitment to the LGBT community, women’s rights and other principles core to the Democratic Party platform, but because they know as mayor of San Diego, I will do much more. I will walk the walk and help San Diegans in every part of the city; work to ensure that all residents have good schools and healthy, safe and vibrant neighborhoods that attract new small businesses and industry and create good new jobs.

I have been a member of the San Diego Democrats for Equality for many years and it personally means a great deal to have their support. Their members know I share the core values of their mission. And their support translates to reaching thousands of LGBT households with a positive message about our campaign; for that and more, their endorsement is critically important and I am deeply grateful. All that being said, I’m supportive of the entire LGBT community, regardless of political affiliation.

Votes will be cast Tues., Feb. 11, but mail-in ballots were made available earlier this week. LGBT Weekly encourages all those eligible to vote in this important election.

As noted previously, the first three questions LGBT Weekly posed to Councilmember Faulconer were identical to those answered above by his opponent in the race for mayor. Here are two more unanswered questions that were also put to Kevin Faulconer:

Q: You recently led a walk through the Hillcrest business district. What did you learn about the business community in this historically LGBT part of town?

Q: Do you agree that, as your adviser and Log Cabin Republicans of San Diego (LCR-SD) president, Susan Jester said, liberals have had a “knee-jerk reaction” to Duck Dynasty star and homophobe, Phil Robertson’s comments about African Americans and gay people?

For easy reference, the following is LCR-SD’s official statement regarding Robertson’s comments:

“What Phil Robertson’s comments highlight is the need to engage the evangelical Christian community on the importance of gay acceptance. The knee-jerk reaction from the left shows that their strategy to engage evangelicals is to ignore them or shout them down, but that’s no way to win allies. Rather than see this controversy as the potential end of a career, it should be the start of a conversation – one that’s been long overdue between the evangelical and the gay communities. In the spirit of the Christmas season, let’s remember to love our neighbor.”