San Diego County Sheriff Bill Gore is one of the best sheriffs in the nation and has been a longtime friend and supporter of the LGBT community. He has changed the jail protocol for the arrest and detention of transgender people making sure they get the respect and equal treatment they deserve. He established an LGBT Advisory Board that he has met with at every meeting at the Sheriff’s headquarters. He has established credentials for Rev. Dan Koeshall of the Metropolitan Community Church to minister to LGBT inmates and he has been very visible at many LGBT events.
Sheriff Gore has also established more sensitive protocols for inmates with HIV/ AIDS and the list goes on.
Are things perfect with the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department? No, but they sure have improved greatly under Sheriff Bill Gore.
Political musical chairs in 2020?
Many San Diegans are hoping that either State Sen. Toni Atkins or State Assemblyman Todd Gloria return to our city to run for mayor in 2020. This means if one of them does they will have to give up their state capital seat and rumors are that City Councilman Chris Ward would be a leading candidate to fill that seat. This would leave his council seat open and two men are already looking to become candidates: Will Rodriguez Kennedy (President of Democrats for Equality) and Nick Serrano (top aide to State Assemblyman Todd Gloria).
Also, rumors are that Congressman Scott Peters is eyeing possible entry into the 2020 mayoral race and if that happens top Republicans will be happy to talk to Mayor Kevin Faulconer. State Assemblyman Brian Maienschein is also looking into the race for mayor. Let the musical chairs begin!
Homophobes attacking Catholic bishop
When it was announced that Bishop John Dolan was going to say a Catholic Mass for LGBT families Sat. Oct. 7 at St. John the Evangelist Church in Hillcrest radical right wing Christian extremists and homophobes immediately started sending out their hate. There are rumors about possible pickets and demonstrations in front of the church.
Many radical Christian websites have begun directing their hate against the LGBT community and the Catholic Mass. Chief among them is homophobic extremist Charles LiMandri who also in a recent posting attacked me. Those of us coming Oct. 7 to hear the bishop are not coming with any agenda, we are coming only as God’s children!
Stuart Milk coming to Oceanside and El Centro
Global gay activist Stuart Milk (Founder of the Harvey Milk Foundation) will be here Oct. 14. Milk will be attending and speaking at both North County Pride and Imperial Valley Pride and both the organizers and the LGBT communities are very excited about these special appearances.
Stuart Milk has become a much respected human rights champion and has been traveling the world at the invitations of foreign governments. He was recently a co-grand marshal in Canada with its Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Word is that a book and play are in the works for Stuart Milk who has called San Diego his second home.
Idaho, Iowa and Missouri
In the last few weeks I have visited these three states for speaking engagements and LGBT events. These three states went heavily for Donald Trump for president. Idaho is only about six percent African American and 10 percent Latino, with Iowa being 92 percent white. Both of these Republican states have elected openly gay state representatives who I have met with.
I will be going to Missouri again this weekend and, trust me, to be openly LGBT in these three states is much different than being “out” in California or New York!
Nicole, vehemently disagree on Bill Gore. We have an excellent candidate for Sheriff in Dave Myers. He’s PROUDLY LGBT, and our community, especially YOU, should be EXCITED AND PROUD to elect ONE OF OUR OWN to an office like Sheriff. This lack of support for qualified LGBT candidates continues the way it did last year when you were OPENLY AGAINST Georgette Gomez. Thankfully, she won despite your efforts to defeat her.
I will say I DO AGREE with you about potentially electing Toni or Todd for Mayor. And Will Kennedy for Council. Will has ably proved himself and his efforts as an organizer, LGBT Marine veteran, and his efforts to bring about transparency to Pride San Diego should be applauded.
Nicole, You are one truly pathetic self-serving, self-righteous member of our LGBT whom I would gladly disavow. Sheriff Gore may be your personal friend because he gives you the validation and self-respect you so desperately crave from the establishment, but he is no friend to the LGBT community. He is an avid and staunch supporter of right wing homophobic Congressman Darrell Isssa, who has consistently gotten a fail by Human Rights Campaign and Equality California for his hateful rhetoric and votes against marriage equality and transgender equality. Gore created a culture at the Sheriff’s Department that empowered Deputies to brutally degrade and humiliate a female transgender person who was taken into custody. Gore still does not have a transgender personnel policy for his Department. Another elected official who has LGBT has endorsed this regressive outdated law enforcement dinosaur because she said that she could call Bill Gore whenever there was an issue with an LGBT taken into custody. But if you think about it, has law enforcement in San Diego under Bill Gore gotten so that we need LGBT politicians to call to intercede on the behalf of a LGBT person? We should, as residents from all walk of life, expect to be treated with dignity and respect without having to have others in position of power to make sure that we are not disrespected and degraded.
Dave Myers is a 34 year veteran of law enforcement and he is an out and proud member of our community. If elected, he would be the First Openly Gay Male Sheriff in US history, and that means a lot in these times, when LGBT rights are endangered. We can make history here in San Diego! That’s why Cleve Jones, the great LGBT civil rights leader and founder of the AIDS Memorial Quilt project (“When We Rise”) has endorsed Dave. So to you Nicole, I’d have to say “No thanks! I”m with Dave, and I’m with the true heart of the LGBT movement. I have not forgotten the struggle and compromised my values.”
Sorry but bill gores failure to address the hepatitis outbreak in the prisons has caused an epidemic. His working with ICE on detaining people in the community is against protocol. And the inmate death rate being one of the highest In the nation at the San Diego county jails are all more than enough reasons to not re-elect this bible thumper.
Nicole, to this day I remember how gallantly you sprang to my defense many years ago when I was a deputy city attorney and you and I were meeting with then city attorney Mike Aguirre. Mike was engaged in one of his regular vulgar tirades, and you objected to the words that he was using in my presence. I was truly touched by your concern. Therefore, it saddens me to have to object to your endorsement of Sheriff Bill Gore. I was particularly outraged when Gore eliminated a mentoring program for female veterans housed in the Las Colinas Detention Facility at the same time that he was expanding the program for male veterans. In addition I remember that in 2013 you had to step in because incarcerated transgender people were not being treated appropriately in county jails, which of course are under the jurisdiction of the sheriff’s department. Over the past year, my husband and I have gotten to know sheriff candidate Dave Myers quite well, and we are extremely impressed not only by his knowledge of the law but also by his deep understanding of the mission and responsibilities of the sheriff’s department. Dave is an intelligent, compassionate, dedicated law enforcement officer who, for 34 years, has been protecting the people of San Diego County. In fact he is the best candidate for sheriff that I, a 72-year-old native San Diegan, have ever had the honor of supporting. As longtime members of San Diego Democrats for Equality, my husband and I were delighted to be a part of the club’s unanimous endorsement of Dave’s candidacy. As a leader of the LGBT community, you of all people should be supporting the exceptionally qualified Dave Myers for sheriff.
LGBT WEEKLY … Shame … Shame on you. Your article insults the fine members of San Diego County and more specificlaally the LGBTQ community. As you should be aware, although I question how thorough you researched your piece, our current Sheriff is running against Commander Dave Myers, twho has protected our fine community for over 32 years as a member of the Dept. AND is a pround and Out member of the LGBTQ community. And as a PROUD GAY man I believe if the LGBTQ community is looking for an ally Commander Myers is our man. It is not an easy task to come out within Law Enforcement and Commander Myers has done so with pride. Not only for himself but all those who struggle with sexual identity. Sheriff GORE must be running scared to authorize such a PUFF PIECE of journalism Commender Myers has pushed for inclusion and diversity and will provide the leadership sadly needed at the dept. Sheriff GORE bungled the Hep A disaster at the jails which has left all of San Diego at risk, let alone So. Cal in general. Sheriff GORE is NOT the leader we need or want at the dept.
As I always say, this is commentary not news. There is a major difference. It is Nicole’s opinion not LGBT Weekly’s.
LGBT youth stand with Dave Myers. He has met with many of us, invited us to be guests at LGBT events, started the Sheriff’s Youth Advisory Group that he made sure to include LGBT youth. I remember he was with us in Hillcrest at the vigil for the Pulse Nightclub massacre. I also remember that Bill Gore was nowhere to be found, not even a single representative from the Sheriff’s Department. Police Chief Zimmerman was there. Nicole is more than an embarrassment to the LGBTQ community. He is a hypocrite who talks about supporting LGBTQ rights and candidates everywhere in the US, except for here in San Diego. I also remember that it was Nicole who tried to shut down our Trans Lives Matter protest at this year’s Gay Pride. How do you think Stonewall started? Yes, it was because LGBTQ folks got tired of police raids and humilitation….sounds familiar? It is sad that you have forgotten your history. I guess you got yours, Nicole. F**ck everybody else. Now go away and let some honest and people with integrity speak for the LGBTQ community. I have met and spoken with Dave and he is somebody who I believe will further the human rights movement in this country for all of us, especially LGBTQ. I hope I never become a sad sellout like Nicole.
Thank you Nicole for your latest column. Thank you for bringing to my attention that the LGBT community here in San Diego has the opportunity to elect the first openly gay male sheriff in the country (DAVE MYERS) and that he is very qualified to make the changes to our broken criminal justice system, including FIXING THE HOMOPHOBiC AND TRANS-INSENSITIVE culture within the Sheriff’s Department. I have friends who are Deputies and they say that it is still very much a “good old boys club” and a very straight white male privileged one at that. What exactly is so great about your Sheriff Bill Gore that he deserves 4 more years (for a total of 14 years) when all he’s done is show how inept and outdated law enforcement can be? Did you know that under your Sheriff, , our jails have the highest rate of inmate suicides (46) in the entire state of California and that taxpayers have had to pay out more than $10 million to settle cases of negligence and incompetence by the Sheriff? What would you think if that was your son or daughter who hung themselves because Deputies were not properly trained to assess mental distress or gave a damn about the value of human lives? Or that almost all of the Deputies still do not have body worn cameras, among the last in the entire country to do so? How about the recent Hepatitis A outbreak that killed more than 15 people and hospitalized hundreds more? Your clueless Sheriff refused to offer inoculations for hepatitis A to inmates, many of them homeless, despite a grand jury report that told him he was failing to meet the health standards of the Department of Health? And as for diversity and inclusion, until this past April, the entire Sheriff’s Department did not have a single African-American captain in its ranks and not a single woman, let alone a woman of color, in the upper command staff appointed by your Sheriff. Not a single Asian-American deputy at the rank of captain or above to this day. It took Dave Myers to call your Sheriff out on the lack of diversity for him to do something. And guess what, the LGBT outreach panel that your Sheriff put together did not have a single LGBT deputy or member of the Department on it. Obviously, your fatuous pandering and nauseating ass kidding of your Sheriff are guided by something other than the good of our community. But we know that you’ve always been out for yourself and can never pass a chance to prostitute yourself if there’s something in it for you. Unlike you, I am not going to settle for inadequate or mediocrity in our elected officials, including our next Sheriff. Go on with your rah-rahing for the buffoon that is your Sheriff, but know that the more you try to make him a “thing”, the more ridiculous you and he will look. You have absolutely ZERO credibility except in your mind and the 2-3 misguided people who still think you are significant and relevant.
Dave Myers FOR Sheriff. Wow Nicole, you have reached a new low. First you wanted to jail kids for demanding to be heard at the SD Pride parade. Now you support a Sheriff whose been describe as transphobic by our community. Your support of someone who only acts when pressure doesn’t promote inclusion it perpetuates division. I’ve met and spoke with Dave Myers running for Sheriff. He has a vision, an articulated strategy to make law enforcement great. You’ve got this so wrong Nicole.
Ugh. Shame, shame on you Nicole for being such a hypocrite and so morally compromised that even the youth of our LGBT community despise you. Shame on you for undermining the candidacy of our first lesbian Latina on the SD City Council Georgette Gomez. And shame on you for promoting that snake Republican Bill Gore for Sheriff even though he is an ally of one of the most misogynistic and homophobic Trump supporter in Congress – Republican Darrell Issa. DAVE MYERS is clearly the best candidate and most qualified for the job. Heck, Gore has NEVER worked a SINGLE DAY in a patrol vehicle or worked a single shift as a jails deputy in his entire career. Others here have done a good job of how clueless and uninterested he really is when it comes to public safety.
I am glad that others here have taken you to task for being such a blatant shill for Bill Gore, especially when a much better candidate and openly gay one is in the race. Members of our community should know that Sheriff Bill Gore did a tv commercial for vile homophobic Republican Representative Darrell Issa last fall and praised this piece of human garbage as “the kind of leader we need in Washington”. Yes, Gore is a HUGE supporter of the hater Issa who voted to deny equal employment rights for LGBTQ contractors working for the federal gov’t, who has voted against every other LGBT protection bill that came before him, who cast the deciding vote in the House to repeal Obamacare, which would have deprived tens of thousands of Americans living with HIV of the health care and meds they desperately need to stay alive, and who is an unabashed Trump supporter on every issue including the ban of transgender individuals serving in the military. Here’s the link to the video: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ojnYPulr7Lk
I’ll put up just one of the days over the past 20 years that Dave has shown up to work at the Sheriff’s Department as an openly gay man against Gore’s showing up at your fundraisers Nicole…. It takes courage to have come out as the first openly gay Deputy at the Sheriff’s Department at a time when guys like Gore we’re keeping files and tabs on gay activists in San Diego because they were seen as deviants and morally corrupt. It takes courage to come out and have to endure other Deputies turning their backs on you and marginalizing you because you were the “faggot cop”. It takes courage to continue to do your job and do it really well even though you had lieutenants and captains who treated you Like you were trash because you were gay. I know, because he helped me to accept myself and live my life as an openly lesbian Deputy. Yeah, he’s made a difference already and I know he will make it even better when he is elected Sheriff. I’d like to sign my real name to this, but Gore is so petty and insecure that I doing so would be bad for me. Yeah, it’s still that bad at the Sheriff’s dept.
Nicole is one shady slimy creep. Stop representing yourself as the mayor of Hillcrest. You don’t speak for us……no way no how. You are an embarrassment to the LGBTQ community here in San Diego. Disgusting.