BY VICTOR HOFF
Last night at the Diversionary Theater about fourteen members of the San Diego Log Cabin Republicans (LCR) met as part of their ‘reboot’ strategy to increase membership, return the local chapter to viability and strategize on ways to better integrate the organization into the shifting dynamics of a Republican Party in flux.
The event, hosted by LCR president Susan Jester, was free and is part of a new, monthly meeting schedule that Jester hopes will reignite some of the lost passions of days gone by. It was held at the back of the first floor of the theater and attracted a mostly-white, mostly-male and mostly forty-plus crowd of receptive party loyalists who see their sexuality as secondary in consideration to the principles of personal freedom, limited government and a strong military espoused by the Republican Party.
Jester, who has been active in Republican Party politics her whole life but is better known as the founder of AIDS Walk San Diego and who won Miss Gay San Diego in 1983, spoke for about twenty minutes. During that time she discussed her return to the position she once held (Jester was elected the first female president of the Log Cabin Republicans 30 years ago) and the need for ‘showing up,’ a theme that continued when the night’s keynote speaker, former mayoral candidate Carl DeMaio, spoke for about an hour afterwards. Jester also discussed the growth of the LCR during the 1990s and the efficacy the organization has had in lobbying local and state officials (and to some extent federal ones) on issues that are important to the LGBT community.
“Come back to the Party. Come back and get involved.” Jester implored. “Thirty years ago they would not let us have a meeting in the convention that said Log Cabin on it so we had to get a room in a hotel across the street. [But] now there is a window of opportunity to change Republican policy in the state party and hopefully change the bylaws. But it starts here. It starts locally. It starts with being involved in the local party.”
After finishing up, Ms. Jester became emotional as she introduced the meeting’s main speaker. In prepared remarks, DeMaio spent time discussing his failed mayoral candidacy against Bob Filner and his experiences in winning over the hearts and minds of some of the most conservative members of the 5th District which he represented from 2008 to 2012 (making him the first gay man to win a seat on the San Diego council). His recollections of running for City Council served as a metaphor for the night’s topic by highlighting the importance of engagement – showing up – in effecting change. “I can’t begin to tell you how many LGBT volunteers came out to support my candidacy (for mayor). And as they were in our campaign and interacting with supports and voters, they changed minds and touched hearts. And it had a major impact on the Republican vote.”
Of course, in between campaign anecdotes and calls to “show up,” DeMaio couldn’t resist a dig at LGBT Weekly. At one point, he asked his audience how many of them knew that he and Todd Gloria had the exact same voting record when it came to LGBT issues. “You’d never know that if you read the LGBT Weekly.” (For the record, not a single hand shot up.)
For more information on the Log Cabin Republicans or how to become active in the San Diego Chapter, contact Susan Jester via email at Susan Jester atvze3jy6r@verizon.net.
