I attended the swearing-in ceremony of our city’s 36th mayor, Kevin Faulconer, this past Monday morning. The main theme of his speech was that we are all in this together. Our new mayor does not see our city as nine council districts or neighborhoods, but as “One San Diego”. He broke with tradition and held…
The election for Interim Mayor Todd Gloria’s Third District City Council seat isn’t until 2016 but some future candidates are already campaigning on the down-low and getting their ducks in a row. Stephen Whitburn, the popular executive director of San Diego Pride was being urged by many to take another shot at the District Three…
I find the post-election statements and writings of many Democratic Party leaders very interesting about the mayor’s race. I understand trying to put a good face on a major defeat, but they badly need to face some realities. It seems to me that everyone got too comfortable and really felt that they could pull this…
One of Mayor-elect Faulconer’s campaign pledges was to bring back the “Community Advisory Boards to the Office of the Mayor”. (Latinos, veterans, Asians, GLBTs, African Americans, etc.) These boards are very important as they keep the mayor in contact and more knowledgeable about our city’s diverse communities and neighborhoods. These mayor’s advisory boards were established…
Controversial San Diego personality, Linda Perine, has now written numerous commentaries, letters to the editor, blog postings, etc. The seemingly obsessive Perine has really gone over the deep end this time in her constant attacks on me and other GLBT activists who have endorsed Kevin Faulconer for mayor. But last week’s attack on me was…
In the history of San Diego’s mayoral campaigns, there has hardly ever been a time when a candidate has held a GLBT news conference to talk about their civil rights record and their support for GLBT equality … with many of their GLBT supporters. Kevin Faulconer did just that last week underneath the rainbow flag…
Everyone agrees that the last campaign for mayor got really nasty and negative. Politics as a whole, sadly, has become that way. Many of us gay Democrats, including myself, join the bandwagon and I regret some of my writings. During this on-going mayoral campaign, I tried not to get nasty and negative but, once again,…
Monday morning, MSNBC News informed its national audience that in the upcoming mayoral race in San Diego, Kevin Faulconer had a “commanding lead over David Alvarez”. The Survey USA poll: Faulconer 53 percent; Alvarez 37 percent. While the election is about four weeks away, the last poll had them both tied. So, what is the…
One of our community’s most artistic treasures for many decades has been Gary Holt. His recent resignation as director of the San Diego Gay Men’s Chorus has saddened many and resulted in numerous rumors. The popular Holt joined the Chorus as a singer in 1986, and just a year later he became its director and…
Until 1976 I knew many homosexual men and women who were sent to state mental hospitals by a judge or the signature of one of their parents. Many received electric shock treatment and never came out of these hospitals the same person they were. It is in this environment, this hostile and hating society that…
