Tuesday, District 3 City Councilmember Toni Atkins and the San Diego City Council honored the Gay & Lesbian Times with a city proclamation declaring March 13 Gay & Lesbian Times Day in San Diego County.

Atkins, who proposed the proclamation, and the council honored the publication for its 20 years of service in San Diego’s GLBT community.

Our staff attended the City Council meeting to thank the elected officials for their recognition. Alongside our supporters was a crowd of about 15 opponents, led by District 3 City Council candidate James Hartline, the notorious ex-gay, Christian activist whose outspoken views have become a mainstay in City Council public forum.

Hartline, flanked by his cabal of supporters, spewed misinformation, evidently unaware of the proclamation’s intent, and the nature of business of Uptown Publications, the parent company of the Gay & Lesbian Times.

Armed with outdated information, Hartline used the majority of his six-minute tirade to rail against the “pornographic” content published in Rocket Magazine.

He lambasted Publisher Michael Portantino and our staff for printing articles on religious-themed sex toys and graphic sexual acts – which, in fact, was an item published in Rocket.

Hartline, however, was unaware (or simply played ignorant to the fact) that Rocket is no longer in print. In fact, Rocket has not been published in nearly nine months. For the community’s most vigilant critic, Hartline was gravely misinformed. He urged the council, based on the content published in Rocket, not to pass the proclamation. It was ironic, then, that Hartline was comfortable reading an excerpt from Rocket on sex toys to an audience that included high school students.

The proclamation, however, was not aimed at honoring Rocket Magazine. Rather, it recognized the service of the Gay & Lesbian Times, the flagship magazine of Uptown Publications.

Others who spoke against the proclamation attacked the advertising in the GLT – particularly the advertising for adult services, including dating hotlines, masseurs and adult-oriented businesses.

The opponents chose not to recognize, however, that advertisements for dating hotlines and massage services can be found in a number of local publications – including San Diego CityBeat, The San Diego Union-Tribune and, Christian publisher James Holman’s magazine, the San Diego Reader.

That is not to say those publications offer escort service ads, which we do, or advertisements for adult bookstores, which we do – but our opponents used those few advertisements as an argument to negate the two decades of legitimate work we’ve done in the community and the county.

Portantino has donated nearly $1 million to local causes, including HIV/AIDS services organizations, fire victim relief funds, alcohol and drug recovery programs, The San Diego LGBT Community Center, and a host of nonprofit organizations that do good work in the GLBT community and the county at large.

We don’t often take the time to pat ourselves on the backs or to laud our own work. In fact, we often overlook the philanthropy of our staff members to avoid what could be perceived as relentless self promotion.

The proclamation in honor of the Gay & Lesbian Times, however, is something our community should be proud of. Our friends and family members gathered with us Tuesday to celebrate – thank you to Ron deHarte from San Diego Pride and Brian Lacklen from the Human Rights Campaign Emerging Community in San Diego who spoke on our behalf. Thank you to Thomas Guerrero for attending on behalf of the Imperial Court to show his support. Thank you to Toni, Mayor Jerry Sanders, and the San Diego City Council for its unanimous support of the proclamation. Toni, in particular, faced personal attacks from one speaker, and stayed calm in the face of adversity.

Tuesday was an indicator of an ugly reality – despite our best efforts, our hard work, our attempts to bridge gaps, we will face opposition at every turn. Yes, our opponents arguments were flimsy, but they were vocal and intent on spoiling our celebration. Theirs was a futile fight, though – a fight against progressive values and diversity.

After her gracious remarks, Toni turned to our publisher, hugged him and said, “It was all worth it.”

Yes, it was.