What a night! This past Tuesday, I headed down to Golden Hall and took in all the election fun. Note to planners next year: Get better food!

Mayor Jerry Sanders proved to our city that he is a man of character and was rewarded with another four years. This mayor is our friend and we can all be proud of the support our community gave him. I believe his support of gsame-sex marriage helped him beat Steve Francis, who said our marriages are “disruptive” to society.

History has been made! San Diego has elected its first openly gay man to office, Carl DeMaio. The District 5 City Councilmember “to be” is one of the most promising politicians in our state. Carl is definitely on his way to great things.

District favorite Todd Gloria won 41 percent of the vote. With his impressive support from all types of voters, he will no doubt take District 3 in November.

Joining judges from our community David Rubin and Ted Weathers is newly elected San Diego Superior Court Judge Garry Haehnle.

Also congratulations to Gloria Johnson and Pat Washington on their Central Committee victories and Dwayne Crenshaw on winning a spot on the Community College Board.

The shock of the night was the mass rejection of the San Diego Democratic Club and its leadership from the Democratic Central Committee.

Sitting Democratic Party Chairman and former SDDC President Jess Durfee lost his bid for re-election as did former SDDC President Jeri Dilno and SDDC board member Kevin Davis. Stephen Whitburn’s campaign manager Brandon Tate did the worst, placing nearly last in his district.

SDDC and City Councilmember Donna Frye’s push to defeat Proposition C was also soundly defeated, a testament to the faith voters have in Mayor Sanders. And Leo Wilson, Francis’ “GLBT leader,” may want to rethink his controversial endorsement.

Our community’s next big battle is to keep the anti-gay marriage amendment from passing this November. San Diegan Dale Kelly Bankhead is the statewide director for the “Vow to Vote No” campaign. Co-chairs working under the direction of Delores Jacobs have just been named: Center board members Andrea Villa and Sid Voorakkara and City Commissioner Tom Felkner. Let’s give them all our help!

A big thanks to Bob Nelson for his record-setting fundraiser last week. And I understand congratulations are in order for him and husband-to-be Murray Olson.

One final thought while we’re talking about the M-word. The eyes of California, the nation and, yes, the world, are going to be on our community in the following weeks and months. We have a huge responsibility to represent not only ourselves, but every gay person who wants equal rights.

As I travel across the country to places like Oklahoma, Nebraska and Utah, I meet these people who often have a more challenging time in the more rural communities than we do living in California. They need us to make this our finest hour. We must help them show their communities that freedom and equality are part of being an American.

So, as you decide whether to get married, what type of ceremony to hold and all the other personal issues surrounding this issue, keep in mind exactly how historic this time is for our community. This is our time to be proud.

I know it’s easy for all of us to get caught up in the emotions of political campaigns – myself included! But now that the court has ruled that gay marriages will begin on June 17, I call on everyone to be unified and focus on bringing our community back together.

Fighting the marriage amendment must be our number one priority – all egos and personal political aspirations must be put aside! Our civil rights are too important!.

The super popular Universal, Dish and Ciro’s Pizzeria continues to draw the crowds. I’ve already given you my five-star review of Dish. Now, on to the famous Ciro’s Pizzeria (1226 University Ave., Hillcrest, and 534 Market St., Downtown): The great news about the new pizzeria is that it is open until 3 a.m. on weekends and it delivers! Everything is super fresh. The dough is hand made on site and the fabulous pizzas come on a tasty thin crust. I sampled almost a dozen of the pizzas and they were all excellent, particularly the Ciro’s Special! Ciro’s also has calzones, salads, desserts, strombolis and heros. It is a great, down-to-earth, New York-style pizzeria with good prices. For info and delivery call: 619-296-2476.