Well I will be officiating another wedding this Saturday. I am always so honored to be asked, as a City Commissioner, to officiate weddings. Trust me, when couples say it is their honor to have me marry them, I tell them it is my honor entirely. Those of you who have asked do not know how truly humbled I am when you ask.

San Diego is the only GLBT community in the nation with a “Wall of Honor,” which includes the honoree’s name, picture and bio. Last year, San Diego LGBT Pride began hanging pictures of the Wall of Honor inductees on street lamps, along with the rainbow flag and Pride banners; what an incredible salute to our community’s leaders, heroes, role models and activists! Many of you have asked why my picture is not on the wall. Well, as founder of the wall, I asked my fellow distinguished committee members not to put me on the wall until after I’ve passed away – but I appreciate the fact so many of you have asked after seeing the wall at The San Diego LGBT Community Center.

I came up with the idea because I feel strongly our community cannot forget those who built our community; the pioneers and trailblazers who made the outstanding contributions to make our community what it is today. Almost half the women and men on the wall are no longer with us; the others are still living, and, I believe, should be honored long after they die. I wanted the ceremony to be like a mini-Kennedy Honors, which is held every year in Washington, D.C. Thank you to, who I consider the wall’s cofounder, Delores Jacobs, CEO of The Center, for making this beautiful event happen every year. The Center staff works very hard on this event, and I appreciate the staff members, as well our hard-working committee, which includes Ben F. Dillingham and Jeri Dilno. Every year the community nominates individuals and we are still honoring individuals from the 1970s. This year’s honorees are: Fred Acheson, Larry Baza, Michael Clark, Phyllis Jackson, George Murphy and Frank Stiriti. Please attend the ceremony Friday, Aug. 15, as we honor these wonderful and loving individuals who have given so much back to our community. And, just stop by The Center someday and take a look at the wall and discover some of our community’s heroes.

As many of you know, I wanted a street named after Jess Jessop in San Diego, but the Fire Department does not allow two streets to have the same name (the current Jessop Street is named after the Jessop jewelry family), So, San Diego’s first street in honor of an openly gay citizen will be named after Dr. Brad Truax, a veteran, civil rights and political activist, past president of USDEC and the San Diego Democratic Club, chair of former Mayor Roger Hedgecock’s first advisory board on AIDS, member of the Imperial Court and so much more.

Councilmember Toni Atkins and her staff have been working with me for more than two years on this project, and now it looks like the dedication will be held one week before The Center’s annual gala. A special thank you to City Commissioner Tom Felkner and Bob Lehman of the Stonewall Citizens’ Patrol for covering the expense of changing the street signs, which must be paid for through private donations. The street will be the street leading to the door of The Center, of which Brad was a strong supporter.

Last week I had a half-hour private meeting with Mayor Jerry Sanders at his City Hall office to discuss many issues, mostly regarding the city’s Human Relations Commission, of which I am in my third elected term as chair. It was a very productive meeting and we will meet again. While I am happy to see the mayor has lost weight, is going to the gym and taking good care of himself (I should take a page from his book), I could see, as I have with a number of other elected officials, the stress the office brings, particularly during these difficult times for our city and state.

Our mayor is doing his best to turn our city around. I urge you all when you see him to thank him and let him know all his hard work, countless hours spent, and leadership is much appreciated.

We have had openly GLBT elected officials at almost every city, county and state level, but never on our school boards. This year, we had one of our first openly gay officials on a school board, but we can no longer ignore the number of other school boards within our county. These school boards are being taken over by radical, right-wing Christian fanatics. Recently, the Grossmont Union High School District board overreached its authority and responsibilities by passing a resolution in favor of Proposition 8, which would ban same-sex marriage in California. The main reason we need GLBT representation on the school board is our GLBT students are coming out in record numbers at younger ages (junior high and high school), and we must protect them from being beaten, bullied and harassed, as so many are every day. This must become a priority for us.

I am glad our publisher and editor are setting new guidelines when it comes to this magazine’s online comments. People are sending in some of the most vicious, slanderous, hateful statements and letters, and, of course, not using their real names. Needless to say, our last editorials have garnered their share of hate mail. I admire those who respectfully agree to disagree, but voice a different, strongly-stated opinion. And, of course, my column gets a large number of responses, too – most comments being posted from people using made-up names. We checked things out and discovered one person wrote 15, yes 15, comments, all vicious attacks – and I know it’s you, Bill. Let me make something very clear. My column always has my name attached to it, and it has since I first started writing in 1973. I can dish it out as well as I can take it. But, if you’re going to attack me, don’t hide behind anonymous names; if you must attack me, go right ahead – but leave my friends, my affiliated organizations and my health out of it. As for Bill and the others who are writing letters under numerous names, grow balls and use your real names. Lastly, I have now served five mayors of San Diego and in all my recommendations for city boards, committees, etc. (as well as county positions) I haven proven to be hard-working, outstanding and productive. Also, more people of color, transgender people, lesbians, straight allies and working class people are making up our boards and commissions – it’s not just rich, white men anymore.