The Golden State Gay Rodeo Association’s Greater San Diego Chapter named long time civil rights activist, fund-raiser and City Commissioner Nicole Murray-Ramirez its 2008 Community Grand Marshal, and recognized Murray-Ramirez’s 35 years of “work, dedication and determination to be a positive role model for so many GLBT and Latino citizens.”

The San Diego Chapter of the GSGRA will host its 20th annual rodeo, the Coors Light 2008 San Diego Rodeo, this weekend at the Lakeside Rodeo Grounds. The event is expected to draw thousands of rodeo fans from across the United States.

The San Diego Rodeo voted to name Murray-Ramirez its Community Grand Marshal, citing his long history as a GLBT and Latino activist, including being the elected chair of the first gay advisory boards for the mayor of San Diego and the chief of police. He is also the first citizen to be elected to serve three terms as chair of the Human Relations Commission. A past national board member of the Human Rights Campaign, he was recently re-elected to the national board of the National Gay Lesbian Task Force. Both organizations are headquartered in Washington, D.C. Murray-Ramirez is also the only San Diegan ever elected as state chair of Equality California.

“I am very honored with this recognition from the San Diego Rodeo,” Murray-Ramirez said. “The Golden State Gay Rodeo Association has a long history of raising hundreds of thousands for dollars for countless charities and AIDS agencies and it deserves all our respect and gratitude.”

Murray-Ramirez will be honored at the Lakeside Rodeo Grounds Saturday, Sept. 13. Murray-Ramirez, who is also a columnist and editorial board member for the Gay & Lesbian Times, was also recently honored by The San Diego LGBT Community Center’s Latino Community Advisory Board with its first annual Frida Kahlo Compadre Award for his “outstanding dedication and commitment to the San Diego Latino community.”

Log Cabin Republicans host fund-raiser for Goldsmith

The San Diego Chapter of the Log Cabin Republicans will host a coffee fund-raiser for Jan Goldsmith, candidate for San Diego City Attorney. The event will take place on Saturday, Sept. 13 from 9:30-11 a.m. at Babycakes (formerly David’s Coffee House).

The organization would appreciate at least a $25 donation from each attendee, and $75 is the suggested contribution. City law permits only personal checks and limits contributions to $320 per individual, $640 per couple, per election. Political contributions are not tax deductible as charitable contributions for federal income tax purposes.

Goldsmith is running against incumbent Michael Aguirre in the San Diego City Attorney race. Election day is Tuesday, Nov. 4.

For more information or to RSVP for the coffee fund-raiser, contact Jean Freelove at 858-481-0300 or e-mail jean.freelove@fcgi.biz.

Babycakes is located at 3766 Fifth Ave. in Hillcrest.

The Greater San Diego Business Association (GSDBA) will host a mixer from 6-8 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 18 at Downtown’s historic Keating Hotel, giving members and guests a first look at the organization’s 2009 directory cover. The directory will commemorate the organization’s 30th anniversary. The cover design was created by Ana Jimenez of Tenehua Design/Flock Studios.

More than 30,000 copies of the annual directory will be printed and distributed in January. Also, 2009 will mark the first year the GSDBA will make the directory available online in digital format.

Admission to the mixer is $10 for GSDBA members and $15 for guests, which includes food and the first drink free.

For more information about GSDBA events and memberships, call 619-296-4543 or visit the web site at www.gsdba.org.

The Keating is located at 432 F St. in Downtown San Diego.

The 2008 Fashion Week San Diego has been rescheduled to an undetermined date in 2009 due to a major injury suffered by the event’s director. It was announced in a release issued by event organizers that all sponsor, designer, advertiser and ticket-holder agreements will be honored for the rescheduled event. Organizers are currently in the process of selecting a new date and will announce it soon.

Those who bought tickets should keep them, as they will be honored at the 2009 event, which organizers expect to be bigger and better than what was planned for the cancelled 2008 event. All designers confirmed for this year’s event will be at the rescheduled event. Also, the rescheduled event will take place at the same venue, The Sheraton Hotel and Marina.

More information is available online at www.fashionweeksd.com.

The Women’s Resource Center (WRC) at The San Diego LGBT Community Center invites women to “dust off their hot pink pumps and prepare for the ’80s invasion” as it hosts “Totally Red Hot ’80s.” The event will be set up like a women’s nightclub, with proceeds benefiting the WRC. Totally Red Hot ’80s will take place at The Center from 6-9 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 3.

The event will feature DJ Laura Jane spinning popular ’80s tunes, door prizes, dessert, a no-host bar and a “Totally Awesome Costume Contest.” Guests are encouraged to wear ’80s-inspired attire such as neon colors, leggings, or anything Madonna-inspired. Also, a prize will be given to the woman who brings the most outrageous photograph of herself from the ’80s.

Tickets are $5 and will be available at the door. The event is open to all women 21 years and older.

For more information contact Abby Schwartz at 619-692-2077, ext. 212 or e-mail aschwartz@thecentersd.org.

The Center is located at 3909 Centre St. in Hillcrest.

The San Diego chapter of the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) will host a benefit dinner on Thursday, Sept. 25 from 6-8 p.m. The event will benefit GLSEN, which envisions a future in which every child learns to respect and accept all people, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity/expression.

The dinner will take place at The Big Kitchen. A donation of $17 in advance or $22 at the door will include a lasagna dinner with salad, garlic bread, a brownie and tea or lemonade.

For more information or to reserve tickets, call 619-695-2872 or e-mail glsensd@yahoo.com.

The Big Kitchen is located at 3003 Grape St. in South Park.

The Southwest Region of Scouting for All will host its annual rally and protest in front of the local Boy Scout headquarters on Sunday, Oct. 5 from 11 a.m. to noon. The purpose of the rally is to protest and bring attention to what Scouting for All calls the Boy Scouts of America’s (BSA) exclusionary policies.

Scouting for All is assembling a diverse group of speakers from the GLBT, straight, non-theist and faith-based communities to protest against the BSA’s policies of exclusion. Current BSA national policy specifically excludes youth who are gay, atheist or agnostic. Additionally, the BSA excludes youth who are the children of GLBT or non-theist parents. Scouting for All seeks to persuade the public to exert influence on the BSA so that all children and adults are once again welcome participants in the scouting program.

The mission of Scouting for All is to advocate on behalf of its members and supporters for unbiased values of scouting as expressed and embodied in the Scout Oath and the Scout Law, and to influence the BSA to serve and include as participating members all youth and adult leaders, regardless of their spiritual belief, gender, or sexual orientation.

The community is encouraged to attend and participate in the protest. For more information, contact Brenda Watson at 760-747-4114 or Howard Menzer at 619-229-1612.

The local Boy Scout Headquarters are located at 1207 Upas St. in Hillcrest.