More than 900 people, including GLBT leaders and state and local government officials, attended the first annual Harvey Milk Diversity Breakfast at the Holiday Inn by the Bay in Downtown, last Friday.

“This morning we celebrate one of the key themes of Harvey Milk’s vision; the success that comes from building coalitions and focusing on unity of purpose. This breakfast, and everything about it – from the planning committee, to the program participants, to the sponsors, and through to the table captains and attendees – represents that fundamental value. Together, in this room and in San Diego, we are building a coalition that is dedicated to moving forward toward full equality for all people of this state and nation,” said San Diego LGBT Community Center Board member and Harvey Milk Diversity Planning Coalition Co-chair Robert Gleason.

Following the national anthem, performed by the Gay Men’s Chorus of San Diego, In aChord, San Diego Men’s Chorus and San Diego Women’s Chorus, San Diego Human Relations Commission Chair and Harvey Milk Diversity Breakfast founder Nicole Murray-Ramirez welcomed the audience.

“This morning you all are a part of history, as we continue the San Diego tradition of honoring American civil rights heroes: The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Annual All People’s Breakfast, The César Châvez Annual Community Breakfast and today, on his birthday, we establish the Harvey Milk Diversity Breakfast of San Diego County, said Murray-Ramirez.

Mayor Jerry Sanders and his daughter Lisa Sanders hosted the event.

“Lisa and I are pleased to be here with you this morning to celebrate the life and vision of Harvey Milk. I have often said that I feel a deep responsibility to be Mayor of all of San Diego, and as I look out this morning on all of you, who represent so many faces of San Diego, I am particularly proud of this breakfast,” Mayor Sanders said.

The nine member Harvey Milk Diversity Breakfast Honorary Host Committee, including San Diego County District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis, City Councilmembers Todd Gloria, Carl DeMaio and David Roberts, former Chula Vista Mayor Steve Padilla, former City Councilmember Toni Atkins, former Coronado City Councilmember Frank Tierney and City of San Diego Fire-Rescue Department Chief Tracy Jarman, stood on stage as State Sen. Christine Kehoe, its leader, presented the first annual Harvey Milk Civil Rights Award to José Julio Sarria, who was the first openly gay candidate to run for public office in the United States, running for the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1961. Sarria also founded the International Imperial Court System and co-founded the Society for Individual Rights, which later opened the nation’s first Gay and Lesbian Center.

“I have only one thing to say to the people who are all fighting now for equality in all places: United we stand or divided we fall. We cannot allow that to happen. Good luck to all of you and continue the work; everybody continue to do what you think you must do to promote equality. We have gone a little bit, but we still have a long way to go. Thank you very much,” Sarria said.

Lisa Sanders awarded the first annual Youth Essay Contest Award – bestowed on a youth who has written or video recorded an essay on Milk that best captures the hope embodied by the late civil rights leader – to Megan Hogan, a deaf lesbian and senior at Winston School in San Diego.

“I have seen oppression in many different ways. I have been verbally and physically abused because I am different. At my school, we started a diversity club to include the GSA [Gay-Straight Alliance]. In the beginning it was very controversial. People were boycotting the school because of this. After the students saw our point of respecting other people’s differences, whatever they may be, even the main oppressors are showing up at the club. These small steps and changes have changed the small campus that I attend, and I know that, as we keep fighting for equality and the rights we deserve as human beings, we will be successful,” Hogan said in her video.

San Diego Pride Board member Philip Princetta presented Hogan with the award and then introduced the breakfast’s keynote speaker, Assemblymember John Perez. Perez filled in for Gay Men’s Health Crisis Chief Executive Office Majorie Hill, who was billed as the main event speaker but wasn’t able to make it due to travel complications.

Perez said he had learned several lessons from Milk, one being the value of coalition building.

“How did Harvey win? By building a coalition. It’s a difficult, arduous process, and he understood that too. It wasn’t a simple matter of a quid pro quo – that’s how you build a business, not a movement. By standing up for union workers in their struggle, we gain not just allies, but compatriots in our struggle,” Perez said.

Perez said he also learned from Milk that no matter the setbacks, one must continue to move forward.

“He lost every race he ever ran, except for his last. He lost for supervisor and for Assembly. But he refused to listen to the naysayers, both within and outside our community, who insisted that supporting straight allies was the best way to win our rights,” Perez said.

You also need hope, he said.

“There is one word that I haven’t used yet: hope. Before Obama, it was Harvey Milk who said ‘You’ve got to give them hope.’ But hope isn’t mine or his or yours to give. It’s ours to create, to nurture and to grow. That’s our mission. So let’s enjoy this morning, reflect on Harvey’s life and continue on with our struggle,” Perez said.