I am writing from Omaha, Neb. I’m here for five days of meetings, events and speeches. More than 5,000 people turned out for Nebraska’s annual Pride parade and festival in downtown Omaha, right by the Missouri River. The parade got me thinking about San Diego’s first GLBT march and parade. So I’m going to take you on a trip through time.

The 1960s and 70s were wild and colorful times for me. Before moving to San Diego, I lived in Hollywood and went up to San Francisco a lot. In those days, I met people like Jose Sarria – first to run for public office in 1961 – Troy Perry, Morris Knight, Harvey Milk and Larey. A homosexual movement was emerging and mostly from anti-Vietnam war activists. We in California heard about our brothers and sisters fighting back at the Stonewall Inn in 1969. Police brutality was commonplace in almost every major American city. The homosexual “act” was against the law in California and everywhere else. What few bars we had were all straight-owned, and homosexuals could not get a liquor license. You could be committed to a mental hospital if you were a homosexual. Indeed, I had friends who were committed to Atascadero State Hospital in Central California, the home of the “crazy and homosexual perverts.” In our homosexual bars, police officers would come in regularly and harass and arrest patrons for lewd conduct, “for same-sex dancing and even kissing.” The only homosexual organizations were the Gay Liberation Fronts, the Tavern Guilds, the International Imperial Court System, emerging gay centers, the Metropolitan Community Churches and Dignity chapters. The word “gay” for homosexuals began emerging in the 1970s. I took part in the early gay Pride parades in Los Angeles. At times, the police tried to break them up. (Ed Davis was the Los Angeles police chief). Then I and my boyfriend, Michael Murray, blond, built and a runner-up in The Advocate’s Groovy Guy Contest, moved to San Diego. During these times, I wore mini-skirts, bell-bottoms, Nerhu jackets, furry vests, go-go boots, platform shoes and haircuts like the Beatles. I saw The Rolling Stones, Iron Butterfly and Jimmy Hendrix play in Los Angeles and San Francisco. I got to know and hang around then disco diva Sylvester and, yes, unlike Bill Clinton, I more than inhaled.

Moving to San Diego was a gay cultural shock for me. It was conservative, Republican and very uptight. Michael and I rented a little house across the street from San Diego City College in Downtown. We were together five years and even got married in Las Vegas, but that’s another story. I met and became friends with the then long-haired hippie Jess Jessop, black reigning divas Tawny Tann and Norman, Don Johnson, Gary Reese, Tom Homann, Craig Morgan, Omar, Darl Edwards, Paul King, Rick Ford, Papa John, Deacon David, Jim Nolan, Toby, Babe, and, of course, the legendary bar owner, Lou Arko. Arko owned the Brass Rail, Barbary Coast and Matador. I joined the “Royal Court” and its first “gay ball” at the Royal Inn, now the Holiday Inn on Pacific Highway. Paul King started our first gay paper called the San Diego Sun. It was typed, stapled and mimeographed! My column was called “Royalty Speaking with Baroness Nicole.” I had not yet been elected Empress de San Diego. My column started out very colorful and controversial. I told it like it was. The first contest I produced, called Mr. and Miss Gay San Diego, was at the infamous Bradley’s Bar and Restaurant at Horton Plaza in 1974. The entire “$1 dollar” admission went to what was then called the Gay Center. Jess Jessop collected the money at the door. I also held the Gay Teen Contest. Sherman Mendoza, who now owns the Caliph, entered at age 17 and was a runner-up. I held many benefits for The Center, San Diego Pride, Metropolitan Community Church and Dignity. San Diego Police Chief Ray Hobbler and San Diego Sheriff John Duffy and their men were mostly racist, sexist and very homophobic. Former San Diego Mayors Frank Curran and Pete Wilson, along with Duffy and Hobbler, refused to meet with homosexual activists and stated that there weren’t many homosexuals living in San Diego. These were difficult and oppressive times for homosexuals, both here and throughout California.

Jess Jessop and I had been going to the Pride parades in Los Angeles and had been talking to our good friend Morris Knight, co-founder of Christopher Street West/ LA Pride, about starting a Pride parade in San Diego. Attorney Tom Homann joined us in these discussions and organizing our first Pride parade. Our first Pride parades were, more than anything, marches. So one day in 1974, Jess, Tom and I went to the police station in what is now Seaport Village and requested a parade permit. The police department said “no” and that there would “never be a gay Pride parade in San Diego.” About 300 people showed up for our first Pride march in Downtown. I will never forget those who showed up wearing “paper bags” over their heads with the words “unknown gays.” During this time there was a popular TV show called the “Gong Show.” A comic regularly appeared on the show with a paper bag over his head and was called the “unknown comedian.” It was pretty scary marching from Broadway up to Fifth Avenue and then marching to Balboa Park for a rally. People gawked at us, especially the sailors and marines. They gave us dirty looks and said we were “queers,” “faggots” and “perverts.” But I was proud and so were Tom and Jess. We, the homosexual community of San Diego, had pulled it off. Around 1976, the Brown Act was signed, making homosexual sex between two consenting adults legal in California. By then I had met and worked with a number of San Diego GLBT icons including George Haverstick, Bridgette Wilson, Jeri Dilno, Bob Lynn, Chris Shaw, Al Smithson, Gloria Johnson, Albert Bell, Larry Baza, Don Hauk and Brad Truax, Doug Moore and so many, many others. I had the honor of speaking at our first Pride rally and those that followed in the 1970s. The Imperial Court and local gay bars raised about 95 percent of the money it needed to fund our parades throughout the 1970s. We went through the Anita Bryants, John Briggs and other homophobic leaders who tried to push us back in the closet. But we prevailed and, now, this Saturday, we will rightfully celebrate 35 years of Pride. Activists from the 1970s will be speaking at the third annual All Community Pride Breakfast at The Center tomorrow morning at 7:30 a.m. Happy Pride San Diego!

Research suggests that our 15th president of the United States was a homosexual. Yes, President James Buchanan was our nations’ only “bachelor” president. Prior to his election to the presidency, Buchanan had a relationship with then 14th Vice-President William R. King. They lived together for almost 16 years in a beautiful little home in Washington, D.C. Then President Andrew Jackson and other politicians even referred to King as “Miss Nancy” and “Aunt Fancy.” Many in Washington referred to the two as “Buchanan and his wife.” Letters from both men that have survived from the 1880s illustrate “the affection of a special friendship” between the two. Buchanan even wrote a “communion” with King. After Buchanan became president, hestated that if he ever did get married he would marry “some old maid who can nurse me when I am sick, provide me good dinners when I am well but not expect from me any very ardent or romantic affection.” Well-known and respected historian and author Paul Boller has called James Buchanan “America’s First Homosexual President.” Indeed, Buchanan’s “lover” was not only called “Miss Nancy” but was known to run in all-male circles of Washington, D.C., among men who were always dressed fancy, and hosted all-male dinner parties. He was considered a part of the underground “homosexual society.” When King died, his nieces immediately destroyed their uncle’s correspondence to Buchanan and other men. But some letters have survived. The only disappointing part about President Buchanan is that he continues to be rated as one of our worst presidents.

This weekend San Diego welcomed its 35th annual San Diego Pride Parade grand marshal, gay icon, Cleve Jones. I’ve known Cleve for decades, and he is a true role model for all GLBT activists. Cleve is truly an internationally recognized human-rights activist for people living with HIV/AIDS, for GLBT equality and for workers rights. We are good friends, because we both emerged onto the gay rights scene – me in San Diego and Cleve in San Francisco – in the 1970s. We also both came from the streets – but that, too, is another story. Cleve Jones is best known as the founder of the AIDS Memorial Quilt and as a major character portrayed in the movie Milk. He has remained the same down-to-earth, blunt, no-b.s. gay man he has always been. I remember when I organized and chaired the first committee that brought the AIDS quilt to Golden Hall in San Diego. Thanks to former San Diego Mayor Susan Golding, our local gay bars, the Imperial Court and F Street Corp. for financially underwriting the event. Cleve Jones currently works with Unite Here!, an international union representing workers in the hotel, restaurant and textile industries. The union has led the recent boycotts of the Manchester Hyatt Hotel and the Fiesta de Reyes and Barra Barra restaurants in Old Town. I am now supporting and working with Cleve in his efforts to strengthen the growing coalition between labor-union leaders and the GLBT community, and his call for a march on Washington, called the National Equality March, on Oct. 11. Last year, Cleve Jones was the first recipient of the San Diego Lambda Archives’ Nicole Murray-Ramirez Lifetime Achievement Award. I will be hosting a private reception for Cleve this Sunday.

Yes, our very own City Councilmmember Todd Gloria was named San Diego’s sexiest politician in a recent San Diego News Network poll. The top four are: Todd Gloria, State Assemblymember Nathan Fletcher and a tie for third place between Congressmember Duncan Hunter and Council President Pro-Tem Kevin Faulconer. Yes, Todd beat out four straight men, but are the voters blind? We love Todd, but ex-marines Faulconer and Hunter are butch and hot! Fletcher would get my vote hands down.

Well, a wonderful good straight woman friend pal and I left my Nebraska hotel and headed to Council Bluffs, Iowa. It was just a minute away – and, no, I didn’t get married – for the midnight viewing of Bruno starring Sacha Baron Cohen as a flamboyant, outrageous, flaming gay Austrian fashion reporter who gets fired and tries to get back on top. Let me tell you, this is a shell-shocking movie that is not politically correct. It slaps homophobia right in the face, well, kind of. The movie will leave you with very mixed feelings, but you will be laughing your head off, at times, from the beginning to the end.

Just like the highly popular movie Borat, Cohen once again gives his audience insane guerilla-style comedy. He touches on everything from racial prejudice, religion, right-wingers and homophobes of all shades. There is full-frontal nudity. Yes, a swinging weenie and much more. But I won’t spoil it for you.

Don’t miss this month’s drawing for $500 at the Old Mill Café on Sunday, Aug. 2. Owner Harry Kim and his staff will serve you some of the best home cooking you’ve ever had. The Old Mill Café is located at 3949 Ohio Street in North Park. For more information, call 619-294-3804.