Under fire for opposing same-sex marriage, influential evangelical pastor Rick Warren said that he loves Muslims, people of other religions, Republicans and Democrats, and he also loves “gays and straights.”

The 54-year-old pastor and founder of Saddleback Church in Southern California told the crowd of 500 that it’s unrealistic to expect everyone to agree on everything all the time.

“You don’t have to see eye to eye to walk hand in hand,” said Warren, who supported California’s Proposition 8, the voter-approved same-sex marriage ban.

Warren also defended President-elect Barack Obama’s invitation that he give the invocation at the Jan. 20 inauguration in the keynote speech he delivered at the Muslim Public Affairs Council’s annual convention in Long Beach.

Obama’s choice of Warren sparked outcry from gay rights and other liberal groups, who said choosing such an outspoken opponent of same-sex marriage was tantamount to endorsing bigotry.

Warren said he prays for the same things for Obama that he prays for himself: integrity, humility and generosity.

Obama defended his choice, saying he has also invited Joseph Lowery, a Methodist minister and civil rights leader who supports same-sex marriage and gay rights, to deliver the benediction.

Local faith leaders – including Rev. Madison Shockley of the Pilgrim United Church of Christ in Carlsbad and Rev. Scott Landis of the Mission Hills United Church of Christ – issued a joint statement, saying, “We find the invitation to the Rev. Warren to be far beyond any reasonable gesture of conciliation and an unnecessary affront to a vulnerable group of people struggling to live free.”

The faith leaders also gathered at the Mission Hills United Church of Christ to urge citizens to write letters to the president-elect voicing their concerns.

Warren has won kudos from some liberal quarters by focusing less on traditional conservative issues such as abortion and gay rights, but the preacher ignited the ire of many liberals when he publicly supported California’s Proposition 8.

Although Warren has said that he has nothing personally against gays, he has condemned same-sex marriage.

Warren founded Saddleback Church in 1980 in Lake Forest, about 65 miles southeast of Los Angeles.

Originally published Thursday, Jan. 1, 2009 in issue 1097

LOS ANGELES – More than 400 gay activists gathered at the Los Angeles Convention Center Jan. 24 to organize and strategize to win back same-sex marriage in California. But attendees at the daylong Equality Summit spent just as much time looking backward – at the errors made by the leadership of the No on 8 campaign in its failed effort to stop voters from re-banning same-sex marriage.

And, for the first time since the Nov. 4 election, several of those leaders publicly detailed what they did wrong.

“When I look at what was the biggest mistake, when I lie awake at night prepping my e-mails I’m going to send to all of you and I think about the biggest mistake that we made, it’s that we’ve turned everything over to political experts and political consultants,” said Equality California Executive Director Geoff Kors.

Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Center CEO Lorri Jean, another key member of the No on 8 leadership team, was similarly forthcoming.

“How could we have realized earlier that professional, high-paid consultants were not delivering product?” Jean asked.

The tension between conventional ballot-initiative wisdom and the possibly special nature of gay issues was nowhere more prominent than in the $40 million of ads the No on 8 campaign ran on TV, said Kate Kendell, executive director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights and a prominent member of the No on 8 leadership.

In an interview, Kendell said: “One tension that’s surfacing [today] – and it’s one we faced in the No on 8 campaign – is, ‘Do we ignore our campaign consultants and the polls and the focus groups – which will almost always tell us that showing gay couples and families is not the most effective messaging for undecided voters – do we ignore all that and show those families anyway because we instinctually and viscerally know that people who see gay images, who have conversations with gay people, who have LGBT people in their lives are better on our issues?”

Kendell called that question “a fundamental choice” for any future campaign on same-sex marriage.

Kendell said that all the leaders of the No on 8 campaign “wanted to have TV ads with gay people in them.”

“But the polling showed that the more undecided voters saw of images of gay people getting married, the more they were moved to the ‘yes’ side.”

Kendell said she would be “completely supportive” of a strategic decision to dump the consultants, pollsters and focus groups in favor of trying a from-the-gut campaign to win over Californians on same-sex marriage.

State Assemblymember Tom Ammiano, D-San Francisco, was among the summit attendees who criticized No on 8’s gay-free TV ads.

Ammiano, who worked with gay icon Harvey Milk on the 1978 campaign that beat back an initiative to ban gay teachers from California public schools, said there also were additional problems with how the No on 8 campaign behaved.

Many of those attending the summit applauded and cheered when various speakers suggested that the leaders of the No on 8 campaign had done the best job they could. But that sentiment was far from unanimous.

In addition to the occasionally raucous plenary sessions, much of the summit consisted of “breakout” sessions in which smaller groups of people focused on topics such as African Americans, Asians and Pacific Islanders, media, faith communities, families, government, labor, Latinos, legal issues, Netroots/Web 2.0, transgender issues and youth.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa made an unplanned appearance at the summit.

Originally published Thursday, Feb. 5, 2009 issue 1102

A jury on Feb. 17 agreed that four firefighters were sexually harassed in the 2007 San Diego LGBT Pride Parade by spectators and participants, but only awarded them $5,000 each in damages for emotional distress.

The total damages they awarded come to $34,300, which does not come close to the attorneys’ fees, costs, depositions and other expenses paid so far by their attorney Charles LiMandri. LiMandri acknowledged his expenses and costs have exceeded $1 million.

The eight-woman, four-man jury also awarded $14,200 for past and future lost earnings to John Ghiotto, who was transferred from the Hillcrest station to another station, where he no longer works as a paramedic.

The jury also awarded $100 in past medical expenses to Chad Allison, which represented the co-pay amount he paid for seven therapy sessions. Captain Jason Hewitt and firefighter Alexander Kane were each awarded $5,000.

The firefighters testified in two civil trials that they were ordered to drive a fire truck in the 2007 San Diego LGBT Pride Parade with less than 24 hours notice after another crew dropped out. They said they saw simulated sex acts, men wearing underwear, and were subjected to comments, such as “let me blow your hose” during the parade through Hillcrest.

“The damages are extremely low,” Deputy City Attorney Don Shanahan said. “For the amount they were claiming for harassment and the claimed injuries they set forth at trial – that’s extremely minimal.”

“We are pleased with the low damages,” said Deputy City Attorney Kristin Zlotnik, who represented the city in both trials.

Fire Chief Tracy Jarman testified she ordered the parade policy changed just days after the 2007 parade after meeting with the four firefighters. Only volunteer firefighters now appear in the parade.

Shanahan argued to jurors the policy was changed before the lawsuit was even filed.

A jury deadlocked last October when it could not get nine jurors to agree that sexual harassment had even occurred to the firefighters. LiMandri had asked jurors in the first trial for $4 million, but his figure was criticized in closing arguments by then City Attorney Mike Aguirre.

This time around, LiMandri did not set a figure for damages in his closing argument. Several jurors commented that they didn’t think money was an issue, so they kept the figures low. One juror said the highest award they considered was $10,000 per firefighter, but they could not get enough votes for that.

“We all played around with numbers until we all agreed,” one juror said.

“They made it clear they weren’t out for a lot of money,” another juror said.

All 12 jurors approved of the damage figures and answered “yes” to the legal question of whether the plaintiffs were “subjected to unwanted harassing conduct because of their gender.” However, only nine jurors agreed the harassment was “severe or pervasive,” with three of the four male jurors not in agreement with that.

Ten jurors agreed that the firefighters’ work environment during the parade was “hostile or abusive,” and that the city should have known of the harassing conduct during the parade. Ten jurors also agreed that the city “failed to take reasonable steps to prevent the harassment.”

After the verdict was reached, jurors, attorneys and firefighters all agreed on one thing. “I’m glad it’s over,” they repeatedly said.

Originally published Thursday, Feb. 19 in issue 1104

San Diego District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis completed the investigation into the fatal shooting of Steven Paul Hirschfield on July 19, 2008, by Harbor Police Officer Clyde Williams. Dumanis concluded, under the applicable standard of review, Officer Williams’ use of deadly force was justified and he bears no criminal liability for his actions.

Hirschfield, 37, was shot in the middle of his back, and the bullet exited through his right chest, the San Diego County Office of the Medical Examiner concluded last August.

Hirschfield, of West Hollywood, was dancing aboard the Inspiration Hornblower yacht chartered for one of the official Pride party cruises – the Circuit Daze Harbor Cruise – on San Diego Bay when he jumped off the boat.

He was pronounced dead 31 minutes after the yacht’s captain alerted Harbor Police and the Coast Guard.

Hirschfield fought with officers sent on a boat to rescue him. Williams shot him after Hirschfield reached for the pistol of Officer Wayne Schmidt who was also aboard the rescue vessel.

“Williams use of deadly force was reasonable under the circumstances,” Dumanis stated.

Penal Code section 196 did not require the officer to wait and see if Hirschfield had actually gained possession of one of Schmidt’s firearms.

“The officers used their batons and chemical sprays in their attempts to physically subdue Hirschfield, but they had little effect on him,” Dumanis said.

His family and media reports also alleged Hirschfield was the victim of gay bias and that there was a police cover-up. As a result of these assertions, the San Diego Police Department and the District Attorney’s office looked into these allegations.

“The radio transmissions between the ship and the responding Harbor Police officers make no mention of who was on the ship, merely that there was a man overboard,” Dumanis told the Gay & Lesbian Times, noting there was no evidence which indicated any aspect of the incident made any mention to or reference sexual orientation or that there was a “police cover-up.”

Additionally, a sample of Hirschfield’s urine was submitted to the University of Virginia’s Clinical Pathology Laboratory for analysis tested positive for the presence of two anabolic steroids, Nandrolen Metabolite and Stanozolol.

“Though no one can know for sure what effects the various drugs had on Mr. Hirschfield alone or in poly-drug format, it is widely known that steroids can induce aggressive and psychotic episodes while Ketamine, an animal tranquilizer and club drug, can also cause delirium and amnesia,” Dumanis said, noting this was consistent with the behavior observed by the witnesses as well as officers.

Hirschfield was still on probation for earlier drug charges at the time of the shooting.

Originally published Thursday, Feb. 26 in issue 1105

On May 8, Kelly Commerford, the marketing director for the Manchester Grand Hyatt announced at the International Gay and Lesbian Travel Convention in Toronto that Doug Manchester, the owner of the hotel, will give $125,000 to the gay community.

Many believe Manchester’s donations are in response to the backlash from the boycott waged against the Manchester Grand Hyatt for Manchester’s $125,000 donation to the “Yes on 8” campaign last summer.

A coalition of labor leaders and supporters of same-sex marriage announced last July, a full-scale boycott of the Manchester Grand Hyatt and other Manchester-owned properties. The coalition – which includes labor union UNITE Here Local 30, nonprofit organization Californians Against Hate, and is supported by City Councilmember Todd Gloria, San Diego Pride at Work, San Diego LGBT Pride and a number of community leaders – aims to inform Californians about Manchester’s contributions.

Fred Karger, founder of Californians Against Hate, was in Toronto during the announcement and says his organization along with labor unions will continue to boycott Manchester’s properties. The San Diego Hotelier owns three hotels, The Manchester Grand Hyatt, the San Diego Marriott Hotel & Marina, and The Grand Del Mar.

“[We will boycott] at an increased pace because of this [offer],” he said. “The organizers of the boycott are not intending to end the boycott because of his offer.”

Karger added gay organizations are under pressure to accept Manchester’s offer because of the economic downturn.

The boycotts were also in response to poor working conditions. According to boycott organizers, no attempt has been made at mending the relationship between Manchester and labor. Bragman was not able to comment on Manchester’s issues with labor, because he works with GLBT issues.

Bragman said he was not working with Manchester at the time of the alleged offer and was not able to confirm any information. Karger said if the GLBT community was offered a similar settlement as last year’s alleged settlement, “that would be different.”

“He’s trying to force people to come to the hotel, but he’s going to fail. It’s a dumb idea,” Karger said.

Bragman has come under scrutiny because he is a gay man and is working for Manchester.

Manchester is Roman-Catholic. It was also announced at the convention that Manchester supports civil unions and domestic partnerships but not same-sex marriages.

“Before Prop. 8, there was a great relationship [between the Manchester Grand Hyatt and] the [GLBT] community. We want to get that back,” Bragman said.

Originally published Thursday, May 14 in issue 1116

The California Supreme Court upheld a voter-approved ban on same-sex marriage May 26, but it also decided that the estimated 18,000 same-sex couples who tied the knot before the law took effect will stay wed.

The 6-1 decision written by Chief Justice Ron George rejected an argument by gay rights activists that the ban revised the California Constitution’s equal protection clause to such a dramatic degree that it first needed the Legislature’s approval.

The court said the people have a right, through the ballot box, to change their Constitution.

The announcement of the decision set off an outcry among a sea of demonstrators who had gathered in front of the San Francisco courthouse awaiting the ruling. Holding signs and waving rainbow flags, they chanted “Shame on you.” Many people also held hands in a chain around an intersection in an act of protest.

Gay rights activists immediately promised to resume their fight, saying they would go back to voters as early as next year in a bid to repeal Proposition 8.

The split decision provided some relief for the 18,000 same-sex couples who married in the brief time same-sex marriage was legal last year, but that wasn’t enough to dull the anger over the ruling that banned same-sex marriage.

The state Supreme Court had ruled last May that it was unconstitutional to deny same-sex couples the right to wed. Many same-sex couples had rushed to get married before the November vote on Proposition 8, fearing it could be passed. When it was, gay rights activists went back to the court arguing that the ban had been improperly put to voters.

That was the issue justices decided today.

The ruling of “no” and “yes” on same-sex marriage effectively left many people in the fight for equality with mixed emotions.

Locally, the San Diego LGBT Community Center expressed deep disappointment in the ruling from the California State Supreme Court, which failed to overturn Proposition 8. While the court did not invalidate the marriages performed for same-sex couples between June and November of last year, today’s ruling is a “major disappointment from a court that ruled for full equality just a year ago,” said Dr. Delores A. Jacobs, chief executive officer of The San Diego LGBT Community Center.

“The State Supreme Court failed to perform one of its primary responsibilities, which is to protect minority groups from the whim of the majority. In November, a narrow majority of California voters stripped away marriage rights from same-sex couples,” local leaders said.

Originally published Thursday, May 28 in issue 1118

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, May 18.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Originally published Thursday, May 28 in issue 1118

GLBT supporters gathered for the Equality Torch Relay on June 6 marching through 18 cities in San Diego County, including East County where public GLBT rights rallies have never been held. During the rally a bystander in Lemon Grove attacked Ron deHarte, executive director of SD Pride.

deHarte said what he thinks made his assailant stop attacking him was the camera from KUSI news. A cameraman recorded the end of the incident and a video has been posted on Youtube.

deHarte said he thinks the assailant punched him on his lower jaw, and kicked him. He said the next day his lip was swollen and the inside of his cheek was cut.

deHarte maintains that the Torch Relay was very successful.

The torch relay gathered more than 2,000 participants in 18 cities within San Diego County, from South Bay to East County to North County. The Equality Torch Relay commemorated the 40th Anniversary of the Stonewall Riots in New York City.

Each relay included rallies in front of city halls. At the end of the day, the torches and their supporters united in front of the San Diego County Administration Building.

deHarte said a review will be conducted to decide whether SD Pride will continue Equality Torch Relays in the future.

At the Unification Rally in front of City Hall, District 3 Councilmember Todd Gloria commented on the state of GLBT rights.

“When I think about those setbacks, I think about how this year we’re celebrating the 40th Anniversary of Stonewall. I would submit to you that we are at our own Stonewall today. We cannot stand quietly; we cannot.”

Diversity was a common theme among the speakers at the rallies.

The Youtube video showing deHarte’s attack can be found at www.tinyurl.com/lgdeha.

For more information on the Uniting Families Act of 2009, visit the Human Rights Campaign Web site at www.hrc.org/laws_and_elections/6985.htm.

Originally published Thursday, June 11 in issue 1120

Michael Pilcher, a 21-year-old resident of The San Diego LGBT Community Center’s Youth Housing Project, was found dead inside his apartment at the East Village location, on June 29.

“The resident’s body was discovered morning by on-site staff and the appropriate authorities were immediately notified,” said Delores Jacobs, The Center’s chief executive officer.

Pilcher died June 29 shortly after 10 a.m. of an apparent drug overdose, according to the Medical Examiner, who performed an autopsy on Pilcher.

The San Diego County Medical Examiner investigator, who was at the scene, confirmed drug paraphernalia was located at the scene.

Pilcher was from North Carolina and lived at Sunburst for nearly a year. According to friends and residents of the facility who wish to remain anonymous, Pilcher’s drug use was no secret. Heroin and methamphetamine were his drugs of choice.

According to Sunburst Housing Project administration that was the first incident of that degree at the facility.

Pilcher’s death was also said to be the first death since the Youth Housing Project opened in February 2006.

As Jacobs stood outside the Sunburst Apartments as the Medical Examiner performed its investigation, she reiterated that The Center remains committed to these young people, and will ensure that appropriate grief counseling and other support services are available to the residents and staff of the Youth Housing Project. Jacobs said that, as the facts become known, The Center’s management will review the information and all relevant policies to confirm that all appropriate steps were taken in order to prevent such a tragedy.

“Moments like this certainly further strengthen our resolve to provide services for these vulnerable – and valuable – young adults,” she said.

Originally published Thursday, July 2 in issue 1123

On July 10, the GLBT community honored the life of Seaman August Provost, murdered just outside Camp Pendleton.

In the early morning of June 30, Seaman August Provost, while on sentry duty at the Assault Craft Unit Five compound at Camp Pendleton, was found dead with several gunshot wounds, said Capt. Matt Brown, a Navy spokesperson for Navy Region Southwest. A fire was also lit near Provost, suggesting that the suspect tried to destroy the evidence, he said.

GLBT community leaders citing military sources initially said that Provost’s death was a hate crime, since he had been harassed because of his sexual orientation and because Provost’s aunt had said the military had told her that her nephew’s mouth had been bound, gagged and burned. Since then, leaders have taken a more conservative stance, saying that whatever the investigation concludes, the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy prevented Provost from seeking help.

“No matter what the real reason might turn out to be for Seaman August Provost’s death, we now know that for the majority of his time on active duty, he suffered significantly in silence,” Lisa Kove said, Executive Director of the Department of Defense Federal Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual Employees (DOD FED GLOBE), the other organizer of the event, adding that Provost’s suffering was due to the “fact that DADT forced him to have an emotional death.

More than 150 people turned out for the vigil, many dressed in funeral attire, at the corner of Monterey Drive and North Coast Highway in Oceanside.

Originally published Thursday, July 16 in issue 1125

Local activists are organizing a San Diego contingent at the National Equality March (NEM) in Washington, D.C. on October 11.

“We want San Diego to march together to show how much we are contributing in body power,” said Department of Defense Federal Gay Lesbian Bisexual Employees (DOD FED GLOBE) Executive Director Lisa Kove. “So that we can organize our contingent appropriately, we really need to know who in San Diego is going.”

Longtime activist Cleve Jones called for the march last March as a “call to action” to demand full GLBT equality from Congress. March organizers are working with local activists, such as Kove, to bring a delegate from all 435 congressional districts including the five congressional districts in San Diego County.

Kove with the help of Richard Wilhein, who will be organizing the San Diego contingent at the march, and Sally Hall, who sits on the march’s national steering committee, have thus far found 13 to 15 people who plan to attend the march and whom together will represent San Diego’s two democratic congressional districts: 53rd district (Downtown/Point Loma/Balboa Park) represented by Susan Davis and the 51st district (portion of Chula Vista/border area) represented by Bob Filner.

With messages of love and peace, a sea of rainbows branded the crowd of protesters outside San Diego High School on Oct. 16. San Diego students, mostly from nearby San Diego City College and San Diego High School counter protested six members of the Westboro Baptist Church (WBC).

According to some protesters, the WBC members protested across the street from San Diego High School because there were so many pro-gay protesters. The anti-gay group left after 30 minutes.

“I think they got intimidated,” Brown said. “Most people like that tend to leave and hide.”

Many protesters shared Brown’s sentiments on the issue.

“We definitely over powered them,” and “they know they lost,” were common phrases students used.

The WBC protest was one of several protests across San Diego County and Southern California. The group’s Web site contains a calendar featuring its tour and focused this protest on an anti-gay agenda, while others that have taken place during the week in the county were slated as anti-semitic.

The counter protest was arranged by the First Unitarian Universalist Church in Hillcrest.

Originally published Thursday, Oct. 22 in issue 1139