Well I’ve started on yet another diet. I actually only ate two salads yesterday so please help keep me on my diet. Any baskets of fruits or fish would be more than welcomed!

The San Diego City Council voted 7-1 to voice their opposition to the anti-immigration law of Arizona. Our city’s Police Chief William Lansdowne even spoke out against this law and our Mayor Jerry Sanders has committed to sign the Council’s resolution. City Commissioner Bruce Abrams and I representing the city’s Human Relations Commission spoke in favor of the council resolution and in fact called for a more stronger message with support of the growing nation-wide “Boycott Arizona” campaign. After the council meeting I received calls from councilmembers Kevin Faulconer, Todd Gloria and Carl DeMaio. Needless to say I’ve received countless calls concerning Carl DeMaio not supporting this resolution. I made it clear to Carl that I was very disappointed with his vote and his exchange with Council President Ben Hueso. We agreed to disagree on this issue and may meet in the future with Latino leaders to discuss the Arizona law but as for the many comments I am getting that Carl DeMaio is a racist, etc. This I know is not true what so ever. he new Arizona law has stirred many emotions and at times extreme ugly reactions. I have received many racist e-mails and hang-up calls concerning my being so visible on this issue and sadly from our own GLBT community. I will continue to be involved with this important issue that attacks the people of color communities. For I believe that you must be in the streets and in the suites of government to create change. I also believe in dialogue and education concerning this issue and there is no place for extremism and attackers from both sides of this issue. Thank you.

GLBT Vote 2010, a group of concerned GLBT activists and business people (founded in 2000), have made some early endorsements:

Democratic:

Governor: Jerry Brown

Lt. Governor: Gavin Newsom

U.S. Senator: Barbara Boxer

State Assembly: Toni Atkins (76th Dist.); Ben Hueso (79th); Marty Block (78th)

State Senate: Mary Salas

Republican:

Governor: Meg Whitman

U.S. Senate: Tom Campbell

Non-Partisan Offices:

Sheriff: Bill Gore

County Treasurer: Dan McAllister

County Supervisor: Ron Roberts

San Diego City Council:

Dist 2: Kevin Faulconer

Dist. 6: Howard Wayne

Dist. 8: David Alvarez

Chula Vista City Council: Humberto Peraza

Mayor: Steve Castaneda

San Diego School Board:

Kevin Beiser (Dist. B)

Patrick MacFarland (Dist. C)

Propositions:

County: Yes on B

City: Yes on C and Yes on D

The annual San Diego Equality Awards dinner drew well over 300 people and honorees Assemblywoman Mary Salas and “Will and Grace” actor Eric McCormack gave very personal and stirring speeches as well as Geoff Kors, Equality California’s executive director. Salas stated “No child should ever apologize for who they are.” She also stated, ‘“Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ should be abolished in Latino families.” McCormick, who brought his wife and son, stated that the GLBT community “is one that I love.” San Diego co-chairs Randy Clark, Tom Maddox, Susan Guinn and Denice Feldhaus did an outstanding job. Among those in attendance were Congressmember Susan Davis, Senator Christine Kehoe and Councilmember Todd Gloria.

Let me make it clear that I am proud to be a past state chair of Equality California and believe the work that this organization does deserve all of our support. But Please don’t have this dinner ever again at that warehouse and at a $150 a ticket it wasn’t right that the front and middle tables got three to two pieces of meat and the back tables only got a tiny piece of cold meat! Businessperson Richard Sager and others at our table left pretty hungry. Please take this as constructive criticism as it is intended.

This past Monday was San Diego LGBT Pride’s third town hall meeting open to the public. As usual there was a small turn out compared to when there is controversy. I commend the new Pride board and staff for their hours, days and months of hard work and getting Pride back on its feet. While I am concerned that the Pride Board still is 90 percent white and lacking youth and transgender representation and that the community advisory board is still not in place, I do believe in this board’s commitment to make these two issues a priority, and they are doing their best to undo the huge damage that was done by the past board. It’s a two-way street. So get involved and attend their town hall meetings!

San Diego State University (SDSU) will be hosting the 5th annual Queer People of Color Conference this weekend (May 7 to 8). GLBT Latinos, African Americans, Asian-Pacific Islanders, Native Americans from all over the country will be in attendance, especially students. The opening reception will be this Friday night at The San Diego LGBT Community Center from 6-10 p.m. SDSU will host an all day conference and workshops on Saturday from 9 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. I’ve been honored to have been asked to be one of its keynote speakers along with Carolina Ramos, Stampp Corbin, Isaac Gomez and Rigoberto Gonzales. The fastest growing population on the West Coast are the Latino and Asian Pacific Islander communities. The GLBT community must continue to build bridges to other communities. For more information on the conference, visit http://www.9pocc5.webs.com

La Missionis one of the best gay themed films of the decade. It got rave reviews and talks of an Oscar nomination for handsome actor Benjamin Bratt who plays a homophobic Latino father who finds out his only son is gay and beats him and condemns him. Set in San Francisco’s Mission District, this film is spot on about Mexican-American culture and machismoism. Sadly for me it brought back memories of my father who was almost the same way and had the same difficult time concerning me being gay and especially the drag part of my life. La Mission is a movie you will talk about long after you see it. It is currently playing at the Landmark Hillcrest.

In an editorial published two weeks ago, the Gay & Lesbian Times announced that it will give a $20,000 matching grant to Stepping Stone, which helps rebuild the lives of so many GLBT individuals in the recovery community, in honor of the nonprofit’s residential facility’s 10th anniversary and the appointment of founder Cheryl Houk to its board of directors. The GLT invited other local GLBT news media to match its 20k grant. If all local media organizations would make a 20k grant each, $120,000 could be raised! We also ask David Mannis, publisher of a new upcoming San Diego GLBT newspaper and the current publisher of San Diego Uptown News to support the recovery community with its own matching grant. We think matching our grant is a great way for GLBT media to come together and collectively fight the plague of GLBT addiction currently devastating the community.