Hey my diet is going pretty good. I haven’t had any bread or tortillas for more than a week and have drank no Mountain Dew! I am determined to lose 50 pounds. I and Steve Miller are in a battle to see who loses the most weight. Stay tuned.

Next Friday, May 21, more than 1,000 San Diegans will gather for the second annual Harvey Milk Diversity Breakfast of San Diego County at the Hilton San Diego Bayfront Hotel. This has become the biggest GLBT hosted hotel event and one of pride and unity, bringing people from all walks of life together to break bread and celebrate the life of gay civil rights icon, Harvey Milk. Mayor Jerry Sanders and his daughter Lisa Sanders once again return as the event’s MCs. The keynote speaker will be West Point graduate Lt. Dan Choi. There are only five tables left. For more information, call 619-692-2077, ext. 204 or visit www.thecentersd.kintera.org/milk2010.

Students from all over California, Oregon, Washington and Texas gathered in San Diego this past weekend for the fifth annual Queer People of Color Conference held at the San Diego LGBT Community Center and San Diego State University (SDSU). Youth and students in their teens to early 20s were in attendance. I had the honor to be a keynote speaker at the Saturday session. Boy was I inspired by these bright, independent, passionate students. Congratulations to the San Diego student host committee and especially co-chair Gibran Guido and Naomi Santacruz. As I said in my speech, youth/students are not our future; they are our here and now!

This past Tuesday, I met with prominent San Diego businessperson Steve Francis for lunch at Bite in Hillcrest. Francis is leaning very heavily towards another campaign for mayor in 2012. So what’s Steve Francis been up to these last years? Well he has been on the board of directors of Father Joe’s Villages, which serves our city’s homeless. For the last 15 years (the past four years as chair) Steve and his wonderful wife founded Keepcomingback.com for those who have loved ones addicted to alcohol and or drugs. What a lot of people don’t know about Francis is his decades of service in the field of social services and humanitarian causes. Steve Francis is also a past chair of the American Red Cross. I found Francis to be very focused on the current issues facing our city, and I believe that he has learned a lot from his past campaigns and could definitely be a dark horse to watch out for. Francis could very well become the Bloomberg of San Diego. Among others being mentioned as possible candidates for mayor are Nathan Fletcher, Bonnie Dumanis, Bob Filner, Kevin Faulconer, Carl DeMaio, Christine Kehoe, Scott Peters and the list goes on.

Next weekend, the entire state of California will be celebrating the first official holiday in the nation in honor of openly gay citizen Harvey Milk. Rich’s has landed the official party bash for Saturday night, May 22 from 9 p.m. to 2 a.m. All the proceeds will benefit the Harvey Milk Foundation. It will be a night of dancing and surprises. At 11 p.m., councilmembers Todd Gloria and Carl DeMaio along with former deputy mayor Toni Atkins will cut a special birthday cake. Milk would have been 80-years-old. The entire community is invited to Rich’s to celebrate Harvey Milk Day.

Move over Ruth Chris and Mortons, The Wellington Steak and Martini Lounge is here, and its serving some of the very best steaks on the West Coast. Sherman Mendoza of the Caliph and I had one of the best dinners ever, and their wedge salads and creamy corn are out of this world! This is one handsome looking restaurant with only ten tables and open seven days a week (reservations are a must on weekends). So a big welcome goes to The Wellington. I’ll be back as often as I can! The WellingtonSteak and Martini Lounge is located at 729 W. Washington St. in Mission Hills. For more information, call 619-295-6001 or visit www.thewellingtonsd.com.

Well I’ll be out of town for six days. First I will have a stay in our state’s capital for a few days and will be at the official kick-off of Harvey Milk Day celebrations at the beautiful California Hall of Fame with special guest of honor First Lady of California Maria Shriver. It will be a gala reception of some of our state’s top political and government movers and shakers, including Speaker of the Assembly John Perez. I’ll give you a full report on GLTNewsNow.com. After Sacramento, I’ll be off to Fresno for a national GLBT conference.

For more exciting, breaking news, gossip, politics and all the gay news that’s fit to print including Editor at Large Nicole Murray-Ramirez’s People Opinions & Politics, Associate Editor Aaron Heier’s Two Cents, Stampp Corbin’s The Oracle and much more daily news and happenings, visit www.GLTNewsNow.com. Mark us in your favorites and stay informed daily!