The San Diego Democratic Club inaugurated its new president, Stephen Whitburn, on Feb. 26. With the March primary, the upcoming November elections and the ongoing fight to stop the federal marriage amendment, Whitburn is set to preside over a busy and pivotal year for the club, and has had to hit the ground running.

“My duties as president are to harness the energy, the experience and the talent of all the many members of the club, and help to coordinate that to create effective action in the community,” he said, “both in terms of helping to elect candidates and to advocate for specific issues.”

A member of the Club since 2000 and a board member since 2001, Whitburn takes the reigns from the former president, Jess Durfee, who stepped down after serving as president for three years. Durfee is running for Chair of the San Diego County Democratic Party, which will be decided in May.

The San Diego Democratic Club (SDDC) is an all-volunteer organization. Therefore, Whitburn’s position as president, like all positions at the SDDC, is service above and beyond his regular full-time job.

“It’s busy but it is exactly what I want to be doing,” he said.

Besides running meetings and overseeing operations, the president primarily coordinates the activities of the club, providing outreach to other organizations, attending community events as the club’s representative and serving as a spokesperson.

During a major election year like 2004, the SDDC’s fundraising efforts intensify, as does their participation in mailer campaigns, phone banks and precinct walking. Most meetings are taken up with the complex business of endorsements for both the major races and for smaller ones, such as school board races.

“Though small, these are important races,” Whitburn said. “Members of the community turn to the San Diego Democratic Club for a recommendation on how to vote, so we try to research the candidates and arrive at an endorsement that not only guides our own activities, but hopefully serves as a guide for like-minded members of the community.”

Several members of the San Diego Democratic Club, including Whitburn, sit on the board of the Coalition of San Diegans Against Marriage Discrimination, which is fighting to stop the federal marriage amendment from passing.

Whitburn sees the fight against the federal marriage amendment as the biggest battle of his first term as president. “The November election is breathtakingly important, to be sure,” he said. “We’re going to be working very hard for our candidates, but no matter how many LGBT-friendly representatives we elect, we will never enjoy equal treatment if the U.S. Constitution is changed to specifically prohibit the recognition of our committed relationships.”

The SDDC formally endorsed Howard Dean, who supported marriage equality, for the Democratic presidential nomination. When Dean dropped out last month, the club did not take any further action to endorse another candidate. This was partially due to the short amount of time prior to the election, but also because a number of club members were pledged delegates to Dean; had Dean captured enough votes in the San Diego area, the delegates would have gone to the Democratic National Convention and been a voice for the GLBT community. However, club members who are delegates for Kerry will be going to the national convention and will represent the community.

Though none of the other strong candidates for the Democratic nomination were supportive of marriage equality after Dean dropped out, compromising with Kerry, Whitburn said, is worthwhile. “I’m not sure that we have a choice,” he said. “Clearly, we want a President who believes in gay marriage. But there are two viable candidates for President right now – John Kerry and George W. Bush – both of them have stated that they don’t support gay marriage. But clearly one of them is overall a friend of the GLBT community and one is an enemy.”

Whitburn said the SDDC will most likely be participating in Equality California’s California Marriage Equality Voter ID Project, a massive effort to educate voters about equal marriage rights in time for the November elections, set to launch next month. “Equality California is a wonderful organization and to have them open an office in San Diego is great,” he said. “The San Diego Democratic Club is much looking forward to working hand in hand with Equality California to help convince the population that marriage equality is a right that should be recognized.”

A journalist for 18 years, Whitburn worked as a radio news director in Madison, Wisc., until moving to San Diego in 2000. “Though I enjoyed it,” he said, “I also felt the urge to be more of an activist than I could be as a mainstream journalist, so I decided to get into politics.”

Having lived in a number of places over the years, Whitburn was looking for a place to permanently settle. After researching different areas, San Diego was his top choice. “Aside from the weather and the natural beauty that is here, San Diego’s political climate is such that a single activist can make a difference,” he said. “There is a fairly even split between Republicans and Democrats here. So a single Democratic activist can make a difference. And there is a vibrant GLBT community. … It is an exciting place to be.”

Two of the club’s major goals this year are to increase the membership’s cultural diversity and its youth representation. “We need to involve more people of diverse backgrounds in the club, and the club needs to reach out to more diverse groups,” he said. “Likewise, we need to involve more young people in the club and reach out to young people.”

The club has created two new board positions specifically dedicated to diversity and youth. “I think that that will pay dividends in terms of our effectiveness,” he said.

SDDC officers serve one-year terms, with the option of being reelected. Besides the president, there are five other officers and 16 board members. All club members meet once a month, and the executive board meets once per month in addition to that. Membership meetings take place on the fourth Thursday of every month – except for July, November and December – at the Joyce Beers Community Center.

Meetings are open to anyone.

“We very much invite people to come and check it out and see if they would like to become a member,” Whitburn said.

For more information about the San Diego Democratic Club, call (858) 496-3312 or visit this article online at www.gaylesbiantimes.com for a link to their website.