This year’s 2004 Nicky Awards awards ceremony – an annual celebration of the outstanding people and places that make up the San Diego GLBT community – takes place Sunday, May 9, at the Wyndham Emerald Plaza Hotel downtown. In town for the event and receiving a Nicky’s Board of Governors’ Award will be Mayor Jason West from New York, the San Diego Fire Department and Joyce Marieb, executive director of the Greater San Diego Business Association (GSDBA).

For nearly 30 years, the Nicky awards have recognized outstanding achievement in the GLBT and allied community. Among those who have received past Board of Governors’ awards are former mayors, members of Congress, city council members and former police chiefs of various cities around San Diego County.

Mayor Jason West of New Paltz, NY, made national headlines recently when he married 25 couples on March 5, in the first same-sex marriage ceremonies of their kind in New York. West continued officiating same-sex marriage ceremonies after receiving warnings from state officials that the weddings were illegal, stating that it was his “moral obligation” to issue marriage certificates to gay and lesbian couples.

“It’s time that I added my voice and the voice of the people of the village of New Paltz to that growing chorus for fairness, equality before the law and basic family values,” West said in news reports at the time.

West faces criminal charges in New York.

The Board of Governors will also honor the men and women of the San Diego Fire Department for their stand against the worst wild fires in the history of Southern California. Deputy Mayor Toni Akins will be presenting the award to the department on behalf of the GLBT community.

This year’s Lifetime Achievement Award will be presented to Congressmember Bob Filner of the 51st Congressional District, one of the most ethnically diverse districts in the nation and one that encompasses southern San Diego County and all of Imperial County. For over two decades, Filner has supported civil rights, HIV/AIDS and other humanitarian issues that are important to the community.

Joyce Marieb, the final Board of Governors honoree, is a businesswoman par excellence, a long-time advocate for civil rights, and has been the executive director of the Greater San Diego Business Association (GSDBA) for four years. As a community leader in San Diego, Marieb served for 10 years on the board of directors of Stepping Stone, and was instrumental in the start of the building project that resulted in the new, state-of-art, $2.5 million recovery facility. She continues to support the work Stepping Stone does in offering drug and alcohol recovery services to the San Diego LGBT community. Marieb also served as vice chair of the AIDS Walk board that convened to insure the future of AIDS Walk, and currently serves on the advisory board of the Public Affairs Department of The Center.

Tickets for the Nicky Awards are $45 in advance, $55 at the door, and $75 VIP. Proceeds benefit The Center, San Diego Human Dignity Foundation, Imperial Court de San Diego and the Asian Pacific Islander Community AIDS Project (APICAP). For more information or to purchase tickets please call (619) 229-2822 or (619) 692-1967.