The race to fill the vacant San Diego City Council District 4 seat, left empty when Councilmember Charles Lewis died suddenly last month, heated up last week when former District 4 Councilmember George Stevens officially joined the race. Candidates Anthony Young, Lewis’ chief of staff, and Dwayne Crenshaw, a community development director who ran for the seat in 2002 against Lewis, are considered frontrunners in the race along with Stevens. GLBT community endorsements are primarily split between Young and Crenshaw, who both favor GLBT-friendly legislation while supporting civil unions.

A lawsuit was filed to block Stevens from running because of term-limits laws, but an Oct. 6 court hearing allowed Stevens to run, putting him among the favorites in the race. Stevens, who dismayed the GLBT community with his antigay rhetoric and refusal to sign Pride proclamations during his 11-year tenure on city council, has said there is “no doubt” he will be reelected.

There are five other candidates in the race: Jim Galley, a water treatment plant operator; Patrick DeShields, a publisher and editor; Bruce Williams, community affairs director for Mayor Dick Murphy; Gloria Tyler-Mallery, a real estate broker; and Marissa Acierto, a businesswoman. If no candidate wins the Nov. 16 election outright, a runoff election will be held Jan. 4.

The San Diego Democratic Club overwhelmingly endorsed Crenshaw at their Sept. 23 meeting. Young and Crenshaw, who are both Democrats, completed SDDC’s candidate questionnaire, a series of questions relating to GLBT issues as well as those important to the larger Democratic Party. Young disagreed with the club on six questions – one on pro-choice legislation, one on school vouchers and four on GLBT issues, including being opposed to same-sex marriage – scoring 93 percent. Crenshaw, SDDC’s former treasurer, scored 98 percent, differing with the club only on the issue of same-sex marriage

“Ironically, Dwayne missed the question on same-sex marriage because he holds what some in the GLBT community consider to be a more progressive position: that ‘marriage’ should be left to religious institutions and that the government’s recognition of any couple – straight or gay – should consist simply of a civil union, conferring exactly the same rights and responsibilities irrespective of sex or gender,” said SDDC President Stephen Whitburn. “Dwayne will provide the GLBT community with additional representation on the city council. He served as treasurer of our GLBT Democratic club and he’s been visible in our community. Most importantly, he will vote with us on the issues.”

Crenshaw told the Gay & Lesbian Times that marriage should not be the government’s business, and churches and couples should be able to choose whether or not to perform marriage ceremonies. He said many District 4 community members support his stance. “What I’m about, what I think the fair-minded people in the Fourth District are about, is treating people equally under the law, and I think the difference is that they see, as I do, that marriage is a religious institution; they don’t want that touched,” he said. “What we do want is people to be treated the same and have the same access to benefits that the government offers to couples, whether they be gay or lesbian, or heterosexual.”

Young supports civil unions for different reasons. “I don’t support same-sex marriages, and I do it because of my religious and my personal upbringing,” he told the Gay & Lesbian Times. “I just don’t feel comfortable with it. I do believe in civil unions. I think any two people who agree with each other on how they want to interact with each other and bind with each other, they should be able to do that. So I think that’s really the way to go for our gay and lesbian community. But you know what? It’s a debate that’s open, and I’m listening to folks and I’m learning a lot about the community.”

Deputy Mayor Toni Atkins, a member of the San Diego Democratic Club, endorsed Young.

“I have worked with Anthony Young for almost two years, and have found him to be supportive of LGBT issues and quite willing to work with our community,” she said. “… When Charles came into office in 2002 he actively sought out our community in an effort to work with us on our issues, and in many instances he was there for us, most notably on the clean syringe exchange program and the identification program for medicinal marijuana patients. Based on my conversations with Anthony, I believe .... He’s a viable candidate and is worthy of our community’s support.”

In the 2002 District 4 election in which Crenshaw ran against Lewis, the Gay & Lesbian Times endorsed Crenshaw. In an editorial about the candidates’ differences, the Gay & Lesbian Times cited Crenshaw’s opposition to the Boy Scouts retaining their preferential lease in Balboa Park and Lewis’ support of the Boy Scouts in the case. The editorial also noted that Crenshaw supported a clean needle exchange program for the city, and Lewis said he would support the program after he had seen proof of its efficacy.

Lewis had been Stevens’ chief of staff and ran for the District 4 seat after Stevens was termed out.

Both Young and Crenshaw advocate better education in public schools, economic development and job creation, and increased neighborhood development and safety if elected.

In conjunction with entities like the Southeastern Economic Development Corporation and the City of San Diego Park and Recreation Department, the current District 4 office has projects to improve parks and add fire stations, a library and a skateboard park, Young said.

Crenshaw worked on the Market Creek Plaza development team, which brought a new Food 4 Less to District 4 and created 100 new jobs. He has worked for a combined total of seven years in the offices of two State Assembly members, and also worked for County Supervisor Ron Roberts and Councilmember Valerie Stallings.

“I think it really comes down to experience,” Crenshaw said of the difference between himself and Young. “Both Tony and I have had about the same amount of experience at City Hall; I think the difference is in the quality of our service. … Of being able to really do the homework, understand the issues, try to build consensus around those, is the type of new leadership we need at City Hall in the current fiscal mess that we have. I think that sets me apart from Tony and any other candidate.”

A recent San Diego Union-Tribune letter to the editor stated that an audience member attempted to “out” Crenshaw at a recent political meeting; the Union-Tribune printed a retraction after it was proven to be inaccurate. “It didn’t happen,” Crenshaw said. “Sexual orientation was not discussed… but here is a movement, from folks that somehow want to discredit gays and lesbians as qualified for office, to attack and somehow use that as a wedge issue. … Again, there is definitely an effort – I think the GLBT community should be concerned about – that folks believe that somehow maybe the Third District is the only place a gay elected official can be elected, or that somehow that disqualifies you. That’s just wrong and I don’t support that type of discrimination and I don’t support that type of wedge politics, and I don’t think we should allow the community to be used that way.”

Regarding the statements made about Crenshaw’s sexual orientation in the letter to the editor, as well as its factual inaccuracies, Crenshaw said: “I think the retraction was that it was factually untrue; it was untrue; I’m proud of my endorsement from the San Diego Democratic Club; I’m proud of my commitment to GLBT issues; I will be a good leader on those on the council; and that’s about all I have to say about that.”