Following an appearance at Trolley Barn Park last Friday, June 27, Democratic Presidential candidate Howard Dean traveled a few blocks over for a GLBT fundraiser and breakfast at Bourbon Street bar. About 70 people attended the event, including members of the predominantly gay and lesbian San Diego Democratic Club (SDDC), City Councilmember Toni Atkins and Vince Hall, who is running to replace Chris Kehoe in the 76th District state Assembly seat (Kehoe is currently running for the state Senate).

Atkins, a member of SDDC who has endorsed Dean, introduced the former Vermont governor, who made history by signing his state’s civil unions legislation into law.

“I’m going to speak from the heart,” said Atkins, who told the group Dean’s speech at a San Diego Victory Fund dinner a few years ago gave her the courage to stand tall in the face of a “devastating loss” at the city council — when six of her colleagues voted to extend the Boy Scouts’ lease of public land, despite the organization’s antigay policy.

“He talked of courage and what it takes to do the right thing,” said Atkins. “I have to say it was not a hard thing to think about endorsing Howard Dean. It was the right thing to do.”

Dean predicted that he would not be able to raise as much money as some of the other candidates in the race, appealing to supporters to use grassroots resources, such as the Internet, to spread his campaign message.

“Maybe there was four or five hundred [at the Trolley Barn Park rally], but 10,000 people now know something about Howard Dean,” he said. “That’s how this campaign works.”

Dean also asked those assembled to use their influence to help him garner the endorsement of major GLBT organizations. “There are a lot of other politicians who are working hard to get the endorsements of gay and lesbian organizations around this country,” he said. “I need your help to make sure that gay and lesbian organizations in Washington understand this is not politics as usual. I’m the only person [wherever] I appear on the campaign trail who brings up gay and lesbian issues in front of a heterosexual crowd. I think I’m also the only person who brings up race in front of a predominantly white audience….”

In light of last week’s Supreme Court ruling, which effectively struck down sodomy laws in 13 states, Dean condemned Justice Antonin Scalia’s antigay remarks.

“I couldn’t believe it on Thursday when Justice Scalia rendered an opinion from the bench that was the same thing, essentially, that [Senator] Rick Santorum had said two or three weeks earlier. And Justice Scalia is the person that George Bush mentioned as his choice to be the Supreme Court Chief Justice when Rehnquist steps down.”

Dean was measured in his criticism of President George W. Bush. “This president is not a bigot, I know him,” he said, “but he is appealing to the worst — he’s appealing to bigotry, he’s appealing to racism, he’s appealing to homophobia — and we have to stand up against that or this country will never be as strong as it can be, unless every single one of us can walk down the street with pride about who we are and not be ashamed or worry.”

On the subject of civil unions and how he plans to counter any opposition from those who disapprove of him having signed the bill into law, Dean told the story of meeting an 80-year-old gay veteran in Washington, D.C.

“[He] said, ‘Governor, I’m 80 years old. I want to thank you for civil unions.’ I was taken aback; I sort of said, ‘Oh, I appreciate that. Do you have someone in your family that’s gay or lesbian?’ He said, ‘No, governor, I’m a veteran. I was on the beach in Normandy, a lot of my friends were killed, and I’m gay.’

“Now, there’s a guy,” Dean continued, “who probably lived the vast majority of his life in the closet. Unlike the Republicans blather — most of whom have never served in the military — about defending your country and our freedom, here’s a guy who was … willing to die in defense of our freedom … and did lose a lot of his friends…. That guy deserves exactly the same rights as everyone else when he comes home….”

Dean also used the opportunity to take a shot at one of his opponents in the Democratic primary election, whom he did not name directly.

“I went to the Stonewall Democrats with Tom Daschle, Dick Gephardt and myself — and this other unnamed senator. You know, I got up there and gave the civil unions speech and Dick Gephardt got up there and loyally said the words gay and lesbian. Daschle said he was going to pass ENDA, which turned out not to happen. This other senator got up there and did not once utter the words gay or lesbian…. I thought, what is this guy doing? I suddenly realized that he thought there might be television footage and never wanted to have that word in an attack ad. This is B.S. We’ve got to defend what we believe in.”

Addressing an audience question about environmental protections, Dean said it was crucial to “link environmental protection and national security. Our oil money goes to the Middle East, where some of it goes to Hamas and some of it goes to teach small children to hate Americans, Christians and Jews,” he said. “It’s the next generation of terrorists and suicide bombers. George Bush will never confront that fact. He’s incapable of it; he’s an oil guy…. So, if you want real national security in this country, it’s not about strong armies, it’s about foreign policies that make sense.”

Asked about Dean’s views on the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes, he answered, “I do not like the idea of legislators or … the political processes deciding what drugs should be used or not…. If I become president, I will order the FDA to take one year and study every aspect of medicinal marijuana and recommend to me what should be done and what shouldn’t be done. My guess is they will say you can use medicinal marijuana for HIV/AIDS patients … and for pain and for terminal cancer patients, but you cannot use it for things like glaucoma, because there are other drugs that are more efficacious and have less risk, and that’s fine.”