The city of San Diego decided it was time to cut its losses in the ongoing battle between the ACLU and the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) over the lease of public lands in Balboa Park. With the failure of a BSA appeal in federal court, the council voted 6-2 to settle with the ACLU and pull out of all future protests that the BSA may file on the lease issue. Under the agreement, San Diego will pay $790,000 of the ACLU’s legal fees – $160,000 in court costs.

Mama’s Kitchen received a $500,000 bequest from the late philanthropist Joan B. Kroc’s estate, the single largest gift ever bestowed on them. Kroc’s bequest went into Mama’s Promise Fund, an endowment fund recently established by the nonprofit meal-delivery organization.

Kroc contributed regularly to Mama’s from 1995 until her death last year. Alberto Cortés, Mama’s executive director, said that they had no knowledge of the gift before it was announced.

Approximately 60 same-sex couples from San Diego married in San Francisco between Feb. 12 and March 11.

People bought food and beverages from bakeries, restaurants and coffee shops, then handed it out for free to the hundreds waiting in line. One woman walked around with a garbage bag filled with brand-new socks, handing them out to the cold and weary.

There was also no shortage of opportunists. Along with financial planners handing out business cards and travel agents pushing honeymoon packages, professional photographers and video studios were offering to record the nuptials for a fee.

“It wasn’t just a gay day,” said Cuauhtemoc Kish, who married his partner, Jorge Gutierrez on Feb. 16. “I remember this one father – a young man probably in his mid-20s – he had two beautiful daughters. They went around the line with a bucket of roses, and each of the daughters passed them out to each couple that went through. It just pulled at your heartstrings over and over and over again, how people supported this issue.”

The marrying frenzy began Feb. 12 when San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom directed the county clerk’s office to being issuing marriage licenses to all couples, regardless of gender. Over 3,500 GLBT couples have come from all over California, from over 20 states and even from Europe to get married.

When asked about his response to Newsom’s issuing of marriage licenses for same-sex couples, Mayor Murphy responded: “I oppose violating state law.”

The Boy Scouts of America sued the city of San Diego in federal court, seeking to stop the city from terminating their lease for 18 acres of land in Balboa Park. The lawsuit was assigned to U.S. District Judge Jones, who ruled last summer that the city of San Diego acted improperly when it leased land in the parks to the Scouts, saying it amounted to an endorsement of the Scouts’ “inherently religious programs and practices.”

In addition to asking the U.S. District Court to stop the city from terminating its Camp Balboa lease and to block the city’s settlement with the ACLU, the Scouts asked the court to rule that the city’s refusal to lease to the Scouts on the same terms available to other community groups violates the Scouts’ First Amendment rights of freedom of speech and freedom of association, as well as their Fourteenth Amendment right to equal protection under the law.

San Diego’s GLBT community and all of District 3 scored a victory on Super Tuesday with the reelection of Deputy Mayor Toni Atkins to the San Diego City Council.

In the race for District 3, Atkins faced former Councilmember John Hartley and community member Gonzalo Garcia. Atkins needed to emerge from the three-way race with 50 percent of the vote to be reelected; otherwise, the top two finishers in the primary would have faced one another in a runoff in November’s general election. With 100 percent of the precincts reporting, Atkins pulled over 60 percent of the vote to win the primary outright and avoided a costly runoff. Hartley received just 32 percent of the vote and Garcia emerged with 7 percent.

Mike Aguirre garnered the vast majority of the votes in the race to be the next San Diego city attorney. Aguirre captured nearly 46 percent of the votes, just shy of the 50 percent needed to avoid a runoff. Leslie Devaney came in second with less than a 2 percent lead over Deborah Berger.

Lori Saldaña picked up the Democratic nomination for 76th State Assembly. After running an intensive grassroots campaign based on voter contact and precinct walking, she won 40 percent of the vote, beating out Vince Hall, who had 31 percent, and Heidi von Szeliski, who gained 28 percent.

San Diego County denied marriage benefits to a lesbian couple who received their marriage license in San Francisco last month because the state does not recognize same-sex marriage, it said.

Sarah Hubbard and Barbara Herrera were the first same-sex couple to be turned down for benefits the county provides to heterosexual married couples.

After their Feb. 16 marriage Hubbard, a 39-year-old San Diego County deputy sheriff, applied for married benefits, and her application was approved. But the county revoked it on March 22, citing an administrative error for the original approval.

More than a dozen students were removed from class and sent to the principal’s office at Carlsbad High School for participating in the national Day of Silence on April 21. The school’s Gay Straight Alliance (GSA) decided to proceed with their participation in the event despite denial of their request from school officials because of testing on campus.

Since its inception two years ago, the GSA at Carlsbad High has had an uphill battle. As a result of the run-in, members of the GSA are working more closely with the school administration than ever before to make sure that things are moving in the right direction at Carlsbad High.

A handful of protesters from a local Christian church and Concerned Women for America hovered around the Youth Pride 2004 festival, held May 1 in The Center’s parking lot.

Youth Pride Director Ren Petty said members of Concerned Women for America went to the Carlsbad High school board and requested the school’s varsity and junior varsity dance team teacher be fired for agreeing to let them perform at Youth Pride.

On May 4, this same group spoke at the San Diego City Council meeting, protesting the council’s decision to issue a Youth Pride resolution. Two members of the public spoke against the resolution and six in favor of it. The council voted 7-0 in favor of the resolution. “I think it’s easy to see today why I continue to be so proud of my community,” Deputy Mayor Toni Atkins responded.

The first annual San Diego GLBT Latin awards – Premios Latinos – took place May 16 at The Center. The evening featured eight live performances by seven local performers and groups, awards in 13 categories, dancing and a silent auction. The event benefited Bienestar and the Azteca Project.

Poway Unified School District faces a lawsuit filed June 2 by a high school student claiming the school violated his First Amendment rights to free speech when he was suspended for wearing a shirt proclaiming “Homosexuality is Shameful”. The incident attracted the attention of the local TV news networks, and resulted in a press conference held by the student and his Alliance Defense Fund attorney, Robert Tyler, at Poway High School.

The Alliance Defense Fund asked the court to bar the district and school from “selectively banning religious expression” and grant at least $25,000 in damages to Harper.

Members of IMPACT, the youth organizing component of the San Diego area chapter of the National Committee for Community and Justice (NCCJ), coordinated a response to the Alliance Defense Fund lawsuit that included a letter-writing campaign to the local media and the production of a banner that stated, “Hate is Shameful”.

IMPACT members also extended an invitation to Harper to take part in their weeklong summer program Anytown, which allows students the opportunity to talk about prejudice and discrimination and also feel the pain, rage and injustice of social ills.

The Wall of Honor induction ceremony at The Center June 25 brought out approximately 150 people to celebrate the lives and accomplishments of 16 of San Diego’s longtime GLBT community activists, including several founders of The Center, the first African American Empress of the Imperial Court de San Diego, the founder of Update and the city’s second openly gay city council candidate.

Former San Diegan Keven Lee Graff, 27, was accused of beheading Robert Lees, a 91-year-old screenwriter, and then stabbing to death his neighbor, Dr. Morley Engelson, 69, on the morning of June 13. Graff had been a go-go dancer at several local gay clubs and circuit parties between 1997 and 2002.

Graff was arrested on June 14 near the gates of Paramount Studios, about two miles from the victims’ homes. Police reports described Graff as a “transient”, and he had reportedly lived out of his car during the three months preceding the murders.

San Diego’s GLBT community and its allies rejoiced at the failure of the Federal Marriage Amendment in the Senate, but many civil rights activists urged heightened vigilance as marriage equality opponents promised the introduction of a similar measure in the House and a possible reintroduction of the FMA onto the Senate floor in the future.

The FMA went to a procedural vote on July 14 on the Senate floor. The Democrats were attempting a filibuster, which means they debate the measure indefinitely; Senate rules contain no motion to force a vote – a vote can only occur once debate ends. Supporters of the FMA needed 60 votes to end the filibuster, called a cloture vote, but fell short by 12 votes.

On the same day he delivered a speech at San Diego LGBT Pride’s 30th anniversary Spirit of Stonewall Rally, Mayor Dick Murphy also informed his LGBT Advisory Board that he would not be taking a position on the highly controversial Federal Marriage Amendment.

“He promised he would get back to us, and then the Friday of Pride we get this letter,” said Linda Barufaldi, a member of the advisory board who has been with her partner for 31 years. “I thought the timing was bad, insensitive, and that the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing, and that’s exactly what he was doing, nothing.”

Popular San Diego District 4 City Councilmember Charles Lewis, 37, died Sunday, Aug. 8, apparently of natural causes associated with internal bleeding, at Kaiser Permanente Hospital in Allied Gardens. Many of Lewis’ fellow council members and employees said the council member was well liked and well respected. Many also had hopes that Lewis would become the first African American to represent San Diego in state and national politics.

Just under 200 people attended a rally at The Center on the night of Aug. 12, after the California Supreme Court ruled that San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom exceeded his authority when he ordered the city/county clerk’s office to issue gender-neutral marriage licenses on Feb.12, resulting in more than 4,000 same-sex marriages until the courts put a stop to it March 11. The decision in Lockyer v. City and County of San Francisco, et al. effectively invalidated all of the same-sex marriage licenses issued, but did not decide the constitutional validity of same-sex marriage in the state.

The rally was followed by a march from The Center to the Hillcrest post office to mail pink postcards to Gov. Schwarzenegger’s office asking him to support AB 1967, the California Marriage License Nondiscrimination Act sponsored by Assemblymember Mark Leno.

The first debate between incumbent San Diego mayor Dick Murphy and his challenger in the mayoral race, County Supervisor Ron Roberts, took place at a community-wide forum held at The Center on Sept. 8. The event drew approximately 150 people to watch the candidates debate emergency services, affordable housing, gang violence, the city’s $1.1 billion pension fund deficit, county versus city budget management, the Mt. Soledad cross debate, the Boy Scouts’ preferential lease in Balboa Park and what each candidate would do as mayor to represent San Diego’s GLBT community.

Stepping Stone and the national Servicemembers’ Legal Defense Network hosted fundraisers that enjoyed tremendous success aboard the U.S.S. Midway, the ship that has made San Diego its permanent home as a floating naval museum. The events marked the first time GLBT community organizations have hosted events on board the Midway.

Stepping Stone’s “Living Out Loud” grossed close to $115,000 for the event and SLDN’s “Momentum on the Midway” reported close to $65,000.

The race for mayor of the city of San Diego took a dramatic turn when Councilmember Donna Frye entered as a write-in candidate Sept. 30. The introduction of a Democrat into the non-partisan race, which has traditionally been dominated by Republicans, caused a stir in San Diego, especially in the GLBT community.

When asked about her last minute decision to join the race, with only one month and two days to campaign, Frye said that the decision was one that she had been debating for awhile.

Two San Diegans were on board the National Marriage Equality Express that crisscrossed the country Oct. 4-11 educating people about marriage equality. Activists Anthony White, chair of San Diego’s chapter of Immigration Equality, and Nadine Jernewall, chair of Marriage Equality California’s (MECA) San Diego chapter, took to the highways in a MECA-sponsored bus carrying 47 people advocating for equal partnership rights at pre-scheduled rallies in 14 U.S. cities, culminating in a rally held in Washington, D.C. on National Coming Out Day.

Log Cabin Republicans filed a lawsuit Oct. 12 in Los Angeles claiming the military’s anti-gay policy known as “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” is unconstitutional in light of the Supreme Court’s Lawrence v. Texas decision last year striking down state sodomy laws. The three grounds in Log Cabin Republicans v. USA are that the policy is a violation of the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment, which is directly tied to the Lawrence decision, and that it is a violation of free speech and free expression as guaranteed under the First Amendment. The suit seeks both a preliminary and a permanent injunction against enforcement of DADT.

District 1 Democratic incumbent Scott Peters retained his seat over Republican challenger Phil Thalheimer, securing a 9-point lead early in the evening that held steady throughout the night, garnering him 54 percent of the vote.

The majority of San Diegans glued to the television screens at downtown’s Golden Hall watched with equal interest the fluctuating votes for both president and San Diego’s mayor. And the Republicans had it. Though Frye kept up her lead for the first few weeks of vote counting, Murphy edged out her victory by just over 2,000 votes in the end. As of press time, Frye has not decided on whether to proceed with a lawsuit, after it was discovered that she would have been victorious if disqualified write-in ballots – those where the bubble next to her name was not filled in, but the name “Donna Frye” was clearly written – were counted as part of the tally.

In another race too close to call on election night, Mike Aguirre beat out Leslie Devaney to become the next city attorney.

At the state level, Assemblymember Christine Kehoe cleaned up for 39th State Senator, garnering nearly 60 percent of the vote. Democratic first-timer Lori Saldaña beat Republican nominee Tricia Hunter despite early returns showing Hunter with a slight lead among absentee voters. Incumbent Shirley Horton narrowly beat Democratic challenger Patty Davis, maintaining the Republican lock on the 78th Assembly District.

The Rev. James Mathes was elected bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of San Diego. In a church divided over issues of sexuality, Mathes, a moderate, will take the reigns of the San Diego diocese in early March.

Mathes takes a broad view on the possibility of resolving issues of openly gay clergy and same-sex blessings within the U.S. Episcopal Church, and said that the process will take time, but all things are possible.

The Traditional Values Coalition introduced legislation in the California Legislature seeking to amend the California Constitution to eliminate domestic partnerships and ban same-sex marriage and civil unions on the same day that Assemblymember Mark Leno and House Speaker Fabian Nunez introduced AB 19, which would change California’s definition of marriage to between “two persons.”

Benjamin Lopez, a lobbyist for the Traditional Values Coalition, an Anaheim-based evangelical Christian group, said the group will campaign “until the notion of homosexual marriage is pushed back into the closet where it belongs.”

Though some Democrats were opposed to AB 19, calling it too much, too fast, the bill has already received support from 26 legislators, and more are expected.

The San Marcos Planning Commission voted Dec. 6 to extend by five years a Conditional Use Permit for Fraternity House, one of San Diego’s only licensed homes for the chronically ill, with the option of an additional five-year administrative extension.

This was the first time the residential care facility had to renew its permit, and its neighbors asked for stiffer permit requirements regarding parking, visiting hours and special events.

Fraternity House supporters said the facility has always been in compliance regarding traffic, septic and trash issues, and that anti-gay bias and fear due to ignorance about HIV and AIDS are the motivation behind their complaints. The complaints started a year ago, when anonymous letters assigned guilt to Fraternity House residents for contracting HIV/AIDS, complained about them “roaming our neighborhood,” and said, “It’s time to take our community back….”