A big welcome to all of our out-of-town visitors from Canada, Mexico and all across America for Coronation XXXIV…. A special welcome to Josè Sarria, the founder of the International Court System (40 years ago) and the first openly gay candidate to run for public office in the U.S.A. (in the early ’60s).

The recent Pride board controversy went all over America through The Associated Press. The truth is the Pride board lied and covered things up. In just a 20-minute conversation with one of the controversial individuals, I convinced him to voluntarily resign. The Pride board knew about this controversial issue since July 2, yet refused to do anything about it.

Thirty-one years ago, Jess Jessop, Tom Homann and I fought the city to get our first Pride parade permit. This current Pride board almost destroyed our event, and voted four times to do nothing. The board did not change their direction until the eleventh hour, when countless officials, organizations and businesses threatened to withdraw.

The current board has members who have been on and off this board for decades. It’s time for new blood – and where is the representation from our youth, bar owners (hello, it started at Stonewall), businesspeople and members of the leather community?

Let me make it very clear that I do not personally wish to sit on this board (I’m too busy, and not in good health), but I know many qualified GLBT leaders and activists who are now very interested.

I ask the Pride board: Why do you even bother with town hall meetings, where you agreed to always have the American flag lead our parade and it didn’t this year? (You could have borrowed one from Long Beach Pride).

The 2005 Pride board has lost the support of its community. It’s now time for them to do the right thing.

A group of GLBT leaders, activists and businesspeople have organized a meeting on Monday, Aug. 15, at 7:00 p.m. at The Center to address this issue. The room was reserved by Ray Drew, past executive director of the Family Pride Coalition.

My final question is: Will the media now do a background check on the boards, staff and volunteers of the St. Patrick’s Day parade? The Columbus Day parade? Etc., etc., etc.

Over 200 people from every community and neighborhood attended this past Monday’s birthday bash for our Mayor Toni Atkins at Martinis Above Fourth, and it was one really fun and prideful evening. Among those in attendance were Police Chief William Lansdowne, City Councilmember Scott Peters, state Senator Chris Kehoe, state Assemblymember Lori Saldaña and Chula Vista Mayor Steve Padilla. The hors d’oeuvres were fabulous and the entertainment was outstanding (Sue Palmer and her band).

Mayor Atkins received a special proclamation and commendation from the president of the state Senate, the speaker of the state Assembly, Palm Springs Mayor Ron Oden, Congressmember Susan Davis and U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer. But one of the highlights of the evening was the official proclamation from San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom declaring Aug. 1, 2005 as “Toni Atkins Day in the City of San Francisco”! The crowd roared its approval. Another special moment was a song specially written for Toni by the Gay Men’s Chorus. Over $5,000 was raised for the Toni Atkins Lesbian Health Fund.

I especially want to thank my hard-working host committee: Dr. Delores Jacobs, Bob Lehman, Big Mike and City Commissioner Julia Legaspi. I could not have done it without each of you!

It’s now all over town that Chula Vista Mayor Steve Padilla came out of the closet at our Pride rally. He even issued a proclamation naming it GLBT Pride day in his city. While some already knew about Steve and his longtime partner, many did not. As a gay Latino man myself, I am very proud of Mayor Padilla. It was a courageous thing to do. While Mayor Padilla is known and respected as a hard-working and dedicated public servant, and has strong support within his city from all communities, let us realize that Chula Vista is not San Diego, and we must and will be prepared to support and raise big money for him, because there will be radical right-wing opposition and lots of money going against his re-election.

I received a call from mayoral candidate Donna Frye this week, and she wanted me to know why she wasn’t in this year’s parade. She said she realized that a lot of people are upset that she could not take just two hours to be in our parade, but brought up her hopes that the GLBT community would judge her on her voting record regarding GLBT issues and AIDS health care.

I think she has a good point, but this was an important parade where we needed all of our friends and supporters to stand by us after the controversial individuals on Pride’s team resigned.

Mayoral candidate Jerry Sanders was in our parade with his beautiful wife and gorgeous daughter, and Sanders got blasted by many right-wing radio talk shows. Some even praised Donna Frye for not being a part of this year’s parade.

Donna Frye told the media and me that she was busy working on the upcoming City Council meeting, but why, then, could Mayor Toni Atkins spend almost the whole weekend with us? Then Donna said she was also tired and wanted to spend some time with her family. This I can understand somewhat more than preparing for a council meeting, but I still feel she should have been in our parade, and I salute Jerry Sanders for not caring about bigoted bullets aimed at him for riding in our GLBT parade.

As a gay Latino man, I will not be voting on social issues in this election, but on the candidate who can and will turn our city around… period.

You could own a really fabulous, mint condition, classic 1986 Vanden Plas Series 3 Jaguar with a special leather package, real wood trim, reading lamps for the backseat passengers, double gas tanks and chrome grill, bumpers and window seals. This beautiful car is now on display until Friday night at The Center, so check out this classic ride and turn in your sealed bid. It’s a benefit for the youth housing project at The Center, the Ben F. Dillingham Grant and the Grocery Hearts campaign of Mama’s Kitchen. A final live auction will take place this Saturday, Aug. 6, at the “Coronation Ball” at the Westin Horton Plaza Hotel, where it will also be on display. Turn in your bids at The Center, or for more information, phone (619) 692-1967.

A big thank you to philanthropist and attorney Bruce M. Abrams, who donated the Jaguar.

Coming up this weekend is the award-winning Gay Men’s Chorus of San Diego’s fun concert, “Oz & Beyond,” featuring such hits as “The Man That Got Away” (boy, do I know that story!), “Stormy Weather” and, of course, “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.” It’s all at the Garfield Theatre in La Jolla. Gary Holt, one of the best and most renowned artistic directors on the West Coast, is once again directing the Gay Men’s Chorus. Call (619) 57-GMCSD for more information and to purchase tickets for the Aug. 6 (8:00 p.m.) and Aug. 7 (3:00 p.m.) concerts.