In 2006, City Commissioner Nicole Murray-Ramirez, a longtime GLBT activist, made history as the first openly gay man elected chair of the city of San Diego’s Human Relations Commission. The commission, which is made up of ethnic, religious, civic and community leaders, recently unanimously re-elected Murray-Ramirez for a second term as chair.

Murray-Ramirez also holds the distinction of being elected chair of the first GLBT advisory board to the mayor of San Diego in the 1980s and the first elected chair of the police chief’s advisory board. He was appointed by the San Diego County Board of Supervisors to its Regional Task Force on AIDS in 1985, where he was elected chair of its People of Color AIDS Task Force.

Adding to his long list of achievements, Murray-Ramirez is also the first openly gay man to be honored with the Cesar Chavez Humanitarian Award and to receive a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Latino Unity Coalition of San Diego.

Murray-Ramirez has been a Latino and GLBT activist in San Diego for almost 40 years and has been elected to top positions on both state and national civil rights boards, including past state chair of Equality California. He also served on the national executive board of the Human Rights Campaign in Washington, D.C., during the late 1970s.

Murray-Ramirez recently was asked to speak at this past Monday’s Martin Luther King Jr. “All People’s Breakfast,” which brought together more than 1,000 San Diego leaders and activists.

- Press release