The California Democratic Party’s LGBT Caucus met last Friday to kick off the state party convention, which brought seven presidential candidates to San Diego last weekend and a record-breaking 3,414 attendees, according to the California Democratic Party (CDP).

Formed in the early 1980s, “the LGBT Caucus works within the Democratic Party to elect LGBT and LGBT-supportive candidates, works with legislators to pass LGBT-friendly legislation, such as state Assemblymember Mark Leno’s Marriage Equality bill, and continues to educate candidates and elected officials on LGBT issues,” former chair Gloria Johnson said.

Guest speakers included four out of the five openly gay California state legislators, who were on hand to energize party members and to show support for presidential candidates.

“I’m state Senator Christine Kehoe and this is my district that you’re in,” Sen. Kehoe said to a cheering audience of more than 100 attendees. “I want to tell you right off the bat that I’m supporting Senator Hillary Clinton.”

Kehoe lauded Clinton’s opposition to the Federal Marriage Amending and support of the federal Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), which would prohibit discrimination against employees on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity, as well as her support for civil unions and hate crimes legislation.

“She will, as president, promise to end ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’,” Kehoe continued. “And this is the place to talk about it because there are thousands of LGBT servicemembers and retirees and reservists in San Diego.”

Assemblymember Mark Leno, author of the Religious Freedom and Civil Marriage Protection Act that passed the California Legislature in 2005 but was later vetoed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, told the crowd that he will reintroduce the legislation this year.

“I’ve been hearing from folks: ‘Well, the marriage bill will get to the governor’s desk, but we know he’s going to veto it. He has already told us that,’” Leno said. “No. He doesn’t get a pass. It’s up to us … we must let him know he doesn’t get off easy. If he’s going to veto this bill a second time, he’s going to feel some pain.”

Before the meeting adjourned, representatives from the John Edwards, Barack Obama, Bill Richardson and Clinton campaigns briefly addressed the audience and touted their candidates’ support of the GLBT community. All of the representatives said their candidates would sign federal hate crimes legislation that includes sexual orientation and gender identity, and support GLBT families with measures such as adoption rights for same-sex couples.