A big “Congratulations!” to longtime community and civic activist Bruce M. Abrams for being named the Grand Marshal of the 2007 Pride Parade!

This past weekend, I was honored to keynote and introduce former President of the Philippines, his Excellency Gen. Fidel V. Ramos, and former first lady of the Philippines Mrs. Ramos at a private dinner held at the Sheraton Suites San Diego at Symphony Hall.

Only 30 civic and business leaders were invited (Los Angeles businessperson Fortunato Rivera underwrote the entire affair) and the auxiliary bishop of the San Diego Catholic Diocese gave the invocation. It was nice to see Consul General Emeritus Edwin D. Bael in attendance, as well as City Commissioners Julia Legaspi and Jess San Roque. In my speech, I spoke about the growing Asian Pacific Islander community and its political impact and thanked the former president for bringing stability and order to his country. I found Gen. Ramos and his beautiful wife to be very down to earth and want to sincerely thank Glenn Barroga and Shonee Henry for inviting me and giving me the honor of introducing the president.

Our city has lost one of its greatest civic leaders – Tom Fat, otherwise known as “Mr. San Diego.”

I had the privilege of being his friend, and in more than four decades of living in San Diego, I’ve never heard anyone talk negatively about Tom; nor did Tom himself ever put anyone else down. A leader in the Asian-American community in San Diego, Tom loved our city and all its diversity. A son of immigrants, he grew up and built an empire of almost a dozen restaurants. Always giving back, he became a strong supporter of HIV/AIDS causes, especially the Asian Pacific Islander Community AIDS Project. He was also a true Christian in every sense of the word, as he believed we are all God’s children.

I respected this man very much because he is a role model of what a leader should be.

Thank you to his lovely wife Jenny and daughter Monica for sharing him with so many of us. I attended his memorial mass at the Immaculate Conception Church at the University of San Diego, and it was truly a celebration of a great life.

Memorial Day weekend was very busy for me, with many obligations, but I took naps in between them. Big Mike and I took time to stop by the Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery in Point Loma to pay our respects to the more than 44,000 buried there since the Spanish American War and World War I.

As I read the many tombstones, it struck me how many women veterans have died for our country.

For the second year in a row, the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN) and local American Veterans for Equal Rights (AVER) San Diego chapter of GLBT veterans were part of the official ceremony and presented a beautiful wreath. A most sincere thank you to SLDN board member Anna Curren, out Army Col. Stewart Bornhoft, former Marine Sgt. Bob Lehman, Ben Gomez of AVER and Coast Guard Jason, who were on hand to represent the GLBT community and present the wreath.

They should fire those at the City of San Diego Park & Recreation Department who are responsible for the recent poisoning of dozens of squirrels in Balboa Park.

Good for City Attorney Mike Aguirre for issuing an order to stop the poisoning. City Councilmember Toni Atkins told me she did not know anything about it and has directed her staff to look into this horrific act. The Park & Recreation Department used to trap and relocate the squirrels when their population got high. Let’s return to that method.

For the first time, our San Diego Pride Parade, the biggest civic event in the city, will be shown on Time Warner Cable – and more than once. So I urge you to really spruce up your contingent, cars and floats to make them colorful and creative. All of San Diego could be watching!

In a few years, San Diego could join Los Angeles and New York with a live television broadcast of our parade. Go Pride!

The Imperial Court de San Diego will officially celebrate its 35th anniversary on Aug. 4 at the Westin Horton Plaza, with a full-course dinner, entertainment and the Coronation. It will also be the evening when I, the Queen Mother of the Americas, will name and invest my heir-apparents in line of succession.

The Imperial Court de San Diego hopes that all those organizations and causes we have supported these last 35 years will attend and show their support. And, yes, bluntly said, I will be taking note of who’s there and not there! Tickets are $75 in advance for general admission and $125 VIPs. For more information, call 619-993-8315.

I just live for the Miss USA, Miss America and Miss Universe pageants, and in all my countless years of watching these pageants, I have never seen a contestant fall on her ass on stage, as Miss USA Rachel Smith did this year. But there is a first time for everything. I must also mention that her gown looked like she bought it at JC Penney. I agree with the audience that Miss USA did not deserve to be in the “top five,” but then most of the judges had an American affiliation. Still, Miss USA did not deserve to be booed and screamed at by the huge audience, which should have taken out any frustration on the judges.

I’ve always liked “The View,” but I loved it when Rosie O’Donnell was on, as she brought more life to it and made it more exciting. With Rosie, the topics became more interesting and, yes, controversial, but the show got you to think and talk about the issues of the day.

I think co-host Elisabeth Hasselbeck is just a valley girl who goes shopping at malls too much and drinks too much of George Bush’s Kool-Aid! I hope Rosie gets her own show soon.

I hope to see you this Sunday, June 3, at Martinis Above Fourth for a fun show with great food, all to benefit the Imperial Court de San Diego GLBT Student Scholarship Fund. It all starts at 7:30 p.m. and is only $20. Word has it that four hot guys will also be auctioned off.

Bravo to Martinis’ staff and management for raising more than $6,000 for 15-year-old Danny’s team in the upcoming American Cancer Society’s “Relay for Life.” I’ll see you all at Martinis this coming Sunday night.

For more information, call your hostess Lola at 619-387-6782.