LGBT POV

While the nation focused on the victories of Meg Whitman and Carly Fiorina, two corporate Republican women who spent millions to win their gubernatorial and Senate primary campaigns, respectively, LGBTs were focused on statewide and local races that boosted the fight for equality in California.

As of midnight, with more than half of the precincts reporting, Victoria Kolakowski, a transgender administrative law judge and attorney for over 20 years is leading in her race for Alameda County Superior Court Judge with 46.11% of the vote, compared to her nearest competitor with 31.52% of the vote. While she will likely have to face a run-off, her lead is significant and her win would be historic.

In Southern California, openly gay Ricardo Lara, a founding member of HONOR PAC, appears to have won his race in the 50^th Assembly District in the East LA area. He becomes the second openly gay Latino in the state Legislature in California history.

And in what openly gay Assembly Speaker John A. Perez described as a “huge win,” pro-gay Democrat Matt Gatto beat National Organization for Marriage favorite Sunder Ramani who “used H8 card with the Armenian community,” which backfired. Perez called the special election for Assembly District 43 a “bell-weather” for November since it was the only race where a Democrat went head-to-head with a Republican. As of midnight, Gatto was up almost 56% to Ramani’s 44%.

Perez also noted that Gatto won in a primary election where there was high Republican turnout. “It’s a very strong indication of what people want this year. They want elected officials who are committed to making the state work by investing in education and jobs and not turning their back on the needy, especially in this time of such a big economic crisis.”

Please click inside for more on the California primaries, with comments from Assembly Speaker John A. Perez, Equality California’s Geoff Kors, and Log Cabin Republican’s Scott Schmidt. UPDATED WITH NEW RESULTS.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has a long relationship with the LGBT community – thanks in part to his activist cousin John A. Perez, who in March became the nation’s first openly gay Assembly Speaker. Sunday afternoon Villaraigosa opened his official residence, the famous Getty House, to other members of his adoptive “family” in honor of the 40^th Anniversary of Christopher Street West | LA PRIDE.

If I remember correctly, L.A. Mayor Richard Riordan (a Republican) – a huge supporter of the LA Gay & Lesbian Center’s California AIDS Ride – held a private, closed-to- the-press LGBT event or two at Getty House sometime during his two terms (1993-2001). But I do not recall ever seeing the Rainbow Flag officially hung outside the mansion, nor officially posed alongside the American and California flags other than in West Hollywood.

Villaraigosa announced that henceforth, the city of Los Angeles will officially recognize June as Pride month and will host celebratory and educational events as it does with other minority groups. “This is a coming out,” Villaraigosa said, “an acknowledgement of a community that’s played an incredible role in this town.”

Please click inside to see a gallery of photos from the event.

(Editor’s note: My story on John Perez’s swearing in will appear in Frontiers In LA on Monday. Longtime lesbian Latino organizer Gloria Nieto, who blogs for the San Francisco Chronicle and LGBT POV, wrote the following post to commemorate this historic event. Please click inside to read the whole post and information about the swearing in ceremony in LA on Friday, March 12. – Karen Ocamb)

The World Has Changed

By Gloria Niego

The world has significantly changed this week for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender population. Some significant events to note:

Wedding licenses were issued to same sex couples in Washington D.C.

Mexico City allowed same sex marriages to begin there.

John Perez was sworn in as Speaker of the California State Assembly, the first openly gay person to occupy this top of the food chain position not only in California, but in the country. Add the Latino part and you have a Latino gay man leading the Cal Assembly.

The world has changed……

Two days after being sworn in as the first openly gay Speaker of the California Assembly, John Perez has teamed up with pro-gay State Controller John Chiang to provide free tax preparation help for folks who earned an annual income of less than $49,000 in 2009. Here’s the info in English and Spanish.

Openly gay Assemblymember John Perez (D-Los Angeles) is making history Monday as he is sworn in as the new Assembly Speaker. He is taking over from Karen Bass (D-Los Angeles), who is running for Congressmember Diane Watson’s seat.

Longtime political columnist Rick Orlov notes that Assembly Speaker is considered “the second-most powerful job in California politics.” He writes:

“In a ceremony being compared to an inauguration, Perez will outline his priorities – jobs, jobs, jobs and perhaps a bit on education and, oh yeah, that multibillion-dollar budget problem. He is expected to be speaking to a full house, including Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, former Gov. Gray Davis and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa – Perez’s cousin.”

Also attending will be many of Perez’s longtime LGBT friends, including Eric Bauman, the openly gay vice chair of the California Democratic Party. Please click inside to read more about Perez’s swearing in and a comment from Equality California’s Geoff Kors on this history-making day. UPDATE from Bauman at 12:50p: “The Gay Mens Chorus has the house in tears with a medley of America the Beautiful and America… To be followed by It’s a Brand New Day from the Wiz… Go boys, turn them out!”

UPDATE: LA Times reports Perez sworn in at 12:56.

UPDATE: West Hollywood City Councilmember John Duran in the Capitol Gallery says: “The Assembly Chambers were filled with the spirits of the thousands of LGBT activists who strolled the Capitol halls for more than 40 years demanding justice on sodomy laws, hate crimes, discrimination and AIDS. Much blood was shed to get us here.”

UPDATE: EQCA’s Geoff Kors just emailed comments, including this: “Like Harvey Milk, Speaker Pérez proves that being LGBT does not preclude a person from achieving greatness or making the world a better place for others.”

As expected, the California Assembly officially elected openly gay Assemblymember John Pérez (D-LA) as their next Speaker on Thursday. Also as expected – the vote was along party line – 48-26, though Perez is known to “cross the aisle” and listen to the Republican perspective.

Karen Bass (D-LA) will remain Speaker for probably another month, before she relinquishes the chair and Perez is sworn-in.

Meanwhile, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger just declared a budget emergency – see the story here and a summary of the budget here – which I will report on when more information and analysis about the impact to HIV/AIDS services becomes available.

California Assembly Speaker-elect John A. Pérez laughes when asked to name his key advisors.

“I just put together the votes!” Perez, who represents the 46^th District, says by phone from Sacramento Thursday night after the legislative session ended.

For many LGBTs watching the difficult race for the speakership, the moment of victory was savored in the unity walk with Speaker Karen Bass arm-in-arm with Perez and his rival, Assemblymember Kevin de Leon after the unanimous vote in the Democratic Caucus late in the afternoon. After all the sadness and anger over the passage of Prop 8, here was Bass, the first woman Speaker and a strong supporter of marriage equality, effecting the beginning of a gracious transition of power to another person of color making history – John A. Perez, who becomes California’s first openly gay Speaker of the Assembly. Click inside for my interview with Perez, as well as comments from LA Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and the openly gay Vice Chair of the California Democratic Party, Eric Bauman.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signs the Harvey Milk Day bill and a significant marriage “clarification” bill that is sure to cause an uproar. Click inside to see the governor’s signing message, and a memo from Equality California explaining what the bill would do and reaction from EQCA Executive Director Geoff Kors. UPDATED with a quote from Sen. Mark Leno.