www.gay-sd.com


the beach. For more information, e-mail gayforgood@gmail.com


GAYBriefs Sammy Allen Steve Whitburn


SDLGN to host LGBT candidates forum, Aug. 30


Gay San Diego’s media part-


ner, San Diego Gay & Lesbian News (SDGLN.com), will hold a “Meet the LGBT Candidates” forum at Anthology music club, 1337 India St., on Aug. 30 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. The free event designed to give the community a chance to meet its current and prospective LGBT elected officials. Scheduled to be in attendance


are: San Diego District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis, San Diego City Council members Carl DeMario and Todd Gloria, Solana Beach City Council member David Rob- erts, Democratic state Assembly candidate Toni Atkins, Republicam state Assembly candidate Ralph Denny, San Diego Count Board of Supervisors candidate Stephen Whitburn and San Diego school board candidate Kevin Beiser. “It is vital for the strength and


stability of our community to have openly LGBT elected officials looking out for our best interests,” said Johnathan Hale, publisher of SDGLN and San Diego Pix. “It is essential that we continue to sup- port LGBT candidates.” William Rodrigues-Kennedy,


president of Log Cabin Republi- cans of San Diego, said the fact that San Diego has “LGBT candi- dates and LGBT elected officials on both sides of the aisle truly speaks volumes.” “It shoes that we are mak-


ing great strides in our march to equality and that our fight is not a partisan issue,” Rodriguez- Kennedy said.


South Bay Pride and Mu- sic Festival, Aug. 21 South Bay Alliance will host its seventh annual Pride festival on Aug. 21 from noon to 7 p.m. in Memorial Park, 373 Park Way in downtown Chula Vista. More then 2,000 LGBT families and friends are expected to attend the free event, which will include a children’s garden, raffle, prizes, food, vendor and a beer and wine garden overlook- ing a live music stage. This year’s headliners include Billy Dortch and Sammy Allen. Dortch is an openly gay singer-songwriter whose video “Breathe” is currently one of the top 10 in rotation on the LOGO TV channel’s “Click List.” Allen lends her powerful and sultry voice to the band Seven Stitches, which includes Josh Paul of Daughtry and Scott Ueda of Glitch. She was recognized when the group won “Best Female Vocals,” “Song of the Year” and “Best Rock Band” at the All Access Music Awards. Other bands scheduled to


perform at include Rhythm and the Method, Tori Roze & The Hot Mess, Rozy Blue and The Handful, and The Tighten Ups. For more in- formation, visit southbaypride.org.


NEWS FROM PAGE 1


MARRIAGE “The governor ... had the op-


portunity to support same-sex marriage, but instead twice ve- toed legislation—in 2005 and 2007—that would have granted marriage rights to gays and lesbi- ans,” Kehoe said. While Walker’s ruling is a win


for the LGBT community in Cali- fornia and across the nation, it is only one step in its ongoing fight for equal rights. “We still have some major de-


fects to correct and a lot of work to do but today will be recorded in the history books as the definitive moment for our civil rights move- ment for equality,” said Fred Karg- er, founder of Rights Equal Rights (formerly Californians Against Hate). Karger was in Baltimore at-


tending the Equality Federation’s summer meeting when the deci- sion was handed down. “I’m missing the celebration


in San Diego, but I’m with a lot of the national and state leadership in the LGBT community,” Karger said. “There are a lot of happy people from all over the United States.” In San Diego, the “Day of De-


cision” event was scheduled as a march down University Avenue to the LGBT Community Center in Hillcrest, which commenced with a town hall meeting. It was planned as either a celebration or a protest, depending on the outcome. “I think that this is so important


that you can’t take any of this for granted,” said openly gay District 3 Councilmember Todd Gloria, who led the march. “I think all of us knew what was riding on this.” Escondido resident Jennifer


Schumaker said her cell phone started ringing the minute Walk- er’s decision was published. “I know we have another thing


to face, but I feel like this is a mo- mentum shift,” Schumaker said. “We knew this day was going to come either today or tomorrow, but today feels really good.” Immediately after voters ap-


Jennifer Schumaker


Conversation with a cool Escondido woman, Sept. 7


Escondido resident, mother and LGBT activist Jennifer Schu- maker will be the guest of honor when the Women’s Resource Center hosts its next installment of the popular series, Coffee and Conversation with Cool Women, Sept. 7 at 7 p.m. in the LGBT Community Center auditorium, 3909 Centre St. in Hillcrest. Each month Tryce Czyczyn-


‘Gay for Good’ to host inaugural event, Aug. 21 The group “ Gay for Good”


is partnering with San Diego Coastkeeper for a beach cleanup, Aug. 21 at 9 a.m. in Pacific Beach. everyone is urged to attend and lend a hand. Volunteer will meet at the end of Pacific Beach Drive, on


ska interviews notable women from the community during the talk show-style event. Schumaker is a writer, single mother and human rights activ- ist who volunteers for Marriage Equality USA. Prior to the 2008 vote on California’s Proposition 8, she spent every weekday for three weeks on a busy corner in Escondido holding a large sigh that read, “Hi, I’m your neighbor! Protect my right to marriage. Please vote no on Prop 8!”


For more information, call (619) 692-2077, ext. 212.


proved Prop. 8 in 2008, opposi- tion groups filed lawsuits and the California Supreme Court began deliberating the cases. The first ruling was announced on May 26, 2009. The California Supreme Court refused to invalidate the 18,000 marriages that were per- formed before the initiative took effect, but upheld the legality of Prop. 8. However, three days before


the ruling, the American Founda- tion for Equal Rights filed Perry v. Schwarzenegger in a San Fran- cisco federal court. According to Kevin Keenan,


executive director of the Ameri- can Civil Liberties Union of San Diego and Imperial Counties, Walker took extreme care to cre- ate a case based heavily in fact, as much of what was argued in the case will be used in appeals. “Judge Walker stressed from


the beginning that he wanted to lay out a detailed comprehensive factual record … [that] would be largely indisputable,” Keenan said. “I think there are still some weaknesses and vulnerabilities but on the core allegations, the underlying reasons that the gov- ernment could have for [discrimi- nating against] same-sex couples, there isn’t any meaningful factual support left after this decision.” Robin McGehee, co-director of


August 13-August 26, 2010 GAY SAN DIEGO


the group GetEQUAL, said that as with Loving v. Virginia, which in- validated laws against interracial marriages in 1967, this case em- phasizes that any discrimination is wrong. “We are moving towards …


creating the iconic moment that we saw during the civil rights [era],” McGehee said. “The major thing to do is to stay active and let people see from our community how important these rights are.” One of the most important


things to keep in mind as the Prop. 8 battle moves forward, Gloria, Keenan and McGehee agreed, is that sharing personal stories will win the hearts and minds of those who are teetering in the middle of the debate. Mayor Jerry Sanders spoke


about his transition from oppo- nent to advocate of same-sex mar- riage during the Aug. 4 town hall meeting at the LGBT Community Center. “I think a few of you were re-


ally irritated with me, and I didn’t like it,” Sanders said about his de- lay in supporting same-sex mar- riage. “I was new to politics and I was trying to dance the dance, and I came to the wrong conclu- sion on that dance, and I want to apologize to each of you.” Kehoe said support for mar-


riage equality, and for LGBT rights has been growing steadily since she joined the legislature 10 years ago, and for the first time this year, two Republican state legislators—Anthony Adams of Hesperia and Nathan Fletcher of San Diego—joined the vote to approve a resolution asking the federal government to overturn “don’t ask, don’t tell.” There was early apprehen-


sion among same-sex marriage advocates who thought it was a risk challenging Prop. 8 at the federal level so soon, since the U.S. Supreme Court—heav- ily conservative in its voting record—is expected to side against same-sex marriage. However, this new victory has brought about some renewed hope for same-sex marriage. Keenan said often courts are


A prop. 8 opponent celebrated Judge Walker’s decision on Aug. 4 in Hillcrest. (Courtesy Pat Sherman)


just behind or just ahead of society as a whole. In the likely event the case goes to the Supreme Court, Keenan said he would prefer it to be a slow process. “I hope that the Supreme


Court does take it, and that they don’t get it until 2012 or after that,” he said. “The best scenario is that the Supreme Court [deci- sion] is not viewed as monumen- tal when it comes down in our favor, but it is viewed by a good majority of the country, as ‘of course, I’m surprised this wasn’t always the case.’” According to Keenan, it could


be more than a year before the case reaches the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.


—GSD Editor Pat Sherman contributed to this report.


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