Nearly 40 years ago, the Harvey Milk LGBT Democratic Club was founded after a split from the Alice B. Toklas LGBT Democratic Club. Early leaders Harvey Milk, Harry Britt, and others laid out a simple manifesto:
No decisions which affect our lives should be made without the gay voice being heard. We want our fair share of city services. We want openly gay people appointed and elected to city offices �" people who reflect the diversity of our community. We want the schools of San Francisco to provide full exposure to and positive appreciation of gay lifestyles. We are asking no more than we deserve. We will not settle for less.
From that moment forward, the Milk club has worked diligently to elect members of the LGBT community �" from Milk to Britt, from Carole Migden to Tom Ammiano �" to represent our voice in city and state government. Milk knew that to make sure our voice was heard, we needed our own seat at the table.
The Milk club continues to honor its founding manifesto today. Getting progressive LGBT candidates elected is what the Milk club has done since its inception and what we will continue to do this year.
In June we have a historic opportunity to further the legacy of LGBT representation that began with Milk. The Milk club is proud to have endorsed the two queer Latino candidates trying to make history in their primary races. If elected, David Campos will be the first Latino to represent San Francisco in the state Legislature and will maintain LGBT representation in a seat that has been held by a member of our community since 1996. Assembly Speaker John A Perez, the first gay speaker of the Assembly, is running for state controller, a position that would make him California's first out LGBT person ever elected to statewide office.
Unfortunately, not everyone in our community believes that LGBT representation is as important today as it was when Milk was elected. With the gains the LGBT movement is making nationally, it's easy to feel like we've already won and that an ally at the table will be adequate in representing our interests.
Pardon me if I disagree, but our movement has only just begun. More than marriage or "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," it's about standing up for the most disadvantaged members of our community and fighting the discrimination LGBT folks without economic privilege face every day. This is the real fight and we must elect progressive leaders from our own community to represent us at all levels of government, not just our allies.
Fortunately, we already have leaders with a demonstrated commitment for fighting for our community ready to take that seat at the table.
Campos has been a champion for all members of our community during his five years on the Board of Supervisors and in his previous role as general counsel for the San Francisco Unified School District. As supervisor he has tackled the troubling statistic that nearly 30 percent of our city's homeless population identifies as LGBT by working diligently to open an LGBT shelter in the Mission district. He has led the fight to preserve critical health services for people living with HIV and AIDS, restoring millions of dollars to keep clinics open and literally keep San Franciscans alive. As SFUSD's general counsel, he instituted policies to protect transgender student safety in our public schools and worked to prohibit the bullying of LGBT students �" policies that we are now fighting to preserve on a statewide level.
Perez has used his historic position as the first openly LGBT leader of the California State Assembly to advocate on behalf of our community's most vulnerable members. He expanded access to domestic violence program funding so that LGBT organizations could offer LGBT-specific domestic violence assistance. Acknowledging the disparities in health access that LGBT Californians face, Perez helped integrate LGBT health issues into the mission of the California Department of Public Health's Office of Health and Equity.
These out candidates �" whose personal experiences as members of the LGBT community have fueled their undeniable record of leadership on our issues �" are the people we want at the table �" not people who simply promise to be a good vote on our issues. As good as an ally may be, they are no replacement for real LGBT leadership.
Currently, only 6 percent of our state Legislature is comprised of members of the LGBT caucus. An Equality California study tracked the Legislature over the last 10 years and found that 55 percent of the 114 bills addressing issues critical to the LGBT community were authored and sponsored by members of the LGBT caucus �" a revealing statistic that confirms the continued need for LGBT representation.
What Milk advocated for then we must remember now: electing LGBT representatives launches our movement forward; relying on allies to do our work for us does not. This year, join the Harvey Milk LGBT Democratic Club in strengthening our movement and building a better future for all members of the LGBT community. Vote David Campos for Assembly and John Perez for controller.
Tom Temprano is the co-president of the Harvey Milk LGBT Democratic Club.