In what is believed to be a first, two openly gay Republican candidates in Redlands, one hour north of Palm Springs, are running as a ticket in this November's municipal election. Henry Nickel is running for a city council seat and Joell Ackerman is running for city clerk.
The town of nearly 64,000 people sits at the foot of the San Bernardino Mountains in the state's Inland Empire region. Republican candidates maintain a slight edge over their Democratic counterparts as the town's voter registration skews to the GOP.
James Vaughn, director of Log Cabin California, said he did not recall there being another instance where two out GOPers ran together in a city election. The gay Republican club has endorsed Nickel in his race and is weighing whether to give Ackerman its backing.
"We have high hopes for that race," said Vaughn, who has made it a priority to get more Log Cabin members elected to local and state offices. "He has the support of Republican Senator Bob Dutton and we are waiting to see if he gets the chamber of commerce, police and firefighters. He is raising money and doing well."
Nickel, 28, is one of two Republicans in a field of seven candidates vying for two council seats. The election is mainly being fought over the city's finances – city leaders ran up deficits until this summer when they passed their first balanced budget in six years.
A fifth generation resident of Redlands, Nickel graduated from American University in Washington, D.C. in 1999 and spent six years working in Berlin, Germany as an international business communications trainer. Two years ago he returned to his hometown and now works as a commuter rail analyst for the Riverside County Transportation Commission.
Ackerman, 37, grew up in Pasadena and after high school joined the Navy. She became a cryptologic technician and served for six years. She went on to graduate from California State University, San Bernardino and now works as an administrative manager for a manufacturing company in Riverside.
Ackerman, who did not respond to a request for an interview, is the only challenger against incumbent Clerk Lorrie Poyzner . According to her Web site, Ackerman is running for the clerk position in order "to make every citizen's experience with the Redlands City Clerk's office a friendly and straightforward process."
Nickel and Ackerman met through mutual friends in the local community theater scene. Since they share the same political views, they decided to join forces to canvas voters together and share costs of mailers.
"It made sense to combine our campaigns since we are not competing against each other. It has been a win-win for both of us," Nickel told the Bay Area Reporter in a phone interview this week.
The candidates' sexual orientation has yet to be a factor in the campaign, nor does it appear to have come up in local coverage of their races. Neither candidate has disclosed being gay on their Web site, but Nickel said his being gay is not a secret.
Nickel said the pair is not running as gay Republicans but as the best-qualified people for their respective offices.
"We are not promoting ourselves as two out Republicans. I don't think of myself as a gay Republican, I think of myself as a Republican who shares the same concerns as my fellow Republicans and just so happens to be gay," said Nickel. "We as candidates, and gay Republicans, need to show that to us it is not about being gay but serving our community."
Asked if he worried one of his opponents would try to use his being gay in a smear campaign against him, Nickel doubted such a tactic would work.
"I would advise against it. I don't think voters look too kindly on somebody who tries to make that an issue, " he said. "People in Redlands tend to be a bit more conservative but also tend to be very sophisticated voters. They are highly educated professional people. They see through those tactics."
In fact, Nickel won the endorsement of the local chapter of the California Republican Assembly, the party's more conservative faction. Of course, his being the chapter's vice president probably helped.
"The issue didn't even come up," said Nickel, who joined the organization last year. "When it comes to local races and local issues that is not relevant. People are more concerned with if we have enough police."
The group has yet to decide on endorsing Ackerman; Poyzner declined to seek its endorsement.
GOP's lavender trends
No matter what tipped the assembly's endorsement vote in Nickel's favor, it is just the latest sign that the state's Republican Party is showing a more moderate side.
Earlier this month in San Diego, Republican City Council member Jim Madaffer sided with three of his Democratic colleagues in voting to join an amicus brief more than a dozen California cities intend to file supporting San Francisco's pro-gay marriage lawsuit now before the state Supreme Court. The council deadlocked 4-4 on the motion, and this week revisited the item, this time voting 5-3 to add San Diego's name to the brief.
This week Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger reiterated his vow to veto a gay marriage bill. But his pledges are not couched in personal opposition to allowing same-sex couples to wed. Rather he cites a voter-approved measure in 2000 that defined marriage as between a man and a woman as for why he opposes the legislation.
Despite his standing in the way of marriage equality, the governor continues to nominate openly gay and lesbian residents to political posts. According to Log Cabin's Vaughn, Schwarzenegger has named more than 25 LGBT staff, board, commission and other political appointees.
Most recently he named Alan Howard 36, of Carmel to the California Osteopathic Medical Board and Don Norte, 45, of Hollywood to the California Governor's Committee on Employment of People with Disabilities.
And in a move that shook up the state GOP at its recent convention in Palm Springs, Schwarzenegger declared that Republicans are "dying at the box office" and pushed his party to approve a new platform consisting of one or two pages of "core Republican principles." In a letter to party members, co-signed by the state legislature's Republican leaders and state Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner, Schwarzenegger lists lower taxes, limited government and individual freedom and responsibility among the top five values he believes the party should promote.
As the platform reads now, the state GOP opposes "any special privileges, rights, or accommodations based on sexual or behavioral preferences" and states, "we believe that homosexuality should not be presented as an acceptable 'alternative' lifestyle in public education and policy. We oppose granting to homosexuals special privileges, including marriage, domestic partnership benefits, and child custody or adoption."
"Our overall goal is general acceptance in the party. The fact that two of the platforms submitted by leadership eliminates all other anti-gay language is a huge victory," said Vaughn. "Marriage is the last hurdle and it is going to be the hardest. But it is no different from the platform on marriage the major Democratic presidential candidates are spouting."
As a delegate to the party's convention next February, Nickel will cast a vote on which platform to adopt. He said he agrees the current platform needs to change, but does not support seeing a "bullet point platform." He does support seeing the party drop its anti-gay opposition but does not see a need to fight for marriage as opposed to civil unions.
"My first partner I had, he was from Germany, so we had a problem. If we had been a straight couple it would not have been a problem," said Nickel. "Whether you call it marriage or civil union, I don't care what you call it. I will concede the name marriage but give us the same rights."
Lesbian DA visits SF
San Diego District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis is another example of the rising cachet of LGBT people within the Republican Party. First elected to office in 2002, Dumanis is the first woman to serve as the county's DA and the only out person in the country to be elected to the law enforcement post.
The B.A.R. caught up with Dumanis, a former municipal and Superior Court judge, while she was in town earlier this month for a conference San Francisco DA Kamala Harris hosted on combating gang violence. On the day of the interview the state Senate passed the same-sex marriage bill; asked about the bill's chances before the governor, Dumanis demurred, saying she sticks to law enforcement issues.
But pressed on the matter, she did say, "I think he has some tough choices ahead of him."
Dumanis and her partner of 10 years, Denise Nelesen , have not decided whether they would get married where it to be legal in the state. They have gone back and forth on being domestic partners depending on whether it benefits them health care wise.
"It is not a big deal. We have combined our lives," said Dumanis.
As for the effort to excise anti-gay language from her party's platform, Dumanis said Republicans should focus on the core principles of fiscal and personal accountability as well as less government.
"I believe the Republican Party should stick to its fundamental values," she said.
When she and her partner attend GOP events, Dumanis said she sees no difference in how Nelesen is treated.
"The joke I make is everyone sucks up to her like any other spouse. People have been very accepting of her. It is not a big deal," she said. "I think in general our society is becoming more inclusive, more diverse."
Try as she might to stay out of political debates, Dumanis has at times found herself smack dab in the middle of them, accused of everything from being a pawn of San Diego's mayor to a disappointment to the gay community. The latter critique came after she attended the August unveiling of a statue of former Republican Governor Pete Wilson , who had also served as San Diego's mayor.
Dumanis defended attending the ceremony, since she is an elected official and considers Wilson a partner on law enforcement issues. As in having faith that criminals can be rehabilitated, her relationship with Wilson personifies the notion that politicians with dismal records on gay issues can also change.
"When he was mayor it was a difficult time in our society. I respect the feelings of those people who suffered during that time," she said. "But I can speak to him about various issues that concern us. I think we have all changed since then."
Her being an out lesbian within the Republican Party has had an impact, she said.
"I think within the Republican Party I have broken barriers. The fear factor goes away," she said. "They see me as an individual, not as a concept."
If she is thinking about running for higher office, Dumanis is keeping her plans to herself. When asked about it, she noted she was just re-elected last year. Nor did Vaughn reveal any current attempts to push her to run for a state Assembly or Senate seat anytime soon.
"So many of us are focused on next year we haven't had time to focus on what goes on beyond that. Certainly, we would love to see her do so and I think she would do well," said Vaughn. "It will be these suburban, exurban, and rural areas that will produce the most gay and lesbian Republican candidates, I think."