Political Notebook: Breed could double LGBTQ supervisors with D6 pick

Mayor London Breed could double LGBTQ representation on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors with her nomination to fill the soon-to-be-vacant District 6 seat. She could also name the first known transgender person to serve as a county supervisor in California if she selects queer San Francisco Democratic Party Chair Honey Mahogany, who would also be the city's first out Black supervisor.

Or Breed could tap for the vacancy the highest-ranking LGBTQ person in the city's police department Matt Dorsey, a gay civilian who is director of strategic communications and part of Police Chief William Scott's command staff. He would be the second known person living with HIV to serve as a San Francisco supervisor.

"I may have to stop saying I am the only queer supervisor. I wouldn't be sad about that," gay District 8 Supervisor Rafael Mandelman told the Bay Area Reporter.

Either Dorsey or Mahogany would make for a great colleague on the board, added Mandelman, who is running for reelection to his seat in the fall.

"Matt Dorsey is a personal friend of mine and a talented public servant, and I think he would contribute a lot to the Board of Supervisors or to any public service he might want to do," said Mandelman. "I also think Honey Mahogany would be an excellent supervisor and would be history making."

Current District 6 Supervisor Matt Haney will officially resign from his board seat at 10 a.m. Tuesday, May 3, when he takes his oath of office to become the assemblymember for San Francisco's 17th Assembly District. He won a decisive victory in the special runoff race April 19 against gay former District 9 supervisor David Campos to succeed David Chiu. With Campos deciding not to campaign for the seat in this year's general election, Haney is nearly assured of being elected to a full two-year Assembly term in the November 8 election.

Chiu had departed the Legislature in November to become San Francisco's first Asian American city attorney. Breed had nominated him to the position after she named former city attorney Dennis Herrera last year to lead the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission.

For years Dorsey had served as Herrera's spokesman as the city's top lawyer. He formerly served on the elected committee that oversees the local Democratic Party and held the office of secretary on it. Until very recently Dorsey had served on the board of Mid-Market Neighbors, having helped to co-found the neighborhood association.

As for him now potentially being tapped for the supervisor seat, Dorsey isn't commenting publicly. One of the few LGBTQ leaders to endorse Haney for Assembly, Dorsey declined the B.A.R.'s interview request Tuesday for this article.

Mahogany has worked for Haney as his de facto chief of staff at City Hall and has made no secret about her interest in succeeding him on the board. Even before Haney entered the Assembly race, Mahogany had indicated she planned to campaign for the District 6 supervisor seat once it became open.

As he sought the Assembly seat over the past seven months, Haney had often noted a vote for him could lead to Mahogany being appointed as his replacement on the board and making LGBTQ political history. In addition to being San Francisco's first transgender and queer supervisor, Mahogany would be the second nonbinary supervisor in the Golden State, as San Diego County Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer is nonbinary and pansexual.

Talking to the B.A.R. Tuesday ahead of her boss' final full board meeting, Mahogany said she remained "hopeful" that Breed would see the benefit to the district in naming her its next supervisor and the message it would send nationally.

"I am hoping she takes into account the breadth of my experience and what it would mean to have a transgender supervisor right now with the anti-trans rhetoric and legislation being passed all across the country," said Mahogany, who is also a co-owner of the Stud bar collective and a drag artist who garnered national attention as a contestant on the television series "RuPaul's Drag Race" in 2013. "There are only six months before the November election, and District 6 deserves that continuity during this upcoming budget cycle, which we are in the middle of right now."

Whomever Breed names as the new District 6 supervisor will need to run on the November ballot for a full four-year term representing the newly drawn district expected to be finalized by the city's redistricting task force Thursday. The Tenderloin and most of the city's Transgender District is being removed from District 6 under the new map and put into the new District 5.

All of South of Market, where Dorsey and Mahogany both live, is remaining in District 6 along with Rincon Hill, Yerba Buena, and Mission Bay. Some have suggested that Mahogany move to District 5 and run to be its supervisor when the seat will be on the November 2024 ballot when the current officeholder, Supervisor Dean Preston, is expected to seek reelection.

"Two years from now? There are more pressing things happening right now in District 6," said Mahogany when asked about her interest in running for the other supervisor seat.

Asked if the mayor naming someone else as the next supervisor would impact her decision to enter this fall's race for the seat, Mahogany replied, "Similarly as with the redrawing of the district lines, the appointment will not impact my plans for the future."