There isn't much that David Mixner hasn't done in the course of his 61 years. Nor is there a chapter in American political history over the last five decades in which Mixner didn't play some role.
He became an activist in the civil rights movement over the objections of his parents and protested the Vietnam War. He worked closely with the late San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk to defeat an anti-gay measure that would have barred gays from being teachers.
He worked on the presidential campaigns of the late Eugene McCarthy and Bill Clinton as well as the campaigns of the late Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley and former California Governor Jerry Brown. A consummate political insider, Mixner at the same time caused countless headaches for Democratic Party officials as a rebel voice within the party.
In 1993 Newsweek named Mixner the most powerful gay man in America. Yet Mixner always maintained an independent streak, turning down a chance to serve in the Clinton White House and publicly rebuking the president for signing the anti-gay "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy after promising to allow gays to serve openly in the military.
After his falling out with Clinton, Mixner turned to writing and penned the best-selling 1996 memoir Stranger Among Friends . In 2006, he escaped the loneliness he felt in New York City and moved upstate to the solitude of Turkey Hollow in Sullivan County, New York. Last year he launched a blog at http://www.davidmixner.com and posts daily musings on everything from politics to the arts.
Mixner returns to San Francisco this weekend – he once lived in the Castro – to receive the Pioneer Award from the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation. At first glance it seems an odd choice for a group more attune to celebrities than politicians.
Even more curious is the decision to present him his award in San Francisco, a place he only called home for six months in the late 1970s, and not in Los Angeles, where he spent many years as a resident and had a profound impact on that city's politics.
But in an e-mail GLAAD executives said that they see Mixner as "first and foremost a strong LGBT activist voice in the media, and without question San Francisco is a community rooted in activism on behalf of the LGBT community," therefore, they thought it made sense to recognize him in San Francisco.
GLAAD President Neil Giuliano also pointed out that Mixner has achieved artistic accomplishments along with his political achievements. In addition to penning his memoir, Mixner produced the documentary House on Fire about HIV in the African American community and co-wrote the 2001 book Brave Journeys: Profiles in Gay and Lesbian Courage.
"David Mixner has been a visible and vocal LGBT voice in the media longer than most, and has always kept pace with the changing media landscape," wrote Giuliano in an e-mail. "The success of davidmixner.com is a testament to his keen awareness of how messages in the media help change the culture."
The Bay Area Reporter spoke to Mixner by phone in a wide-ranging interview that touched upon everything from his thoughts on this year's presidential race, same-sex marriage, AIDS, and whom he thinks is America's most powerful gay citizen today.
Asked about receiving the award from GLAAD, Mixner joked, "I was very surprised. Then I thought about it and thought how entertaining I am and it made sense." He was quick to also add that he is "so flattered and so honored" to be acknowledged.
The single Mixner – he lost his partner of 12 years Peter Scott to AIDS on May 13, 1989 – left New York City in 2006 for the countryside in order to facilitate a professional renaissance. He needed the quiet locale in order to focus on his writing.
"I came up here to find the Henry David Thoreau side of myself and am finding more the Dr. Doolittle side of myself," said Mixner.
Over the years he has lost 292 friends to AIDS. He said he increasingly found the loneliness of city life oppressive and loves being in the middle of nowhere.
"You have to drive a mile down a dirt lane road to get to my house," he said. "I never do anything in moderation."
He isn't looking for a committed relationship but wouldn't oppose it should he find the right person. As for remaining HIV-negative all these years, Mixner said the key is to understand that "playing safe doesn't mean boring."
"Anyone who tells me they don't sleep with HIV-positive people I laugh my ass off," he said. "Either they don't ask people about their status or they are too drunk or on drugs to ask. Of course if you do play safe it doesn't matter."
In this year's presidential contest, Mixner started out backing former North Carolina Senator John Edwards and then moved to Illinois Senator Barack Obama's camp after Edwards dropped out. He insists his not supporting former first lady Hillary Clinton is not personal.
"I am a pacifist. I don't operate out of anger or revenge. It is the least effective path one can tread," he said. "Anyone who makes those charges, they clearly don't know me."
He favors Obama over Clinton due to her stance of wanting only partial repeal of the Defense on Marriage Act that her husband signed into law.
"He is for complete DOMA repeal and never supported DADT," said Mixner, who was emphatic that he has no desire to work in an Obama administration, despite being mentioned as a possible appointment.
"Absolutely not," said Mixner. "I am an organizer. I raise hell for things I believe in ... I am a better voice on the outside."
He said he has been disappointed with the national LGBT groups this political season.
"We are nonexistent as an issue. We have allowed the candidates, including Obama, to put the marriage amendment on the back burner. AIDS and HIV and the marriage equality issue are completely overlooked," he said. "No one is pressing them on marriage equality."
A vocal backer of allowing gays and lesbians to marry – though he doubts he would wed – Mixner said it is "total bullshit" for Democratic leaders such as California U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein to blame the party's past electoral losses on marriage equality.
"It is just nonsense. There is not a poll to support it," he said. "What was tragic was how quickly our community bought into it. 'Oh yes, we have to be careful this year because we cost them Ohio last time.' Maybe because John Kerry had four different positions on the war is why he lost Ohio?"
When asked to select today's most powerful gay American, Mixner laughed.
"I haven't even thought about it," he said before listing off a dozen people he feels are worthy of the honor, among them Ellen DeGeneres, David Geffen , Barney Frank, Jon Stryker, Tim Gill, and Hilary Rosen .
"I would probably not be picked today given the number of people we have today," said Mixner. "At the 1992 convention our big issue was if we could get Bill Clinton to say the word 'gay' in his acceptance speech. And he did; it was a huge deal. It's an entirely different world today."
In regards to the latest fight over same-sex marriage in California, Mixner said he is optimistic that the LGBT community will prevail should anti-gay groups place a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage on the November ballot.
"We should insist everyone we know should come out against it. It is not unthinkable that we might actually win," said Mixner.
During the last fight over such an initiative, when in 2000 the gay community was unsuccessful in defeating Proposition 22, which defined marriage as between a man and a woman but was inserted in the state code overseeing out of state marriages, some felt Mixner did not offer enough support to the No on Knight campaign, so called because the late state Senator Pete Knight authored the initiative.
In an interview last month, No on Knight campaign manager Mike Marshall told the B.A.R. that, "We had people like David Mixner against us."
Mixner said that he met with Marshall and offered him advice, but due to his not living in the state at the time, and personal matters in his own life, he could not be of more assistance.
"I just said on that race I couldn't do for it what I could do for other races. I had some personal journeys I had to deal with," said Mixner. "I wrote checks. I went to events. I met with people with the campaign. I couldn't have a personal role because of my needs at the time."
Mixner lived in Washington, D.C. at the time, and while he didn't see the campaign on a daily basis, based on what he did see he said it "appeared to be a good campaign. I had great faith in Mike Marshall."
Regarding the controversy over the Human Rights Campaign's decision last fall not to demand congressional leaders include gender protections in the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, Mixner joined in the chorus of LGBT leaders denouncing HRC's stance.
"I am for transgender inclusion strongly. I don't think we get equality by being intolerant towards others," said Mixner. "So I think an ENDA without trans inclusion is an empty victory."
Mixner, however, does not support a blanket boycott of the agency and said protesting HRC or declining to donate to the national lobbyist group is best left for individuals to decide.
"I don't believe you make a decision based on one issue," he said. "I am much more concerned about their lack of presence on the national scene this year."
While some in San Francisco's LGBT community have expressed their disappointment to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) over ENDA and have suggested they will vote for one of her opponents this year, Mixner said he sees no reason not to back Pelosi.
"I would certainly vote for Nancy. I think she has been really good on the war and good on most gay and lesbian issues," he said. "Do I think she is perfect? Hell, no. Might I get arrested in her office some day? Hell, yes!
"Right now though, I see no reason to replace her," added Mixner. "That is just my opinion. It doesn't mean that might change."
For Mixner, one of the saddest days of his life was November 27, 1978 – the day that former San Francisco Supervisor Dan White assassinated Harvey Milk along with then Mayor George Moscone in their City Hall offices.
"He was one of the funniest people I worked with in politics. He took great joy at needling people effectively," Mixner said of Milk. "Another time and place he would have been a U.S. senator."
The day of Milk's murder, Mixner's phone rang and the caller – to this day Mixner does not know who phoned him – simply said, "David, they killed Harvey, they killed Harvey" and then hung up.
"I knew who they meant immediately. I got hold of Peter Scott and turned on the radio," said Mixner. When he confirmed the news, Mixner said, "I sobbed."
"There was this empty void. You didn't know what it meant. You didn't know what went on. I had a sense of hopelessness," he said. "People asked, 'Are we ever going to be able to do this again?' We took such joy in his election. We took such a sense of delight and pride in Harvey's election and they killed it with a bullet. It goes right up there with 9/11 and the assassinations of John and Bobby Kennedy and MLK for gay people."
The new movie based on Milk's life directed by Gus Van Sant and starring Sean Penn in the lead role set for release this fall will be "critical," said Mixner.
"I don't care how bad or good it is as long as it tells the story," he added.
Last year when he donated his personal papers, including the journal he kept of all the friends lost to AIDS, to Yale University, Mixner recalled a freshman approached him and introduced himself as belonging to the gay student group on campus.
The student praised Mixner for his speech but wanted to ask a question. Who is Harvey Milk?
"Here was a freshman at Yale involved in the gay student association who didn't know Harvey Milk," said Mixner. "I realized one, how old I have gotten, and two, we are losing our history because many of our storytellers died of AIDS.
"Many of the people who would have passed on Harvey's story ... who would have been mentors or tribal elders of this next generation died. So there is a deep void out there of LGBT history," he added.
Mixner said he sees the Milk film and other efforts to preserve the LGBT community's contributions and milestones as providing a sense of pride not only to those who lived through it but to those just now coming out of the closet.
"When I came out I just thought I came out of nothing. I was this horrible person born of nothing. The fact of the matter is I came out of a great and noble struggle for human rights," said Mixner. "We can find in our history a nobleness. We can find self-esteem. We can realize we come out of a rich, wonderful heroic struggle. And that is important to know."
The 19th annual GLAAD Media Awards in San Francisco take place from 5 p.m. to midnight Saturday, May 10 at the Marriott San Francisco, 55 Fourth Street. Tickets cost $300 and can be purchased up to 8 p.m. tonight (Thursday, May 8) at http://www.glaad.org/events/ma_detail.php?event_id=133.