The Castro LGBTQ Cultural District will hold elections for five seats on its 15-member advisory board Saturday, October 15.
Seven candidates are running for the board: Alfredo Bracamontes-Ochoa, Diego Gomez, Andrew Gutierrez III, Braeden Mansouri, JConr B. Ortega, Adam-Michael Royston, and William Walker. Candidate information is available here and includes profiles for two individuals — Tobie, who uses one name, and Ian MacLachlan — who are no longer running.
Bracamontes-Ochoa is a Castro resident and AIDS/LifeCycle participant. Gomez is an artist and has worked at several Castro businesses. Gutierrez is a current advisory board member who would like to continue serving. Mansouri is a land use attorney and San Francisco resident who spends much of his time in the Castro. Ortega regularly attends events in the Castro and is a board member of the Leather & LGBTQ Cultural District. Royston moved to San Francisco in 2016 and said that he has extensive fundraising experience. Walker is a candidate for the City College Board of Trustees and formerly served on the San Francisco Pride board.
Advisory board members work, and have worked, on a wide variety of projects, including securing city funds, coordinating with LGBTQ groups and other cultural districts throughout San Francisco, hiring a district director, planning for COVID-19 community-support response, and more, according to a news release from the district.
Voting is open to all interested members of the community who reside in the nine counties of the Bay Area, and voters will be asked to share their address or identification as proof of residency. Voting will take place in an election meeting on Zoom, which will run from noon to 2 p.m., or in person at the district's COVID Testing Hub in the parking lot behind Walgreens at 18th and Castro streets.
The district noted that women "have been seriously underrepresented" among the candidates in all three previous advisory board elections — one in 2019 and two in 2020 — and up to four seats will remain available to be filled by the board on an individual basis to balance the group's diversity and skill sets.
To participate in voting on Zoom, voters should register in advance. Voting will begin at 1 p.m. both online and in person at the Hub. Online voting will close at 2 p.m.; in-person voting will close at 3 p.m. To register and vote in person, visit the Castro LGBTQ Cultural District Hub on 18th Street in Walgreens parking lot.
For more information, visit the cultural district's website.
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