This past weekend we celebrated the first official state Day of Recognition for an openly LGBT person in the history of our nation: Harvey Milk. It was a historic day and one we will be celebrating for decades to come. Harvey broke a glass ceiling when he was elected as the first openly LGBT person to public office in a major city. On June 8, California voters will go to the polls, and we have the opportunity to make history again by making California the first state in the nation where the number of LGBT individuals in the Legislature is equal to our proportion in the population. And California can also make history by becoming the first state to elect an openly transgender judge.
In the Bay Area, there are three openly gay candidates for the state Assembly, Rich Gordon in San Mateo and Santa Clara counties, Michael Wilson in Vallejo, Napa and Sonoma counties, and incumbent Tom Ammiano in San Francisco. Along with four openly LGBT candidates in southern California, they are the largest class to ever run for state office. If all are elected, then seven of the 80 members of the California Assembly will be openly LGBT. And later this month in a special election, former Assembly member John Laird will be running for the state Senate in Santa Clara County and the Central Coast. If he is elected, 10 percent of the state Senate (four of 40 seats) will be held by openly gay officials.
The addition of Equality California-endorsed candidates Gordon and Wilson to the state Assembly, as well as the re-election of Equality California-endorsed candidate Ammiano would more than double the number of Assembly members in the LGBT caucus, giving a stronger voice to the LGBT community in California. Ammiano is currently the Assembly member for the 13th District, running for re-election to his second term in office. During his first term, he has advocated for many issues important to the LGBT community including medical marijuana, protection for LGBT individuals in prison, urging the repeal of Proposition 8, and calling for the federal Food and Drug Administration to lift the ban on blood donations from gay and bisexual men. His proven commitment to the LGBT community makes him a clear choice for re-election.
Gordon, who is running for the Assembly in the 21st District, has been a vocal advocate for equality throughout his career. He has been a member of the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors for the past 12 years and was the second openly gay San Mateo County supervisor (Tom Nolan was the first). He strongly supports marriage equality, as does Wilson, currently a member of the Vallejo City Council who is running a strong race in a district that stretches from Vallejo to wine country. If both are elected, we would have two LGBT members of the Assembly who are married.
Equality California is also working hard to increase the number of LGBT judges as our community is extremely underrepresented in the judiciary. In San Francisco and Alameda counties, there are three Equality California-endorsed candidates running for the bench. In San Francisco, out lesbian Linda Colfax and out gay man Michael Nava are seeking to become judges, with Nava working to become the first openly Latino gay judge in the state. And in Alameda County, judicial candidate Victoria Kolakowski is running a strong campaign to become the first transgender elected judge in the nation. These candidates are pioneers of LGBT rights and will be role models for LGBT youth. As representatives of a very diverse community, these candidates have the opportunity to play an integral role in continuing to advance equality and acceptance throughout California.
Colfax and Nava are both running for seats on the San Francisco Superior Court, Colfax for Seat 6 and Nava for Seat 15. Each has had extensive experience in the legal arena. Nava has been an attorney for 28 years practicing both civil and criminal law and works for state Supreme Court Justice Carlos Moreno, who wrote the lone dissent in the case to overturn Prop 8 before the California Supreme Court. Colfax has spent 13 years as a public defender and vows to protect individual civil rights regardless of race, religion, gender and gender identity, or sexual orientation.
A win for Kolakowski, an attorney and administrative law judge, would be especially historic. Running for the Alameda County Superior Court, Kolakowski would not only be the first openly LGBT person elected judge in Alameda County, but also the first transgender trial court judge elected in the entire nation. Kolakowski believes that it is important to have LGBT representatives in all areas of government, fully reflecting the diversity of the community. No openly LGBT judges currently serve on the bench for Alameda County, and a minority of those serving are women. Members of the transgender community are frequent targets of cruel hate crimes, and Kolakowski vows to work against hate crimes, particularly for the transgender community. She would bring to the bench greater understanding of the issues that face the transgender community in particular, as well as the broader LGBT community.
We have a lot at stake this election season and we have the opportunity to make huge gains for the LGBT community and our movement for full equality here in California. But these candidates will only be elected if each of us does our part. So please make sure you vote on June 8. And if you can, please volunteer to help these candidates win. Equality California is phone banking and contacting voters on the ground to help these candidates. Contact mailto:[email protected] to volunteer. And please make sure to vote. This will be a low turnout election and every vote counts.
Geoff Kors is the executive director of Equality California.