We're working hard to make history this November by electing two openly transgender women to public office. When we succeed, Victoria Kolakowski will take her place as a superior court judge in Alameda County and Theresa Sparks will join the San Francisco Board of Supervisors representing District 6. These hardworking, qualified candidates are running dynamic campaigns, securing important endorsements, and building momentum to win on November 2.
Now is your chance to make sure this unique moment in history doesn't pass us by. Each of you has something to contribute to these campaigns: your support, your networks, your Facebook page, your money, your sweat, and/or your positive energy. As we move into late summer, Kolakowski and Sparks need you to make sure they can achieve these historic victories.
As transgender people, we each remember a time when a campaign by a transgender candidate (especially a transgender woman) was considered, at best, a long shot. If our community member's campaigns were noticed at all, they were usually mocked, trivialized, and dismissed as stunts. However, thanks to trailblazing campaigns by people like Denise D'Anne, Joan Roughgarden, and Gabriel Haaland, those conditions have changed in the Bay Area. This year, both Kolakowski and Sparks are rightfully viewed as serious, formidable candidates. It is now up to each of us to seize this moment and send a loud and clear message to the country: Transgender Candidates NEED Apply.
It is no coincidence that these two campaigns are being waged here by these remarkable public servants. Both Kolakowski and Sparks have spent countless hours over long years working with the community, local governments, and civic organizations to make sure that our region is one where homophobia, transphobia, and inequality cease to exist in our lifetimes.
In addition to helping to start Equality California, Kolakowski currently holds leadership positions in Marriage Equality USA and the Transgender Law Center. She has long been a strong voice for inclusion of LGBT people in faith communities, most recently through her work with the Interfaith Working Group and the California Council of Churches. She has been a lawyer since 1989 and, as an administrative law judge with the California Public Utilities Commission, is the only candidate in her race with judicial experience. In the June primary, she was the first-place vote getter winning over 45 percent of votes. She is now the favorite heading into the November 2 election.
Sparks has been a strong advocate for the entire LGBT community through her leadership of the Alice B. Toklas LGBT Democratic Club and her membership on the Horizons Foundation Board. She also knows how to get things done in city government. As a San Francisco Human Rights Commissioner, she (among other things) chaired the Task Force on Environmental Racism in Bayview Hunters Point and created a task force that successfully improved how LGBT people are treated in San Francisco's criminal justice system. She was then appointed to the city's Police Commission (including two years as president of the commission) where she increased SFPD transparency and accountability and led the process to hire current Police Chief George Gascón.
These descriptions include only a portion of each woman's accomplishments. You can find out more about Kolakowski and Sparks, including their goals as elected officials, at their campaign websites: http://www.kolakowskiforjudge.com and http://www.sparksfor6.com. While there, you can also sign up as volunteers for their campaigns. Joining us in volunteering for Kolakowski and Sparks is the single biggest thing you can do to help deliver these historic victories for our communities.
These are not statewide races where the electorate is counted in the millions. These are local races in which the votes of your families, neighbors, co-workers, and friends may make all the difference. Each volunteer's ability to deliver victory is profound when, as in past District 6 races, about 1,500 votes separated victory from defeat. It would be a tragedy if our community missed this opportunity to make history because 200 voters didn't get calls informing them about Kolakowski's outstanding judicial qualifications; or if 50 households didn't hear about Sparks's vision for San Francisco simply because their doors didn't get knocked on. Don't let this happen.
As a community, we often talk about what we want the world to be like. Between now and November 2, we have the opportunity to do more than talk. By joining us, you can help shape our region, and influence our nation, in significant and lasting ways.
Cecilia Chung is chair, San Francisco Human Rights Commission, where Sparks is currently executive director; JoAnne Keatley is director of the Center of Excellence for Transgender Health; Miss Major is executive director if the TGI Justice Project; Masen Davis is executive director of the Transgender Law Center; Shannon Minter is co-founder of the Transgender Law and Policy Institute; and Tita Aida is vice president of the San Francisco LGBT Pride Celebration Committee. (Titles and organizational names listed for identification purposes only.)
Theresa Sparks's campaign kick-off will be on Saturday, July 31 from 10 a.m. to noon at the Passion Cafe, 28 Sixth Street. Her campaign headquarters is located in the historic Warfield Building, located on 986 Market Street, San Francisco. Victoria Kolakowski will hold a fundraising event on Sunday, August 29 from 5 to 7 p.m. in San Francisco. More details are at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=297302035020&v=app_2344061033&ref=ts.