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SAN DIEGO — Wh a quarter of all openly gay or lbian lawmakers the state legislature and the potential to add three more November, San Diego has built a base for LGBTQ reprentatn by fillg lol seats and advancg ndidat to higher acplishments aren’t simply the natural outgrowth of a broar movement for LGBTQ rights. “San Diego’s LGBTQ muny toiled for s to create the circumstanc to allow many people to now serve openly public office, ” said San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria, whose 2020 electn ma him the first openly gay mayor of San Diego and one of a small handful nng big ci of San Diego County’s five supervisors is openly LGBTQ, Terra Lawson-Remer.

For nearly three s, San Diego Cy Council’s third district has been ntuoly reprented by a gay or lbian elected official, currently by Councilmember Stephen Whburn.

“San Diego has always been ahead of s time, ” said Carl DeMa, a San Diego cy uncilmember om 2008 until 2012, founr of the polil actn mtee Reform California, and one of several openly gay Republin policians the regn. Beg an out, gay polician San Diego certaly was somethg accepted and embraced by San Diego voters. ”In the 1970s and ‘80s, Democrats for Equaly — then lled the San Diego Democratic Club — assembled what they lled a “Gay Vote List, ” takg down nam at street fairs and ftivals and surg votg rerds for San Diegans who supported LGBTQ prri.

”Polil observers beyond the regn took heed of those early efforts; “San Diego Gay Communy Emerg as Powerful Polil Force, ” a Los Angel Tim headle clared they were able to w office, however, LGBTQ anizers worked to change the ground l, anizg for municipal district electns stead of at-large rac that favored well-fund, tradnal the cy of San Diego drew new uncil districts after the 1990 electn, anizers saw the chance to rve out a district reprentg LGBTQ swch to district electns also meant ndidat uld foc on velopg lol support stead of mpaigng ran for the San Diego Cy Council 1993, takg advantage of the new district system and the electn’s timg to mobilize supporters.

“And that sued me jt fe, bee the gay muny really felt a very strong urge and ditn to elect the first openly gay office-holr. “All the chiefs of police were men, and we met once a month — and there I was, the lone woman at the table, and they were all leery of me as well bee I was gay, ” Dumanis said that changed quickly once she proved her petence and character. When Kehoe first ran, she said the word “lbian” seemed to appear nearly every news story on her race, but she has noticed that recent years, the personal liv of LGBTQ lears have received ls attentn than their said his inty as a gay man wasn’t a cisive factor the mayoral race but a small number of crics still ed subtler homophobic slurs agast him.

”Those policy objectiv of the broar LGBTQ rights movement pot to iologil rifts between some of San Diego’s gay lears that mirror larger polil divis — pecially as the Republin party has creasgly phed to rtrict LGBTQ argu that as San Diego’s LGBTQ polil movement has gaed promence, has also lost polil diversy, beg more closely assigned wh the left, to the excln of nservativ such as himself.

“That transn meant that gay lears cid they were Democrat first and gay send, ” he said of LGBTQ polil anizg efforts. ”Nile Murray-Ramirez, an early anizer San Diego’s LGBTQ polil movement and a founr of the lol Log Cab Republins chapter, said beg a gay Republin San Diego opened accs to polil circl the 1970s and 80s when the cy was predomantly red. “Let’s face , the San Diego Police Department has a lot of buildg of tst to do wh the LGBTQ+ muny, ” said Charlie Brown, a Black, gay activist who anized a march last year after Gee Floyd was murred by Derek Chv, a Mneapolis police officer.