Queer Democrats Host Love-Fest for Endorsed Candidates (tags)
The predominantly Queer San Diego Democrats for Equality turned their June 28 meeting into a love-fest for their candidates who survived the June 5 primary and moved on to the November 6 general election. In the first test of their new policy against endorsing or rating candidates who aren't 100 percent for marriage equality or reproductive choice, they also refused to consider an endorsement or a rating for socially conservative Democrat Juan Vargas for Congress in the 51st District.
Queer Democrats Endorse Teachers’ Union Leaders for School Boards (tags)
The predominantly Queer San Diego Democrats for Equality have become virtually an appendage of the local labor movements in making their 2012 election endorsements. In January they rejected progressive Congressional candidate Lori Saldaña and endorsed her moderate Democratic opponent, Scott Peters, largely on labor's say-so. In February they rated anti-marriage Catholic Juan Vargas and marriage equality defender Denise Moreno Ducheny equally "acceptable" for another Congressional seat. And in March they picked teachers' union leaders for their school board endorsements.
Queer Democrats Oppose Initiative to Add Non-Elected Members to School Board (tags)
Two multimillionaires, Qualcomm founder Irwin Jacobs and hedge-fund CEO Rod Dammeyer, are sponsoring an initiative called “San Diegans 4 Great Schools” to add four non-elected members to the board of the San Diego Unified School District. The predominantly Queer San Diego Democratic Club debated this initiative March 24 and passed a motion urging voters not to sign to put it on the ballot. Among their concerns were the potential dilution of voter input on the school board, the presence of the president of Roman Catholic Church-owned University of San Diego on the panel of nine people making the appointments, and the ways paid signature gatherers routinely lie about what initiatives will do in order to get people to sign them. The club heard from Scott Himmelmeyer, USD employee and spokesperson for the initiative, as well as current school board president Richard Barrera speaking for and against it, respectively.
Gioffre & Rader: Real-Life Gay Couple Do Video Together (tags)
Though the passage of Proposition 8 in November 2008 put a damper on their original business plan to market themselves as specialist in wedding videos for Gay and Lesbian couples, videographers and real-life husband and husband Gary Rader and Anthony Gioffre are going ahead with their company, Golden Lodestar Productions, and even marketing themselves as specialists in commitment ceremonies. They also do other kinds of video production and are frequently seen with their gear at local pro-Queer demonstrations and other political events they’re documenting for historical purposes.
Demonstration in front of San Diego School Board (tags)
Please join us in demonstrating our "Loss of Confidence" in the San Diego Unified School District Administration. The board's pattern of poor decision-making is costly and jeopardizing our children's education and safety. Do we really want education blackouts as well?