People, Opinions & Politics: Eric McCormack honored & Arizona shamed
Eric McCormack of “Will & Grace” Honored in San Diego
Popular TV star Eric McCormack who played Will on Will & Grace was honored this past Saturday evening by Equality California with their prestigious Equality Ally Award at the Culy Warehouse Gallery in San Diego’s Gaslamp district.
Over 350 San Diegans attended the annual Equality Awards San Diego dinner, including Congresswoman Susan Davis, CA State Senator Christine Kehoe, former San Diego Deputy Mayor Toni Atkins, Councilman Todd Gloria and. San Diego Port Commission Chair Robert Gleason. CA State Assemblymember Mary Salas was presented the Equality Advocate Award. Sponsors of the San Diego awards dinner included AT&T, Sempra Energy and Blue Angel Vodka. Speakers for the evening included EQCA’s Executive Director Jeff Korrs among others.
The speeches by Korrs, McCormack and Salas were very moving and, at times, personal about their own families and GLBT equality. I was honored to be welcomed to the stage and introduced as a past state president of Equality California.
San Diego GLBT Activists Join Anti-Arizona Campaign
Many of San Diego’s GLBT activists have become involved in and attended the numerous anti-Arizona immigration rallies and marches. Among them are City Commissioner Bruce Abrams, Navy veterans Joseph Rocha and Ben Gomez, City Commissioner Larry Baza, San Diego Pride’s Andrea Villa, The Center’s Director of Programs and Public Affairs Carlos Marquez, City Commissioner Carolina Ramos and many others.
Personally I have attended three anti-Arizona rallies in San Diego and have called upon GLBT leaders and organizations to join the Boycott Arizona campaign. In just one week, more than 19 groups have canceled conventions in Arizona. The cities of Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington DC are already discussing taking a stand in support of the boycott and, this week, San Diego City Council will take on the Boycott Arizona issue.
Many San Diego Padres baseball players have also spoke out against the new Arizona law. The National Gay & Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF) has also taken a strong stand against the law. S.A.M.E. of San Diego has become involved with almost every local rally and has a large contingent in the May Day march from Barrio Logan to the Federal Building downtown. Activist Jose Medina has become a very visible leader in helping organize the recent San Diego protests and demonstrations.
Harvey Milk Breakfast Near Sell Out!
With only three weeks until the 2nd Annual Milk Diversity Breakfast in San Diego, more than 900 tickets have already been sold and the few remaining tickets left will soon make it another sell-out event, just like last year. This year will be the first official Harvey Milk Day state holiday after Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed Senator Mark Leno’s bill in 2009. San Diego was the first city in the state to hold a breakfast in honor of the slain LGBT rights activist and San Francisco City Supervisor and now San Francisco will hold its first Diversity Breakfast. I am honored to have been asked to be one of the keynote speakers.
Special guests at the San Diego event will be Lt. Dan Choi, Stuart Milk (Harvey’s openly gay nephew,) and Bishop Christopher Senyonjo of Uganda. For tickets and more information, please call (619) 692-2077 x204 or log on to The Center’s website.
