Character Research: Toni Atkins

In 2000, after serving as council representative and policy analyst to Councilmember Christine Kehoe, Toni Atkins was elected to the city council when Kehoe was elected to the state legislature. Atkins was reelected in March 2004. In 2005, after Mayor Dick Murphy resigned, Toni Atkins was chosen to be deputy mayor until the next election, becoming the first lesbian mayor of San Diego. She served until 2008 when Jerry Sanders was elected. Atkins is running for California State Assembly in 2010 for the 76th district in San Diego.

Toni Atkins Speaks for Marriage Equality on the Eve of Justice.


An awkward argument between Toni Atkins and Mike Aguirre.

Elaine Noble: A Pioneer in Public Service

Although Harvey Milk was the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in the United States he was not the first openly gay person to be elected.

In 1974, Elaine Noble ran for a seat in the Massachusetts House of Representatives for the Fenway and Back Bay neighborhood district of Boston. She won with 59 percent of the vote, becoming the first openly gay person elected to public office. In 1976, she was reelected with 90 percent of the vote.

To read a more detailed biography of Elaine Noble, visit the online GLBTQ encyclopedia.

To read two short interviews with Elaine Noble detailing her successes in the House as well as the difficulties she faced, including harrassment and threats, visit MetroWeekly and OUThistory.org

Character Research: John Laird

John Laird served as one of the only openly gay mayors in the country from 1983-1984 and then again from 1987-1988 in Santa Cruz. He then became one of the two first gay men (along with Mark Leno) on the California State Legislature when he served as a Assemblyman for District 27 from 2002-2008.

In the following video (after a brief bio) Laird gives a speech in tribute to parents at the Queer Youth Leadership Awards.


Laird speaks at Love and Marriage Rally in Sacramento on February 16, 2009.

The Lambda Archives: Preserving LGBT History

The Lambda Archives (formerly the Lesbian and Gay Archives) of San Diego was created in 1987 with the goal of collecting, preserving, and teaching the history of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people in the San Diego and Northern Baja California region.

LASD contains:

• Records and personal papers of local LGBT activists, organizations and political campaigns
• Virtually all San Diego and Tijuana (and some significant regional or national) LGBT periodicals, most of which are not available elsewhere
  
• Newsletters for more than 40 local LGBT organizations
• Video and tape interviews, LGBT music, educational films, and footage of numerous Pride parades.
• Ephemera such as flyers, announcements, bumper stickers, buttons, calendars, catalogues, flyers, posters, and t-shirts,
  
• Thousands of photographs and slides
  
• Digital materials and records
  
• Over 2000 books (which members can check out)

Visit The Lambda Archives website to view timelines of LGBT History, useful websites, the LASD biannual newsletter, and information on hours, materials, membership, and volunteering.

Milk: A Pictorial History of Harvey Milk

by Dustin Lance Black (Introduction),
Armistead Maupin (Foreword)
New Market Press, New York, 2009.

This new book (published just this year) is an excellent resource that can be consumed in one sitting. While The Mayor of Castro Street provides hundreds of pages of details on Harvey Milk and the gay movement, Milk: A Pictorial History of Harvey Milk provides brief summaries, short quotations, and a wealth of large, detailed photographs.

Part I, "The History," gives a short overview of Harvey Milk's early life before moving on to cover his campaigns for supervisor, the fight against Prop 6, and life on Castro street in the 1970s.

Part II, "The Movie," discusses the making of the film, Milk. Original photographs side by side with film stills show the historical accuracy (at least visually) of the film. Interviews with the screenwriter, set dresser, costume designer, and others illuminates the dedication of everyone involved in the film. You'll want to rewatch the film after reading this book.

At the time of this post, this book is not available through the San Diego public libraries or the SDSU library. It is available, however, through the Circuit. The book is sold online at Amazon.com, Barnesandnoble.com, Half.com, and Ebay.com.