[ad_1]
Encarnacion He is the Chief of Staff to the Superintendent/Chancellor of the Southwestern Community College District and a board member of the San Diego LGBT Community Center. She lives in Chula Vista.
I will never forget that night in 2004. Standing alone on the floor of the Chula Vista City Council, Steve his Padilla mayor at the time said for hours that individuals would attack him and his character, accusing him and “people like him” of all sorts of attacks. I was also listening. evil monster. Padilla had just come out as gay. He was the first openly gay mayor in San Diego County and one of only a handful of mayors in the nation.
As his voter/community service manager, I remember hundreds of calls a day that lasted months to denounce his immoral leadership. But there is no doubt that this sentiment played an important role. I say this because I vividly remember volunteering for his campaign with her husband and her five-year-old and meeting behind closed doors with people screaming out the window. [expletive]”
Today, he is a newly elected senator in California and one of only two openly gay senators in San Diego County. A few years ago, San Diego’s LGBT Community Center opened its first youth center in Chula Vista. We have aggressive, openly gay owned businesses all over the city. We have a Human Relations Committee whose members (all residents) work tirelessly to ensure that all LGBTQ+ residents are safe and feel they belong. is hosting his second largest pride festival in San Diego County. We have a vibrant LGBTQ+ employee group and a community college with a learning community for LGBTQ+ students. Hosted a drag queen storytime at a public library attended by hundreds of families.
Chula Vista is a more welcoming and inclusive city than it was 20 years ago, and our country is experiencing its ‘new day’ moment today.
President Joe Biden, who signed the Respect Marriage Act in December, codified a bipartisan bill that fully protects marriage equality. Does this mean the fight for LGBTQ+ equality, justice and belonging is over? Absolutely not.
Instead, it embodies Martin Luther King Jr.’s words, “The moral universe’s arc is long, but it bends toward justice.” As we celebrate the issue that binds people together—love—let us be encouraged that by working together, we can achieve things that were previously thought impossible.
Love wins when we lead with love.
[ad_2]
Source link
