San
Francisco may be the only place in the world where candidates fight over who
has the most gay rights cred. The City by the Bay is so progressive that an
openly gay candidate for mayor -- an ultra-left Democrat who recently served in
Harvey Milk's seat on the Board of Supervisors -- was passed over for
endorsement by the city's LGBT Democratic organization.
Bevan Dufty isn't letting the snub from the Alice B. Toklas Democratic Club get
him down, though. (The club went with city attorney Dennis Herrera). It helps
that the Victory Fund is throwing its weight behind him, and that he's been
endorsed by Stuart Milk, the openly gay nephew of Harvey Milk. But with less
than two weeks before San Francisco voters go to the polls, Dufty is working to
shore up the city's LGBT base, estimated to be 20% of San Francisco's
electorate.
"No community is a monolith. There are four Chinese-American candidates, two
Latinos, two women. There's a lot of competition out there," Dufty tells The
Advocate,
downplaying the need to get every queer vote in San Francisco. Still, he adds
that he's been endorsed by gay performer Jose Sarria, who made a historic run
for board of supervisor 50 years ago.
The New York-native is seen as a
straight-talker, but maybe too straight. The San Francisco Chronicle poked fun at him when he
suggested Muni operators receive something akin to life coaches. Dufty laughs
about the wording of his suggestion but says he does intend to work with the
transit system to cut down absenteeism by operators, which often makes buses
and trains late. Dufty's decision to air a television commercial featuring his
daughter riding the oft-maligned Muni light-rail system sparked global
headlines.
"I want to be a mayor who channels human capital of people who work for the
city and allow them to step into their greatness," he says. "With Muni, one out
of every eight shifts, a driver fails to show up."
Dufty
wants to encourage Muni employees who live outside the city -- people more prone
to not come to work when the weather is inclement -- to move to San Francisco
with below-market home-buying opportunities. By offering services like
childcare and credit counseling, it will "motivate people to see their work as
more than just eight-hour shifts."
Reversing the African-American exodus from San Francisco (only 6% of the city
is black), providing more HIV services, and battling homelessness, constitute
the crux of Dufty's mayoral mission.
The November 8 election is rank-choice, meaning voters will rate three
candidates in order of preference -- a 50% majority is needed to win, meaning
it's unlikely that one of the 16 aspiring politicians will avoid a run-off
election (included in that 16 is Terry Baum, a lesbian Green Party candidate).
But Dufty needs to do well in the November election to appear viable later in
the game. His main competitors are Herrera and former supervisor and current
interim mayor Ed Lee -- who took the job after Newsom became California
lieutenant governor in January.
Even though Herrera has plenty of LGBT support as evident by the endorsement, a
minor scandal could turn out to be a major problem. Back in 2004, Newsom defied
state and federal law by marrying same-sex couples at City Hall. Back then,
Newsom was blamed by many for inciting national animus toward marriage
equality, but now he's seen as a hero for his actions, especially in San
Francisco. But with days before the 2011 mayoral election, anonymous sources
who served in Newsom's inner circle during those heady days in 2004 tell the Chronicle that Herrera urged
against the marriages.
"Was Dennis Herrera more vocal in his opposition? Yes, he was," that source
told the newspaper. "He went out of his way to argue against the move."
Herrera says the accusations are lies and last-minute "swift-boat"-type attacks
from one of his opponents. Herrera is probably more gay-friendly than mayoral
candidates in any other city, but this accusation -- whether true or not -- could
hurt him with LGBT voters.
Lee, seen as both gay-friendly and the front-runner by many, was recently booed
at an HIV forum when he didn't show up (he was at an AIDS panel across the
street).
"I think it's a difficult election to handicap from a horse race perspective,"
Dufty says. "In 2010, we had a front-runner lose the mayoral election.
What you want in a candidate are a base and breadth."
Whether Dufty has enough to be San Francisco's first openly gay mayor will soon
be known.
