(Editor’s Note: A while back, we mentioned the future launch of a new San Francisco Bay Times column authored by Oakland Vice Mayor Rebecca Kaplan. We are now delighted to begin that series. Vice Mayor Kaplan has been a friend and supporter for many years. She also lives and works in the East Bay, which has a huge LGBT population that includes more lesbians than any other part of the country. We often say that we are “bi-Bay” here at the paper, since we have offices on both sides of the Bay and our team includes staff and contributors from all over the region. Welcome, Vice Mayor Kaplan!)
As the City of Oakland’s first openly-lesbian elected official, I have seen and participated in important progress, as our sunny, diverse city has become more welcoming of our LGBT community, and as members of our community have stepped up in leadership in the world of business, non-profit, government and more.
Reflecting on the progress, and on what remains to be done, it becomes clear how important it can be to come out, step up, and speak out.
In 2000, when I first ran for office, many people I met at community organizations told me I was the first openly gay person they had ever met. Our community was struggling in the face of the well-funded anti-gay Proposition 22, and few in positions of leadership were out of the closet.
The year I was elected to the Oakland City Council At-Large seat, in 2008, Rachel Maddow got her TV anchor gig and many LGBT people from all walks of life were increasing public visibility.
In our years here at city hall, we have successfully fought for funding to serve LGBT youth, to support Pride and other pro-LGBT Oakland events, and we’ve seen and encouraged the growth of LGBT owned businesses, including the Bench and Bar, Feelmore 510, Show & Tell, the newly relocated Laurel bookstore in Frank Ogawa plaza, and more. In addition to this, we have also had conferences like Butch Voices in Oakland; a first butch clothier, founded in Oakland, Saint Harridan; and a fabulous new TV/online show, “Dyke Central,” filmed in Oakland. Organizations have started here, such as Brown Boi Project, while others have relocated to Oakland, like Good Vibrations’ offices.
In the year I first came out, 1986, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled, in Bowers v. Hardwick, that LGBT people are not equal under the law, and therefore are not entitled to the same privacy protections in our bedrooms that heterosexual people are entitled to. And now, we have gotten to experience a major transformation, with the Court overturning Proposition 8, and DOMA, and affirming marriage equality and the humanity of LGBT people.
It is worth celebrating our progress and supporting our local entrepreneurs, while also continuing the work that remains to be done. Our LGBT community, especially our youth, continue to suffer disproportionately from homelessness and bullying. As many LGBT people, including the transgender community, continue to struggle with employment discrimination and violence, we can harness the steps we have taken to continue to build a more respectful and inclusive community.
Rebecca Kaplan has a long history of working for fairness, justice and progress, and is the first out lesbian ever to hold elected office in Oakland. Elected in 2008 and re-elected in 2012 as councilmember at-large, she represents all of Oakland. Her colleagues elected her as Vice Mayor in 2015.
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