A Queer Agenda for Santa Cruz 

 A few words about the items that reference the Diversity Center 

Nor should anything I say be construed as a criticism of the Diversity Center or its leadership - Bob Correa and the Board of the Diversity Center have done an outstanding job getting the center to where it is today: truly the heart of our community, our space, and ours alone. Bob, the center's Executive Director, specifically has done an extraordinary job of obtaining the funding necessary to take the center and its services to the next level. It was a mistake on my part to use their name this way without checking with them first, and I publicly and personally apologize to Bob Correa and the Board of the Diversity Center for doing so.

The problems the center have faced in obtaining new space have nothing to do with their efforts, and everything, in my view, to do with a fundamental indifference on the part of the straight leadership of this community to this issue. I acknowledge the concern expressed by those officials who have signed a letter of reference on behalf of the Diversity Center, but I simply do not feel that this is enough.

To me, finding a permanent home in a quality location for the Diversity Center is the most critical and pressing issue of the moment... if I were on the City Council, I would be pounding the streets, night and day, ringing the phone of every developer and landlord in the downtown area, doing everything in my power to obtain the resources and co-operation necessary for the Center to find a permanent home.

I'm honestly not sure what most people in our community think about this issue, whether they are even aware that the Diversity Center has been seeking a long term home for quite a while. But, I, personally, have a reaction, and that comes from my gut... and it is to be very very angry and tremendously upset that this issue has hung out there for so long. It is to be angry and upset that the resources we contribute to the community in terms of taxes and service, have not come back to us in such a way as to enable us to obtain a better space for the Diversity Center. I don't blame the leadership of the Diversity Center in any way - I blame the sitting City Council, and the rest of the straight leadership that simply cannot take this issue personally.

For years, our Diversity Center was tucked away in an alley downtown - not a horrible alley, but an alley nonetheless, and to me that spoke symbolically and powerfully of our position in the community. Under new leadership, the Diversity Center was able to find new space. A space that was a vast improvement. Nevertheless, a less than perfect space - one with little parking, tucked away in the corner of a parking lot in a non-descript building several blocks off the City's main drag. When I visit the Center in the evening, as I regularly do for GLBT Alliance meetings and for Men's Support Group meetings, I still feel that we deserve better than a corner office in a dark parking lot. Again, I want to emphasize, this is in NO WAY a criticism of the leadership of the Diversity Center. This feeling has only been aggravated over the past year, as I observed the Center's struggle to find a new space. As a community activist, I feel compelled to speak out, and do everything in my power to find the single most important institution in our community a long term home.

If elected to City Council, I promise to do everything in my power to pro-actively work on this issue, and others facing the community. Thank you.

 A Queer Agenda for Santa Cruz 

• Equalization of domestic partner benefits - adjust compensation to account for the fact that domestic partner benefits are categorized as pre-tax income, in contrast to those received by married couples. This can amount to a difference of several thousand dollars in taxable income, and thus proportionately greater costs in taxes, especially for partners with children.
• Extension of domestic partner benefits to multiple partners in committed relationships - honor and respect all families.
• Inclusion of "gender identity and gender expression" in the non-discrimination clauses of all contracts signed with city unions, and encourage them to extend these same provisions to all contracts signed with other entities.
• Extension of medical benefits to cover on the job gender transition.
• Leadership from the City Council that will assisst the Diversity Center in obtaining a permanent home of a decent size in a reasonable location. To that end, I raise the following as possibilities to be explored by the community (they have not been endorsed by the Diversity Center):
• Co-sign a long term lease (7-10 years) to ensure long term stability, and avoid burdening board members with a long term liability for a short period of service.
• Provide 1:1 matching funds for rental of space over the first half of the lease, then 1:2 matching funds over the last half, up to a total of $1250.00 a month, to allow leasing of a reasonable sized space in an accessible and visible location downtown. No more alleys and dark corners for our Community Center!
• Work with the Diversity Center, Santa Cruz County and City of Watsonville to provide funding for, and establish a South County Diversity Center and engage in further outreach to the Latino community.
• Establish a Youth Commission with a mandate for diversity and to address discrimination against queer youth (among other).
• Convene a special hearing and have the Triangle Speakers do a presentation to the City Council.
• Raise the profile of the City Schools Working Group Santa Cruz and work more closely with the School District on issues affecting queer youth in the City.

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