California Assembly Picks First Openly Gay Speaker, John Perez
John Perez has been elected the first openly gay speaker of the California Assembly:
"Members emerged from a closed-door caucus at the historic Stanford Mansion to announce that Democrats had chosen Perez, of Los Angeles, on an unanimous vote. A public vote on the Assembly floor is expected in January. Perez walked arm-in-arm from the caucus meeting with current Assembly Speaker Karen Bass and Kevin de Leon, a Los Angeles Democrat who had fought fiercely for the job but ultimately bowed out and formally nominated Perez before today's voice vote. Perez said it was an 'incredibly moving experience to have the unanimous support of my colleagues.'"
Perez is the cousin of L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.
Aren't there any gay politicians who are Chelsea-boy hot & hunky? Why is it that the trolls of gay America are the ones engaged in political power lifting?
Posted by: hadassah weinreb | Dec 10, 2009 6:07:30 PM
CA doesn't need a gay speaker so much as it needs a sane assembly. We can celebrate when the state gets out of hock to the Chinese.
Posted by: anon | Dec 10, 2009 6:59:38 PM
This is a terrific success for California, Speaker Perez and for our community.
And as for Hadassah's comment....well, perhaps he'd find more satisfaction at another blog posting or internet site where the subjects' physical attributes meet his criteria of "hot and hunky." As for me, any gay man who can work hard and make it to a position like this is HOT in my book.
Posted by: Tom | Dec 10, 2009 7:04:11 PM
Because it takes an attention span longer than a lady gaga lyric for politics, weinreb. And these flabby frumps are downright hunkadunks compared to the gays in academe.
Posted by: TANK | Dec 10, 2009 7:12:30 PM
Did I say flabby? Interesting euphemism.
Posted by: TANK | Dec 10, 2009 7:15:21 PM
My thing is that we're reporting this as if his being gay had something to do with his being chosen, at least to my perception. I'm not sure that his being gay factored in to the decision to vote for him (though there may have been some votes that would have been more likely cast against him because of it). So, significant, yes, but I think that the discussion of "why" it's significant takes away from his selection. Call me crazy, I guess.
Posted by: Jerry | Dec 10, 2009 9:50:31 PM
Bravo, John! I'm so happy with this bit of progress. More gay people need to run for office (and also be entrenpeneurs).
Posted by: Bill | Dec 10, 2009 10:28:52 PM
There is really no real cause for celebration here. Perez has done little for the gay community. His constituency covers an area rampant with illegal aliens and gangs. His main support comes from the corrupt unions and drug cartels.
Posted by: DJ | Dec 11, 2009 11:25:35 AM
Considering Art Torres was the Chair of the California Democratic Party from 1995-2009 and was a closted gay man all those years and just came out in 2009 the Democratic Party in California has been run by a CLOSTED gay latino man for the last 15 years so this is no surprise to me.
Posted by: SFshawn | Dec 11, 2009 12:10:16 PM