From Chuck Wolfe, president and CEO of they Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund:

I remember the first time I saw Harvey Milk on TV. There he was, the supervisor of a big city like San Francisco, and one of the first openly gay elected officials in the world. It’s hard to believe thirty years have passed since he was murdered in San Francisco City Hall.

Harvey changed everything for me. And I know I’m not the only one — an entire generation has grown up with greater possibility because of his sacrifice.

So that’s why I can’t believe California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed a proposal to recognize Harvey Milk’s legacy — a small gesture that’s really the least we could offer a martyred civil rights hero. His explanation?

“I believe his contributions should continue to be recognized at the local level by those who were most impacted by his contributions.”

Seriously?! A local hero? Governor, I beg to differ. I felt the shockwave of Harvey’s groundbreaking election and devastating murder as far away as West Palm Beach, Florida. His impact extended well beyond San Francisco — and California. And it dishonors his memory to suggest otherwise.

We can’t allow Harvey’s story to be limited to a single time and place. He inspired and empowered Americans in every corner of the country. Let’s show Gov. Schwarzenegger — and anyone who agrees with him – that Milk matters in your city, and in all 50 states.

Recently, I e-mailed our supporters to ask them to put their names on this map, along with a message saying why Harvey Milk mattered to them in their city. The response was overwhelming, with messages coming in from all over the country and internationally as well.

I invite you to put your city on the map as a testament to Harvey’s work and his spirit. The victories of so many LGBT candidates this year couldn’t have happened without Harvey’s groundbreaking civil rights leadership three decades ago.

Harvey knew that he was risking his life to represent his openly at a time when homosexuality was a felony in San Francisco, but he didn’t let that stop him. Instead, he made a bold declaration: “If a bullet should enter my brain, let that bullet destroy every closet door.”

It’s ludicrous to suggest that Harvey’s sacrifice doesn’t merit wide recognition. This is one small way you can honor Milk’s legacy — add your hometown to the map for Harvey, and ask your friends to do the same.

Thank you for helping to preserve an international hero’s legacy.

The town of Silverton, Oregon came to the defense of transgender Mayor-elect Stu Rasmussen after members of the notoriously anti-gay Westboro Baptist Church came to the town to protest his election.

The Oregonian reports:

The counterprotesters outside City Hall in this Marion County town Monday significantly outnumbered the protesters who inspired them: three young women and a man from a Kansas church, here to register their disdain for the recent election of the nation’s first openly transgender mayor, Stu Rasmussen.

The quartet spread out along one side of North Water Street, feet planted on American flags spread on the sidewalk and hoisted large laminated posterboards on each arm. Double-sided and easy to read from passing vehicles and local television trucks positioned half a block away, the signs offered assorted damnation — “Barack Obama = Antichrist,” “God Hates You,” “You’re Going to Hell” and “Fag Media Shame.”

The church group began a whirlwind of demonstrations Monday, starting at Portland State University before hitting the Swedish and German consulates and then driving south. So Silverton, where voters expressed their preference for the breast-augmented Rasmussen over incumbent mayor Ken Hector 52 to 39 percent, wasn’t surprised when the tiny group of protesters showed up and unpacked their posters.

The counterprotesters were waiting across the two-lane street — men in skirts and boots, moms with babes in arm, lifelong Silverton residents alongside kids playing hooky from Salem schools. The crowd of about 150 waved and drummed and hugged. Their signs, homemade, hurriedly produced on office laser printers and painted on the back of campaign yard signs, focused on the positive.

“My love is bigger than your hate,” read one. “We love Stu (and so does God).” “Everyone is welcome in Silverton.”

See coverage of Silverton’s support of Rasmussen below.

The Tampa Bay Tribune featured a profile on newly sworn-in Hillsborough County Commissioner Kevin Beckner. The article, published yesterday, discusses both Beckner’s personal coming out story and the way he ran his successful campaign.

The paper writes:

A 37-year-old Democrat, Beckner beat Republican incumbent Brian Blair for the countywide seat by more than 40,000 votes. It was a stunning victory, the first over an incumbent commissioner in more than a decade. It was all the more remarkable because Beckner became the first openly gay commissioner.

Some local observers said Beckner ran a tougher, smarter campaign than Blair, employing 400 volunteers and raising nearly $200,000 for signs and direct-mail advertising.

…

People close to Beckner credited his ability to connect with voters on a personal level.

“He made himself available to the public, and I think people were hungry for that accessibility,” said Mark Nash, Beckner’s campaign field director.

Ginnie Carlson, one of Beckner’s earliest campaign workers, said she was impressed on first meeting him, but expected that initial aura to fade with familiarity.

“Every cause and every hero has feet of clay, but he kept impressing me more and more,” Carlson said. “He always did a lot of research, and he did listen to what other people were saying and cared what their viewpoints were.”

Just Out magazine selected Victory endorsee Sam Adams as its Outstanding Person of the Year, citing historic election as mayor of Portland, Oregon. Adams won the post outright in May by collecting more than 50 percent of the vote in the primary.

The magazine writes:

Adams will also face heightened scrutiny from the sexual minorities community. It would be easy to elevate Adams to queer martyrdom before he even takes office in January. That would be a mistake. Yes, we’re grinning with pride about Adams’ election to office and his banner year as a city commissioner, but we also hope Portland queers continue to challenge, question and debate with him once he’s in the driver’s seat. If there’s one character flaw that might prove fatal to Adams as mayor, it’s his sprawling ambition. Adams never met an idea he didn’t like, and he needs the queer community to help him stay on track.

As mayor of Portland, what will his priorities be? Adams rattles off “reducing [the] high school dropout rate, reducing over 30% of Portlanders who are unemployed or on a poverty wage, and bringing Portland to a new level of sustainable practices” as some of his top places to press forward. Adams is also taking the unusual step of retaining his arts commissioner role as mayor; creative people across the city should be dancing in the streets about this. Adams has already embarked on an ambitious Creative Capacity Initiative that seeks to identify and open new funding streams for folks in the creative sector, from musicians to marketing executives. He plans to unveil the next stage of this initiative in January.

And about that whole gay thing – Adams has not only been open about his sexual orientation for the better part of a decade, he’s worked in smart and innovative ways to advance causes important to the queer community. He led the founding of Portland’s facility for the sexual minorities community, The Q Center, and he helped pass an ordinance prohibiting the city from contracting with anti-gay companies. And his mayoral staff, so far anyway, is stuffed with fabulous openly gay people like Shoshanah Oppenheim, Cevero Gonzales and Wade Nkrumah.

This month Adams attended the red carpet world premiere of Portland filmmaker Gus van Sant’s bio-pic about the life of Harvey Milk. Adams openly acknowledges the “great debt” he owes to Milk’s work, which helped “pave the way for viable gay candidates to elected office.” And at the November 15 Portland rally to protest the passage of California’s Proposition 8, Adams himself raised the spectre of Milk’s extraordinary legacy when he grabbed a bullhorn, took the stage to roaring crowds, and updated a signature Milk rallying cry for his own purposes:

“My name is Sam Adams!” he bellowed to wild applause. “And I’m here to recruit you!”

Out California Assemblyman John Laird will chair a special session budget committee that will address the state’s worsening fiscal crisis. Laird, who is approaching the end of his final term in the Assembly, must deal with a state deficit estimated at $13 billion for the fiscal year 2009-2010.

The Valley Post reports:

Laird and his fellow lawmakers only have until Nov. 30, when the session officially ends and Laird is termed out of office. Bill Monning won the 27th District seat to succeed Laird.

“The Legislature faces a monumental task in closing the projected $28 billion budget shortfall. The administration has put forth a credible plan that can serve as a starting point for deliberations. If the Legislature has any hope of developing a fiscally responsible 2009–10 budget, it must begin laying the groundwork now,” the Analyst’s Office wrote.

Like last year, the state’s analyst and the governor want to cut programs and raise taxes in the current fiscal year that ends on June 30. This way, next year’s budget will not be as difficult to balance.