More than 400 elected, appointed and community leaders who are openly lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender (LGBT) are expected to attend the 25^th International Gay & Lesbian Leadership Conference in San Francisco this weekend, according to the Gay & Lesbian Leadership Institute (GLLI), which convenes the annual event.

The three-day conference will feature a keynote speech by Berlin, Germany Mayor Klaus Wowereit, who is openly gay, and panel appearances by openly LGBT political and policy leaders such as: U.S. Reps. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) and Jared Polis (D-Colo.) (pictured); Former U.S. Ambassador Michael Guest; Hawaii Board of Education member Kim Coco Iwamoto; Oregon Secretary of State Kate Brown; and Campbell, Calif. Mayor Evan Low.

Joyce Newstat, GLLI’s board chair and a San Francisco resident, said conference attendees can expect a warm welcome:  “Harvey Milk’s legacy is as powerful today as ever, and it was born on the streets of this beautiful city.  I am proud that we will get to host hundreds of people who heard his call to enter public service, to never hide and to tell the truth about who we are and why we deserve equality.”

Conference attendees and local officials will take part in a service event sponsored by Levi Strauss & Co. at Glide Memorial Church, 330 Ellis Street, at 11:00am-2pm, December 3.

The 25^th International Gay & Lesbian Leadership Conference will be held December 3 to 6 at the Parc 55 Hotel in downtown San Francisco.  Program information and registration is available at www.glli.org/conference.  Local residents can register for one daily pass at a rate of $99.

Photo:  Pam Spaulding

The Los Angeles Times looks at the runoff elections set for tomorrow in Atlanta, where two mayoral candidates are hoping to sway the city’s LGBT voters–many of whom may be energized to go to the polls and vote for two openly gay candidates running for city council and the state legislature.

Mayoral candidates Kasim Reed, a former state senator, and Mary Norwood, a city council member, are heavily targeting Atlanta’s LGBT voters, with each questioning each other’s commitment to the community.  Norwood supports full marriage equality for same-sex couples, while Reed says he supports civil unions.  Reed, who sponsored an LGBT-inclusive hate crimes measure in the state senate, accuses Norwood of missing a city council vote that would have extended certain benefits to same-sex couples.

Alex Wan (pictured) is in a runoff campaign to win a seat on the Atlanta City Council.  He would be the first openly gay man and the first Asian-American elected in the city.  Simone Bell could become the first openly lesbian African-American state legislator if she wins her runoff race for a seat in the Georgia House of Representatives.

The Associated Press examines the supposedly flagging fights for marriage equality in New York and New Jersey, interpreting them in the context of gay and Democratic defeats on November 3.  But are some legislators underestimating the cost of inaction on marriage equality bills?

The prevailing wisdom now, according to the AP, is that some Democrats are wary of supporting bills in what they see as a changing political climate:

But since the election, key Democrats have said they don’t intend to put the bill up for a vote unless they know it will pass. And so far, they say, that’s not assured. On Monday, when lawmakers met for the first time since the election, the issue was in legislative limbo — not scheduled but not declared dead either.

Len Deo, president of the conservative New Jersey Family Policy Council, said he believes some lawmakers who were undecided before the election would now vote against a gay marriage bill.

“Observing what happened in the general election, I think that took the wind out of the sails of the same-sex marriage movement,” he said.

A political scientist at Hunter College in New York provided an alternate assessment, saying that “It’s not as if politicians only have to fear an enraged group of people opposed to gay rights. Politicians also have to be concerned about angry supporters of gay rights.”

A group of RNC members have been circulating a list of ten core principles for 2010 Republican candidates.  Called the “Resolution on Reagan’s Unity Principle for Support of Candidates,” the guidelines dictate specific public policy positions candidates should take, such as standing “For retention of the Defense of Marriage Act.”

The LA Times blog reports:

“The goal of the resolution is to take a position … towards reclaiming the Republican Party’s conservative bona fides,” said Committeeman James Bopp, who authored the resolution. “We are open to diverse views. But you have to agree with us most of the time.”

Conservatives like former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin clashed with party officials last month by backing a conservative over the party’s nominee in 23rd Congressional District in New York. The effort to further purify the party ideologically could pose new problems for Chairman Michael Steele as he tries to recruit centrist Republicans to run in congressional districts that lean Democratic.

After meeting to discuss a marriage equality bill yesterday, New Jersey Democrats failed to schedule the measure for a vote in the Assembly.  Some Democrats worry they will be seen as “distracted by social issues,” in the Assembly’s lame duck session during tough economic times.  The New York Times reports:

Other Democrats worried that if they passed a same-sex-marriage bill while Mr. Corzine was on his way out of office, they might anger voters, energize Mr. Christie’s conservative base and alienate socially traditional Democrats.

With Mr. Christie scheduled to take office on Jan. 19, supporters of the proposal are under pressure to move quickly. Lawmakers and gay-rights advocates say they are confident they can get the measure through the General Assembly.

But Senate Democrats met to discuss the measure on Monday and — despite intense lobbying from a coalition of gay-rights advocates and other groups — did not schedule it for a vote, because they appeared unable to muster the 21 votes needed to pass it. A few Republicans have said they may support the bill, but several of the 23 Democrats have expressed reservations about it. Senator Loretta Weinberg, a sponsor of the bill, who spent the fall campaigning as Mr. Corzine’s running mate, said that despite her colleagues’ post-election apprehensions, she believed that lawmakers would make New Jersey the latest state to legalize gay marriage.

Reed Gusciora, the only openly gay member of the Assembly, accused his fellow members of “putting political expediency before public policy.”

Meanwhile the anti-gay group National Organization for Marriage has launched a $500,000 campaign to dissuade Assembly members from taking up marriage equality in the waning days of the Corzine administration.  The group is airing radio ads and sending mailers to voters urging them to call legislators.