Bevan Dufty Fighting to Finish Milk's Mission

San Francisco may be the only place in the world where candidates fight over who has the most gay rights cred. The City by the Bay is so progressive that an openly gay candidate for mayor -- an ultra-left Democrat who recently served in Harvey Milk's seat on the Board of Supervisors -- was passed over for endorsement by the city's LGBT Democratic organization.

Bevan Dufty isn't letting the snub from the Alice B. Toklas Democratic Club get him down, though. (The club went with city attorney Dennis Herrera). It helps that the Victory Fund is throwing its weight behind him, and that he's been endorsed by Stuart Milk, the openly gay nephew of Harvey Milk. But with less than two weeks before San Francisco voters go to the polls, Dufty is working to shore up the city's LGBT base, estimated to be 20% of San Francisco's electorate.

"No community is a monolith. There are four Chinese-American candidates, two Latinos, two women. There's a lot of competition out there," Dufty tells The Advocate, downplaying the need to get every queer vote in San Francisco. Still, he adds that he's been endorsed by gay performer Jose Sarria, who made a historic run for board of supervisor 50 years ago.

The New York-native is seen as a straight-talker, but maybe too straight. The San Francisco Chronicle poked fun at him when he suggested Muni operators receive something akin to life coaches. Dufty laughs about the wording of his suggestion but says he does intend to work with the transit system to cut down absenteeism by operators, which often makes buses and trains late. Dufty's decision to air a television commercial featuring his daughter riding the oft-maligned Muni light-rail system sparked global headlines.

"I want to be a mayor who channels human capital of people who work for the city and allow them to step into their greatness," he says. "With Muni, one out of every eight shifts, a driver fails to show up."

Dufty wants to encourage Muni employees who live outside the city -- people more prone to not come to work when the weather is inclement -- to move to San Francisco with below-market home-buying opportunities. By offering services like childcare and credit counseling, it will "motivate people to see their work as more than just eight-hour shifts."

Reversing the African-American exodus from San Francisco (only 6% of the city is black), providing more HIV services, and battling homelessness, constitute the crux of Dufty's mayoral mission.

The November 8 election is rank-choice, meaning voters will rate three candidates in order of preference -- a 50% majority is needed to win, meaning it's unlikely that one of the 16 aspiring politicians will avoid a run-off election (included in that 16 is Terry Baum, a lesbian Green Party candidate). But Dufty needs to do well in the November election to appear viable later in the game. His main competitors are Herrera and former supervisor and current interim mayor Ed Lee -- who took the job after Newsom became California lieutenant governor in January.

Even though Herrera has plenty of LGBT support as evident by the endorsement, a minor scandal could turn out to be a major problem. Back in 2004, Newsom defied state and federal law by marrying same-sex couples at City Hall. Back then, Newsom was blamed by many for inciting national animus toward marriage equality, but now he's seen as a hero for his actions, especially in San Francisco. But with days before the 2011 mayoral election, anonymous sources who served in Newsom's inner circle during those heady days in 2004 tell the Chronicle that Herrera urged against the marriages.

"Was Dennis Herrera more vocal in his opposition? Yes, he was," that source told the newspaper. "He went out of his way to argue against the move."

Herrera says the accusations are lies and last-minute "swift-boat"-type attacks from one of his opponents. Herrera is probably more gay-friendly than mayoral candidates in any other city, but this accusation -- whether true or not -- could hurt him with LGBT voters.

Lee, seen as both gay-friendly and the front-runner by many, was recently booed at an HIV forum when he didn't show up (he was at an AIDS panel across the street).

"I think it's a difficult election to handicap from a horse race perspective," Dufty says. "In 2010, we had a front-runner lose the mayoral election. What you want in a candidate are a base and breadth."

Whether Dufty has enough to be San Francisco's first openly gay mayor will soon be known.