Garcia: Gay Politics' Rising Star
By Lyn Jensen
Robert Garcia, a rising star of gay politics — and more — is nearing the end of his first year on the Long Beach city council, and his accomplishments include sponsoring an Equal Benefits Ordinance. He’s now focusing on being re-elected to his first full term on the council during the April 13 election.
Garcia’s council career began when he beat out six candidates to fill the Bonnie Lowenthal’s vacant 1st District seat in a special election in April 2009, following Lowenthal’s election to the State Assembly.
“I was someone who was coming into politics new,” Garcia said. “I’d never been elected to office before, obviously young. I think those things were appealing. I think that I was someone with a new fresh perspective.”
Garcia said being openly gay was not an issue during the 2009 campaign. “Nobody stopped me and said I’m not voting for you because you’re gay,” he said. “I think that they voted for me as a person, and I’ve always been out so that most people know I’m gay and they voted for me because they thought I’d do the best job.”
His most significant contribution to date may be his sponsoring the city’s Equal Rights Ordinance, which the council passed unanimously on Dec. 8. The ordinance ensures that the city only does business with companies that offer the same benefits for same-sex domestic partners as for married couples. Garcia calls it a “historic piece of legislation.”
He proposed the ordinance after researching similar ones adopted in other cities, including Los Angeles, San Francisco and Minneapolis. The reaction of his fellow council members was mostly supportive, he said.
Another major accomplishment for Garcia was being awarded in October “Man of the Year” by the Lambda Democratic Club at a ceremony aboard the Queen Mary. “Obviously, I think Lambda has been the leader of the LGBT community for a very long time. It’s an honor to be recognized by Lambda. “I think Stephanie [Lofton], [Blade contributor] Denise Penn and Reba [Birmingham] worked really hard. So it was a great night and my mom was there, and a table full of just friends, and I was able to share my experience as a young gay man.”
Lambda also honored Garcia’s fellow councilmember Gerrie Shipske as Woman of the Year. Garcia and Shipske are two of only three openly gay, Long Beach City Council members in the council’s history.
Garcia’s continues to work toward improving the environment in his district, opening two parks and breaking ground on a third, and he’s started an annual Latino parade and festival. He says he wanted to do for the Hispanic community what the annual Pride fest and parade does for the gay community.
As the youngest person elected to the council, and a self-described “techie,” Garcia brings a youthful viewpoint to politics. While he describes his sexual orientation as “just very natural,” he’s aware that others went through different struggles.
Garcia says most people he hears from think he’s doing a great job. “You can’t please everybody,” he said. “I vote the way I think is best for the city. I’ve had people say, ‘Robert, you’re too close to business,’ and so with some people you’ll never win. Either you’ll always be too close to some group or not close enough to another.”
If Garcia doesn’t win a simple majority of the vote on April 13, he’ll face a run-off on June 8. At press time one potential opponent, Jana Shields, had taken out papers to challenge him. See robertgarcia.com for more information on Garcia’s campaign.