SAN DIEGO—The mayor of San Diego's largest suburb came out July 29 at a gay-pride rally.
Mayor Steve Padilla's coming out makes Chula Vista, Calif., the second-largest city in America with an openly gay mayor, after San Diego itself. Providence, R.I., is next in line.
'I've considered myself pretty out since about 1999 but I thought this was an occasion to put any questions to rest,' Padilla said.
'In my life since 1999 I've been very honest and open about who I am—and it's certainly not everything I am, but it's an important part of who I am, and certainly if Pride isn't the venue to be overtly out, I don't know what is.
'It's something that I'm very comfortable with and something that I'm very matter-of-fact about, and I think that's what you saw here tonight.'
In a much longer interview on Aug. 1, Padilla was asked if he is concerned about the June 2006 primary when he is up for re-election.
'I have great faith in the voters and the people of Chula Vista,' he said. 'They elected me once and many of them knew this [ already ] . I will tell you that people supporting my opponent in 2002—not my opponent herself but some people supporting her—made it a point to go out to certain venues in Chula Vista and tell everyone that I was gay. Some of my precinct walkers in Chula Vista ran into voters at the door who said they would not vote for me because I was gay. It was widely known, I think, in many circles in Chula Vista's community—and certainly by all my colleagues and staff and people throughout the region.
'Since being in office ... I have lived very openly,' Padilla said. 'My partner and I attended last December the Chamber [ of Commerce ] installation dinner, which was attended by about 500 people, and I introduced him to everyone there, including the press, as my partner. So, it's really not something that wasn't known in 2002, because it was known, by design, and I won the election by eight points. I think that the people of Chula Vista will judge my qualifications based on how good of a job I've done as mayor, first and foremost.'
Padilla said he actually came out to reporters twice before, but no stories resulted.
'I've told the [ local mainstream daily ] San Diego Union-Tribune that, yes, that I am—and they wanted to do kind of a story where I would talk more about it, and I refused to talk more about it at that time.
'So, I think what happened is that just at this particular time on Friday night at the rally, I spoke about it in probably the largest venue in a public place that I ever have to date,' he said. 'Gradually, over time, I've just become more and more comfortable with the idea that I can deal with it truthfully and with integrity, in a way that's nonthreatening, I hope, to people who do support gay and lesbian people or who don't understand it—in a way that's appropriate and respectful of my office. ... Friday night I felt very comfortable in that context acknowledging it publicly, and I did.
'It wasn't billed or slated or talked about as an announcement of any kind,' Padilla said. 'My chief of staff didn't know it [ was going to happen ] , my staff didn't know it, my family didn't know it, my partner didn't know it. It just sort of happened. It really should be treated as sort of a matter-of-fact thing. It really shouldn't matter, and doesn't matter to most people.'
Chula Vista, population 230,000, is located immediately south of downtown San Diego on the freeway to Tijuana. Half of the city's residents are Latino, 11 percent are Asian and 5 percent are black. Fifty-three percent of the city's residents speak a language other than English at home.
Twenty-two percent of residents over age 25 have a college degree and 79 percent completed high school, about the same as for the U.S. as a whole. The median family income in 2000 was $50,136, which was $90 more than the U.S. median.
In San Diego itself, 83 percent of residents finished high school, 35 percent have a college degree, and the median family income was $53,060.
San Diego got an openly gay mayor just days before Padilla's public coming out.
