See how they run: Aaron Peskin taught me my first swear word (2024)

Mission Local is publishing a daily campaign dispatch for each of the major contenders in the mayor’s race, alternating among candidates weekly until November. This week: Aaron Peskin. Read earlier dispatcheshere.

The Harvey MIlk LGBTQ Democratic Club began working on its endorsem*nts for the November election in April. The members, who are all volunteers, sent out questionnaires to all of the candidates and posted the results on the club’s website. They interviewed candidates and posted those on YouTube. They held a public forum featuring the five major mayoral candidates. They meet twice a month, with one meeting dedicated to just voting on endorsem*nts (decided by a majority vote, except in cases where it isn’t). They’ll be doing this until right before the election. The ballot measures are when things get really intense, said Reid Coggins, vice president of political action for the club. “They don’t begin to campaign for those until late in the cycle.”

But on Thursday night of Pride week, it was time to party —and raise money for the club’s political action committee to spend on projects like printing mailers with the club’s endorsem*nts.Nearly all of the donors to the club’s 48th annual “Gayla” were local labor organizations and political campaigns. Many of those donors are endorsed by the club (Aaron Peskin for mayor, Nancy Pelosi for Congress, Edward Wright for BART board), but not all. Daniel Lurie, a Gayla sponsor, was there smiling and shaking hands with anyone within hand-shaking radius, without having gotten an endorsem*nt or even filling out his mayoral questionnaire more than halfway.

The partygoer aesthetic ranged from standard city government/nonprofit formalwear to unapologetic queer maximalism: Rhinestone brooches, drippy lace collars, glittery platform boots, suit with bolo tie and pearl necklace. The Gayla’s emcee, Harvey Milk Democratic Club President Jeffrey Kwong, kept disappearing and rejoining the crowd in a different outfit, each more spectacular than the last. “I’m trying to find a husband!” he said emphatically when this was pointed out.

“Let me tell you something about Jeffrey Kwong,” said Peskin, over the buffet line (cheese cubes, grapes, egg rolls). Peskin met Kwong in 2000, when Kwong was a 14-year-old volunteer in the District 3 supervisorial campaign for Rose Chung, founder of the Miss Asian Global Pageant. When Chung dropped out of the race and endorsed Peskin, Kwong joined Peskin’s campaign, and later became one of his first legislative aides, along with Chung. At the time, Kwong was fond of telling people that he was a Republican.

“I told him, ‘You don’t know sh*t, kid,’” said Peskin. “You aren’t even old enough to vote yet.” Kwong went on to go to Harvard, intern at the Bush White House, come out as gay, and get a Ph.D. in international relations before coming back to the Bay Area to build a career in education.

“He’s terrifyingly smart,” Peskin added.

“Aaron taught me my first swear word,” Kwong said later to the assembled crowd of politicians, labor leaders, activists, nonprofit workers, drag queens, and various combinations of all of the above. “I’m not gonna repeat it tonight. But give me a few more drinks.”

The mood was convivial, nerdy, earnest, rowdy. Nearly everyone here knows each other from the long grind of political organizing, and there are more than a few legends here, like lesbian civil-rights activist Gwenn Craig, who shared a table with the Peskin campaign crew for most of the evening. The room felt imbued with the determination to make the world a better place, and also to cut loose in the company of people who appreciate both a good drag performance and giving awards to community groups. Attendees sighed over keynote speaker Schuyler Bailar’s genuine and funny talk about becoming the first openly transgender NCAA Division I swimmer, and the shape of Bailar’s Division I-level butt in his well-tailored suit.

After the awards and speeches were over, Kwong took the mic again. “Does anyone like shrimp co*cktail!” he yelled into the microphone. “I have four platters of shrimp co*cktail that we were unable to serve due to venue restrictions! So please come to the back and get a tray of $39.99 Costco shrimp co*cktail! Which I do not want! Please follow me!”

“Did you see the debate?” one attendee said quietly to another, as the crowd began to drift out. The first Trump/Biden debate was taking place during the gala, and it’s clear a few people were sneaking out to check the progress on their phones.

“So depressing,” said the other.

“I’m glad we were here tonight,” says the first. “These people. They give me hope.”