The BAR: Bevan Dufty for Mayor

We recommend Bevan Dufty as voters' first choice on Election Day. Dufty, who is gay, served two terms as District 8 supervisor and ran the Office of Neighborhood Services under former Mayor Willie Brown, and knows how San Francisco works. He's developed city budgets and knows that most residents care about their neighborhoods – streets, Muni, the homeless, parks, and preserving the unique character that is San Francisco.

We're not endorsing Dufty just because he is gay. But political recommendations are part of our responsibility as the leading LGBT newspaper and it would be significant for America's gayest city to have an out mayor. It's important to us that one day San Francisco have a gay mayor and Dufty is as qualified as anyone else in the field. The late Harvey Milk often urged LGBTs to elect their own. We find it curious that Dufty could not secure the top spot from either of the city's LGBT Democratic clubs; the Harvey Milk LGBT Democratic Club left him off entirely.

It's part of why Dufty is running. "I think it does make a difference to have a gay mayor in San Francisco," he told us. "I am going to set the national agenda – responding to LGBT young adults. There is an agenda I've been part of setting in this city that I'm proud of."

"In a decade where we will be fighting for our rights, it does make a difference," he said.

Dufty is also a parent, which is another important aspect of his life. Gay and lesbian parents are becoming increasingly visible in ways that once didn't seem possible – on the playground, in parent groups, and at their kids' schools. Dufty's first television ad features him and his daughter Sidney riding on Muni and delivers a heartfelt message about why he wants to be mayor. Sidney, he says, loves riding the Muni Metro and arriving "someplace new."

"I want all of us to see it that way," Dufty says.

When we met with Dufty, he was insistent in talking about the future of the African American community in San Francisco – and he remains the only major candidate who is doing that. Dufty, whose godmother was Billie Holiday, said that being mayor means making the diversity of San Francisco "real, meaningful, and true." The black community is "in crisis" here, he said, noting the high unemployment rate, among other concerns.

The LGBT community needs someone like Dufty, who is committed to using his personal story to build bridges between the black and LGBT communities. He wants to expand opportunities for city workers, for black-owned businesses, and for LGBT-owned businesses as well.

In terms of public transit, Dufty supports the Central Subway project and thinks it is an important extension for Muni. In fact, if elected, Dufty said he would be a mayor who focuses on getting results, and vowed to improve Muni in part by making connections with bus drivers, encouraging them not to miss work on Mondays, for example, which would save Muni money.

Dufty has an innovative idea about social services and would like to explore so-called wet housing, where chronic, homeless alcoholics can be housed and drink on the premises. A project in Seattle has proven successful and Dufty thinks a similar program might help reduce the millions of dollars the city spends on ambulance runs to the emergency room at San Francisco General Hospital by chronic alcoholics. There are about 225 "high flyers," Dufty said, and the city spends about $60,000 on each of them a year.

Dufty is attuned to the importance of public safety – in fact, all the mayoral candidates we interviewed pledged to keep Greg Suhr as chief of police – and he continues to take heat for the decision to end Halloween in the Castro in the wake of several violent incidents. That's the thing with Dufty, if a situation isn't working out, he will make changes.

This year's mayor's race is an opportunity to usher in new leadership and bring about change. We believe Bevan Dufty is the best candidate for the job.