BAYMEC . . . your political voice
Bay Area Municipal Elections Committee
OutNow Magazine profiled BAYMEC founder Wiggsy Sivertsen in the August 2004 issue. The article contains additional information about BAYMEC's history.
The Bay Area Municipal Elections Committee (BAYMEC) is a four-county lesbian, gay bisexual, and transgendered (LGBT) political action group. It has been advocating for the civil rights of LGBT people since 1984. It is the only political action committee (PAC) dedicated to this purpose in the central coast counties of San Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, and Monterey. BAYMEC is governed by a Board of Directors and is supported solely through private contributions.
The organization's purpose is to lobby and fight for LGBT civil rights. BAYMEC has raised its concerns with countless politicians; worked to elect LGBT people and supportive allies to political offices; lobbied Sacramento and the state on AIDS and LGBT civil rights; and worked with police, fire department, governmental, organizational, and a variety of community groups to further equality for LGBTs. However, perhaps one of BAYMEC's greatest accomplishments is ongoing: It provides an experienced, broad-based, and coherent political voice for the LGBT community.
BAYMEC board members and associates meet with and educate candidates and elected officials; publish an endorsement card for BAYMEC supporters, donors and the gay press; raise funds and develop volunteers for gay-friendly candidates; and help educate the community about candidates and their commitment to those issues that affect LGBT individuals, their families, and the community at large.
BAYMEC partners with other constituencies, minority associations and labor unions to build understanding and common effort on equal justice issues. BAYMEC also maintains a practiced visibility at political functions held by other groups and organizations, and has two annual fundraisers, one in San José and one in the Monterey Bay area, in which candidates and elected officials participate as attendees and, alongside outstanding volunteers in the LGBT community, honorees.
In the conduct of its business, BAYMEC sends out questionnaires to candidates for public office, the questionnaires include a number of questions regarding issues of immediate import to the LGBT community. The returned candidate questionnaires are reviewed to establish a priorities list for candidates, their positions on LGBT and social justice issues, their immediate chances to win the race, and to develop a judgment on the resources that will be extended to the candidate by BAYMEC.
In the 1980s, and what would become the first decade of BAYMEC's existence, there was a rash of anti-gay sentiment and legislation. In Santa Clara County, founding members of BAYMEC fought tirelessly against the Moral Majority, Concerned Citizens Against the Sexual Orientation Ordinance, The LaRouche Initiative, Propositions 64 and 69, and Senator John Briggs' Prop 6 and Prop 102 (the AIDS quarantine initiative).
In 1985, after the shooting of Melvin Truss by an officer, BAYMEC began training the San José Police Departments on LGBT sensitivity and in 1988, the San José Fire Department.In 1986, BAYMEC coordinated the organization of the AIDS Task Force in Santa Clara County and testified before the Board of Supervisors to allocate funds for the ARIS Project.
In 1987, after lobbying from BAYMEC, Mayor Tom McEnery issued San José's first Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Day Proclamation.
In 1988 BAYMEC, won the First Amendment challenge allowing distribution of leaflets at Valley Fair Mall.
In 1989, BAYMEC reversed the opposition of local Assembly members of Project 10, the program to include the reference to sexual orientation in the L.A. education curriculum.
THE NEXT TEN YEARS: After the eighties, the direct attacks on the local LGBT community quieted for a time. In 1992, BAYMEC lobbied against the Vatican's document urging US Bishops to oppose legislation protecting LGBT civil rights. With fewer attacks on our community, BAYMEC was able to become pro-active and successfully lobbied the cities of Santa Clara and Sunnyvale, and various local school districts, on sexual orientation discrimination and AIDS/HIV status issues. BAYMEC lobbied the San José City Council to support the boycott on travel to Colorado in the wake of Amendment 2, the initiative to ban anti-discrimination policies for sexual orientation.
BAYMEC continues to lobby for hate-crime legislation, transgender issues and to bring LGBT sensitivity to the forefront in the domestic violence field. Its work in a number of political campaigns around the central coast continues to grow. BAYMEC is represented in several community groups, helped build Monterey County's annual Pride since 1992, helped establish domestic partner insurance for county employees in Monterey County, contributed importantly to the development and leadership of that area's Hate Crimes Emergency Response Team, led in the defeat of public funding for a BSA troop requesting public monies for the repair of a facility being used by the BSA in the city of Monterey, provided workshops on LGBT history, and represented LGBTs in a number of grassroots initiatives and public forums. BAYMEC successfully lobbied the San José City Council to include bereavement leave for domestic partners and worked with cities and counties to implement domestic partnership coverage for their employees. BAYMEC joined in the community fight against Pete Knight's Proposition 22 and for Sheila Kuehl's AB222 and AB537.
BAYMEC is still active in supporting community-building efforts such as San José's DeFrank Center, local AIDS efforts, breast cancer awareness and the struggle to secure equal rights for LGBT families. BAYMEC is a member of the Rainbow Network, The Network for a Hate-free Community and the Safe Schools Coalition of the South Bay. In addition, members of the BAYMEC board also serve in numerous capacities on committees, networks and commissions.
