San Francisco mayoral candidate Mark Leno has long campaigned for LGBTI rights and education in schools (Picture: YouTube/MarkLeno)
A gay candidate for the Mayor of San Francisco has released a sweet video chronicling his journey in the city.
San Francisco mayoral candidate Mark Leno, 66, recently announced the release of his first television and digital ad in a press conference at the historic Castro Camera store.
During the 1970s the Castro Camera store became the center of the neighborhood’s growing gay community.
And the new video, titled Make History certainly gets his point across in the gayest of fashions.
San Francisco candidate says: ‘Make History, Change History’
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In the video above, Leno’s ad highlights his lifetime of service to San Francisco including raising the state’s minimum wage to $15 and championing workers’ rights.
It chronicles his journey from a SF newcomer to losing his partner to HIV complications in the 1980s.
Leno, who became California’s first openly gay state senator in 2008, announced his running at the famous store on Friday (6 April).
It marked the 40th anniversary of the Board of Supervisors passing an anti-discrimination rule protecting the city’s gay population.
‘From a very young age, I’ve believed in a future in which everyone has a shot at success,’ Leno said at the campaign event.
‘This means that all of us, and our future generations, need to learn about the broad diversity of human experience.
‘That’s why I authored the FAIR Education Act to share with our kids the life-changing power of LGBT histories.’
Leno also announced endorsements from major LGBT organizations.
The Alice B. Toklas LGBT Democratic Club, the Harvey Milk LGBT Democratic Club, Victory Fund and Equality California all back his campaign.
Castro Cameras was campaign headquarters for Harvey Milk’s campaigns for elected office before he was assassinated in 1978.