Assemblyman John Pérez, an openly gay Latino Democrat from Los Angeles,
made history Thursday when he was unanimously chosen by the Assembly’s
Democratic Caucus to succeed Karen Bass as the lower house’s leader.
Pérez, a freshman lawmaker who is expected to be formally voted in as the
68th Assembly speaker in January, will become the body’s first openly gay
leader.
“It’s obviously an incredibly moving experience to have the unanimous
support of my colleagues,” Pérez, 40, said shortly after the caucus vote.
“I think it says more about California than it does about me – it means
that California is a place where everybody has a seat at the table, that
we’re a state where everybody brings forward their contributions.”
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2009/12/11/MNKV1B2CJU.DTL
