Tell us a little bit about your work with the Culinary and how the organized labor and LGBT rights movements intersect.

My involvement with the labor movement and with this union actually goes back to the 1970s when I was mentored by Harvey Milk. When Harvey got elected, Local 2 — which is the counterpart of the Culinary in San Francisco — was a supporter of his. I was actually walking a Local 2 picket line the day Harvey got shot. I was an intern in his office. I’d been in the office that morning and he sent me home to get a file that I left at my apartment. I did a few rounds on the picket line and then somebody yelled at me that the mayor had been shot. So I’ve always believed in the coalition between the LGBT community and the labor movement. It really makes a difference in a very tangible way. Especially with gay rights — it gets to be so emotional, there’s all the slogans on both sides, but what we’re really talking about is economic security and fair treatment.

And in this town, this union has successfully negotiated contracts for many years now with almost all of the big employers. Those contracts protect LGBT people from arbitrary discrimination and also make sure that same-sex domestic partners are eligible for the health plan that covers over 120,000 people in Nevada.