🌈 SaMo PRIDE: Get to Know John, Scott and Fred & Jim

Gay man

2) What brought you to Santa Monica?

What brought me here was a job as the Director of the Ocean Park Community Center (OPCC). What has kept me here are the incredible people I’ve had the privilege of working with in this community – the people we serve, our staff, volunteers and the many committed individuals, businesses, elected officials, City staff and community leaders dedicated to improving the quality of life for everyone.

3) What else can we do to make our City welcoming for LGBTQ people?

Public affirmation of being an LGBTQ friendly and welcoming city goes a long way in sending a positive message of inclusion. LGBTQ people want to know they are an important part of every community, not as a hidden minority but part of the fabric of what makes Santa Monica special. Telling stories about how LGBTQ people contribute to the community, celebrating PRIDE month and providing opportunities for LGBTQ folks to come together, especially young people who are exploring their sexual identity and need safe places to be themselves, is very important.

I am a trans man, and I use he pronouns.

I was hired by the City to create a video training module to help the Department of Recreations welcome transgender, non-binary, and gender diverse people to use its facilities. In the State of California, the law states that anyone may use the restroom or changing room that matches their gender identity. For some people, how we identify and how the world perceives us do not match, and this has lead to nearly 70% of transgender people reporting harassment (9% of them reporting physical violence) in those spaces. For difficult cases like these, there was an urgent need to train front line staff how to react when harassment occurs; or, how to respectfully, compassionately respond when someone gets upset about a trans woman using the women’s facilities (for example).

We see ourselves as just a regular couple who happens to be gay.

We’ve been living and working in Santa Monica for many years. We met by chance on Main Street near Pico about 40 years ago. We married about 10 years ago soon after the laws changed and made that possible. Fred was already in the restaurant business when we met. I joined into it with him about 20 years ago. Back on the Beach Cafe and Back on Broadway restaurant have been staples in the local community for many years.

Santa Monica continues to be an accepting and progressive community. It becomes more dense with each passing decade. Rising rents and the cost of living have become increasingly challenging. There has been an increase in upscale retail and residents. The City has responded with better planned public transport, including being much more bike friendly, and rent stabilization regulations.