White House to Honor Redondo Mayor Mike Gin

Editor's note: This article was originally published at 9:06 a.m. It has since been updated to include a statement from Mayor Mike Gin.

Redondo Beach Mayor Michael A. Gin will be one of 10 openly lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender elected or appointed officials who will be honored at the White House on Wednesday as Harvey Milk Champions of Change for their commitment to equality and public service.

Gin, who will leave office next week because of term limits after being Redondo Beach's mayor since 2005, married his partner Christopher Kreidel in 2008 during the brief window when gay marriage was legal in California.

Gin and Kreidel have been together for about 18 years. Kriedel will accompany the mayor to Wednesday's ceremony.

The city of Redondo Beach released the following statement from Gin on Tuesday morning:

“Supervisor Milk was an amazing individual and leader, not only for San Francisco, but for our nation and for our entire LGBT community. He served at a time when it was very difficult to be out as a gay man, much less to be an elected public official and out.

"To be honored with an award that bears his name is extremely humbling to me, and perhaps will be one of the greatest honors I think that I will ever receive. Supervisor Milk made it possible for me to live in a world where out members of the LGBT community can serve their communities and our Nation openly and proudly. I am deeply humbled and thrilled to be named as a Harvey Milk Champion of Change by the White House."

Calling himself an "independent Republican," Gin told Patch in an interview in 2011 when he was running to replace former Rep. Jane Harman in Congress that he disagrees with the GOP's stance on gay marriage.

"I have been a visible supporter of marriage equality in both the Republican Party and in the Asian-American community," Gin said. "It is extremely important to me to be a visible example to the rest of my community that equality under the law should apply to everybody—gay or straight."

Gin was selected as a David Bohnett Fellow of the Gay and Lesbian Leadership Institute in 2007.

Other Californians to be honored are state Secretary of Natural Resources John Laird—a former assemblyman and Santa Cruz mayor and councilman—and Sen. Ricardo Lara, D-Long Beach, who is the first openly gay person of color to be elected to the state senate.

The ceremony coincides with the 83rd anniversary of the birth of Milk, who became the third openly gay elected official in the United States and the first in California when he was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1977. He was assassinated in 1978.

The Champions of Change program was created as an opportunity for the White House to feature groups of Americans—individuals, businesses and organizations—who are doing extraordinary things to empower and inspire members of their communities.

Wednesday's ceremony, which will occur at noon Pacific Time, will be live-streamed at whitehouse.gov/live.

—City News Service contributed to this report.