By Karen Ocamb

Storm clouds started gathering over Christopher Arellano's political career about 12 days before the March 7 election for the open seat on the Los Angeles Unified School District Board. Arellano, the openly gay Latino teachers' representative with the financial backing of the teachers union and the county Democratic Party, and endorsements from scores of elected officials, carried the banner of those opposed to L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's plan to take over the schools. He was also a rising star among gay Democrats concerned about the dearth of viable candidates to replace termed-out LGBT politicians.

Then the rumors hit the Internet, which were soon verified by mainstream media: Arellano, 33, had failed to disclose that he had twice been convicted of shoplifting. During intense meetings with supporters and reporters, Arellano said the incidents were part of his "troubled youth" and he had long since turned his life around. He hoped his personal story would serve as an inspiration to at-risk youth: how he struggled as a homeless runaway to put himself through L.A. City College to eventually earn a bachelor's degree from UCLA and two master's degrees from USC, work for City Councilmember Eric Garcetti and become a tireless worker for the teachers union.

"I am aware that my opponents have raised questions regarding my past. Over the course of this campaign, I have always been up-front about the fact that I had a troubled childhood. I was a dropout at the age of 14, I did leave home and work to support myself, and yes, I did make some mistakes. I am not proud of these mistakes, but they have served to make me a better, stronger person. I am running for school board because I want to ensure that none of our children end up in the hopeless place that I did and make the same mistakes that I made," Arellano said in a statement to the United Teachers Los Angeles. "I regret the mistakes of my past, however, I can't help but wonder what kind of message we send to our kids today if we cannot recognize that a person has worked hard to overcome his troubled childhood. I would respectfully request that you also consider all of the good work that I have done to turn my life around." The UTLA voted to continue supporting Arellano.

"I think that Christopher was naïve about the rigors of a campaign at this level," Eric Bauman, chair of the L.A. County Democratic Party told IN. "A more experienced candidate would have found a way to disclose his troubled past in a positive manner rather than defensively." (Bauman later pulled the party's support, though campaign mailers had already been sent out.)

Then more details emerged. The 1992 conviction at age 19 was for shoplifting "about $10 of toiletries" from a Boyle Heights store shortly after he moved to Los Angeles from Phoenix, Ariz., Arellano told the L.A. Times. He pleaded guilty in a plea agreement and the court fined him $415 with 24 months unsupervised probation, the Jewish Journal reported, citing court records.

In 1994, Arellano legally changed his name from Robert Christopher Bruce to Christopher Bianco Arellano. The 1995 conviction at age 22 was for trying to steal a jacket worth roughly $400 from a Van Nuys department store. He was fined $125 and sentenced to three days in jail, but was given credit for time served. His sentence also included mandatory psychiatric treatment and working 30 days on a CalTrans clean up crew. According to the Journal, two bench warrants were issued for his arrest for failure to appear to update his sentence, spanning 1995 to March 1999, with the case continuing until September 2004.

"The 1992 case did not officially close until a hearing today [March 2] in Los Angeles Superior Court, according to court records. For more than 10 years -- until today -- there has been an outstanding warrant for his arrest due to repeated failures to appear in court," the Journal reported.

But perhaps even more devastating for the presumed frontrunner in the school board race were revelations by the Journal and KPCC public radio that Arellano had not been awarded the degrees he claimed to have earned.

USC spokesman James Grant told the Journal that no degree has been conferred. Arellano told the paper that he still has four units to complete for one master's degree but "I have completed all requirements for the social-work degree. I graduated and walked at graduation ceremonies in May of 2005." UCLA Told the Times Arellano received a bachelor's degree in theater in 2000.

Arellano told the Journal that he graduated from UCLA in 1998. "With this campaign, people are letting me know what is happening in my life," he said.

IN became aware of the rumors on Feb. 24 and began making inquiries. One person cited as a source in an original blog report said she had "no idea" who Arellano was and discounted any connection. Another source, a "proud gay" former board member of Viva, the gay and lesbian Latino arts group, who knew Arellano from his early days as an aspiring actor, called Arellano a "scam artist" and expressed concern that he "fooled all these politicians."

IN received Arellano's UTLA statement via e-mail in lieu of a scheduled March 3 interview.

But while Arellano's problems may be excruciatingly dramatic, they are not the only ups and downs gay Democrats are experiencing this political season. On the one hand, most California Democrats running for re-election or a statewide office support marriage equality. On the other hand, Democratic National Committee Chair Howard Dean recently eliminated the party's LGBT "outreach desk," promising that LGBT issues will actually be better served under the new 50-state plan. The new American Majority Partnership, which Dean outlined in an appearance before Access Now for Gay and Lesbian Equality (ANGLE) last April, is supposed to extend LGBT outreach efforts and concerns throughout the party structure.

"Our problem is not that Americans don't share our values. Our problem is we don't communicate what those values are very well," Dean told ANGLE. "We need not to react to the backlashes and the differences of opinion about gay rights and things like that because that's a symptom. What is real is the fear and we don't address it." He called for re-framing issues in language people understand, including Biblical references, though not Leviticus.

While some gays at the ANGLE event expressed concern about not tackling gay rights issues head-on, which many thought led to passage of anti-gay marriage measures in 16 states in 2004, most trusted Dean's historical support for gay rights. But when the Washington Blade first reported that the new DNC plan eliminated the outreach desk, and then reported that the DNC released its Annual Report to the Grassroots without any reference to gays, many activists exploded in outrage.

Jeff Soref, a New York gay Democratic activist and fund raiser, resigned as chair of the DNC's Gay & Lesbian Americans Caucus in protest, the Blade reported. Additionally, Soref complained to the gay paper that Dean's hiring of Donald Hitchcock as director of the fund raising Gay & Lesbian Leadership Council was insufficient to cover gay political outreach efforts.

"The Democratic Party has never been more committed to protecting equal rights for the LGBT community," Dean said in a Feb. 15 statement in response to complaints about eliminating the LGBT outreach desk. "We are standing strong with the community, fighting the Republican Party's repugnant efforts to exploit the politics of fear and division and scapegoat LGBT families for electoral gain."

Damien LaVera, an openly gay DNC spokesperson, reiterated to IN Dean's long commitment to LGBT rights and said that Hitchcock is "specifically tasked" with chairing the DNC's working group on gay and lesbian issues, in which "everyone has to participate," and figure out "how to reach out to the GLB community." Additionally, the DNC is hiring people from each state and training them on "how to communicate with and reach out to" the LGBT community. They then return to the state party and utilize their new training on the ground. The idea is to create and sustain a lasting Democratic Party infrastructure.

However, since the party is "not in the business of outing," LaVera could not say how many gay people have been hired or trained as DNC field representatives, though he's sure there are "plenty." He also insisted that the state party and the field representatives are "in the business of winning elections" and would adhere to Democratic Party values, and therefore not forsake the LGBT community for local political expediency.

Some gay Democrats, including Eric Stern, executive director of National Stonewall Democrats, are not buying that argument. "Republicans have already spent millions of dollars placing anti-marriage amendments on statewide ballots this November in an effort to shape a voter turnout they believe will help their candidates on Election Day. Under the leadership of Chairman Ken Mehlman, the Republican National Committee has increased the staff and support that it provides to anti-gay activists to conduct electoral work. Democrats must offer an equally aggressive response," he said in a widely circulated op-ed. In addition to looming anti-gay ballot threats across the country, an Ohio measure to ban gay adoption is of particular concern.

But it will be up to others to press the DNC: Stern is leaving his post at the end of March. "I am a cancer survivor," Stern, 30, told IN. "and my health is of primary importance to me. This has been a wonderful and incredibly fulfilling experience. But lately I have been feeling burnout and the stress has manifested itself in what I feel are not healthy results. I think being a good leader is knowing when to step aside when the organ deserves more than I can give it. I think this organization -- it's mission is so critical in today's climate -- deserves someone who can fully give to that position -- and unfortunately that's not me."

As for the DNC's new program, Stern said he thinks any money or resources the DNC gives the states should "come with strings attached," which include adhering to the principles in the national platform that all families should be treated equally under the law and that gays should be afforded the rights and responsibilities enjoyed by all others.

One positive footnote to LGBT history: while pro-gay candidates have often been blasted by their anti-gay opponents using quotes from the gay press, recently California gubernatorial candidate Steve Westly's campaign issued a press release citing IN's profile of Westly as a "supporting document" for one of his TV ad campaign claims. The IN profile is also posted on Westly's campaign Web site. It is believed to be the first time a campaign for such a high profile straight candidate has positively cited the gay press.