Charlie's obituary from the SD Union today, April 23, 2012
Charles McKain 1947-2012
Democrat was pioneer delegate, advanced LGBT causes
Politics were the very life and breath of Charles McKain. Active in many Democatic groups, he was one of San Diego's first openly gay delegates to the Democratic National Convention, and as head of an ad hoc coalition of gay and lesbian organizations, he was instrumental in helping craft the boundary lines for this city's LGBT-friendly 3rd City Council District.
"Charlie's contributions to the city and the Democratic Party here locally were very, very important over many decades," said Sen. Christine Kehoe, D-San Diego. "In particular, he really designed a lot of the redistricting lines that were done in 1990 and consolidated LGBT voters into what became Council District 3 that I was, three years, able to run in and win.
"He was always thinking about how to make change within the system and how to strengthen the democratic voice here in San Diego. His contributions were real and long lasting."
Mr. McKain died of posterior cortical atrophy, on March 17 at Kaiser Foundation Hospital. He was 65.
"During those months working on developing the boundaries of District 3, he could recite facts and figures and census tracts and percentages of this goup and that group, " said Jeri Dilno, friend and past president of the San Diego Democratic Club. "He was right on top of it. He really was the driving force behind the boundaries."
Since 1976, Mr. Mc Kain was a member of the San Diego Democratic Club, now called San Diego Democrats for Equality. He served as vice president, treasurer, and political action director, as well as the club's delegate to the former LIFE Lobby, a California advocacy federation of LGBT and AIDS organizations and individuals.
For the California Democratic Party, Mr. McKain served on its executive, rules, and credentials committees. He was a member of the San Diego Democratic Central Committee for 30 years, and the Point Loma, Pacific Beach, Uptown and La Jolla Democratic Clubs.
In 1989, Mr. McKain was honored with the San Diego Democratic Club Political Action Award, the Club's Lifetime Achievement Award in 2008, and the Henry Auerbach Democrat of the Year award from the San Diego County Democratic Party in 1994. The San Diego City Council declared July 8, 2008, as "Charles McKain Day."
Elected four times to be a delegate to national conventions, Mr. McKain's first convention was groundbreaking.
"We were both Ted Kennedy delegates for the National Democratic Convention in 1980," said Gloria Johnson, friend and past president of the San Diego Democratic Club. "It was the first time there was a lesbian-gay caucus at a democratic convention, and there might have been 25 delegates."
Charles Louis McKain III was born Feb. 8, 1947, in San Diego, the oldest of two children to Charles McKain Jr. and Mabel Robinson. A graduate of Hoover High School, he earned his bachelor's degree at Stanford Univerity in 1967 and did his postgraduate work at UC Berkeley.
He graduagted from UCLA School of Law in 1974 and was admitted to the State Bar of California that year. He worked as a staff attorney for California's 4th District Court of Appeal.
A hiker, gardener, and yoga enthusiast, Mr. McKain was also a globe-troter, traveling to Europe, Russia, China, Japan, Fiji and New Zealand, among other countries. In addition to English, he spoke Spanish, German, French, Italian and Japanese.
But basketball was his passion. He played in up to four leagues a week and was on the San Diego team in the 2002 Gay Games in Sydney, Australia.
"He was a great Stanford fan and a longtime season ticket holder for San Diego State Universsity's women's basketball," Dilno said. "He was not the greatest basketball player, but he was a terriffic fan. "
A memorial service will be at 2 p.m. May 11 at the First Unitarian Univrsialist Church of San Diego in Hillcrest. The family suggests donations to the American Civil Liberties Union.
