John Laird is the current California Secretary for the State's Resources Agency and former legislator, who represented the 27th district in the California State Assembly until 2008. The 27th district stretches from Santa Cruz County down through the Monterey Bay and down the coast below the San Luis Obispo county line into Santa Barbara county. Laird was one of the first two openly gay men to serve in the California legislature. Laird become one of the United States first openly gay mayors in 1983 when he took over the mayoralty of the city of Santa Cruz, California. Laird was raised in... Vallejo, California, and educated in Vallejo public schools. Laird's parents were both educators. He graduated from Adlai Stevenson College of the University of California Santa Cruz in 1972 with an A.B. in Politics - and general college honors, honors from the Board of Politics, and honors on an undergraduate thesis on the history of water development in California. Laird served for two years on the district staff of United States Representative Jerome Waldie, and worked during the summer of 1974 for Rep. Bill Gunter of Florida in his run for the U.S. Senate.
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