Will Rodriguez-Kennedy served as the 16th Club President of the San Diego Democrats for Equality where he continued the storied activism and legacy of our club, and advanced its mission in support of the LGBT community and the Democratic Party.
He is an award winning journalist, activist, and veteran of the United States Marine Corps and has over a decade of combined military and community service. In 2008, Will was honorably discharged from the military under the discriminative “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy. He made international headlines in his fight against the policy, specifically being among the first to attempt to re-enlist when it was ruled unconstitutional in 2010.
Since then, he has been active in local politics as both an activist and as a journalist. Among his awards, Will was named Veteran of the Year for the 77th Assembly District in 2009, he was voted Outstanding Community Activist at the Nicky Awards in 2011, and received a San Diego Press Club award for his coverage of government and politics in a non-daily newspaper, San Diego LGBT Weekly.
Will is a graduate of the inaugural class of the Young Professional Council’s leadership academy, a program of the San Diego LGBT Community Center and is currently a communications major.
Will served on the board of directors of San Diego LGBT Pride from 2010 to 2013, as an officer of the board from 2011-2013 and currently serves as an appointed member and Secretary of the San Diego County Veteran’s Advisory Council, and on the San Diego police chief’s LGBT Advisory Council.
Within the Democratic Party, Will is an elected member to the San Diego County Democratic Party’s Central Committee and a delegate to the California Democratic Party’s State Central Committee. Recently, he became a founding member of the California Young Democrat’s Veterans’ Caucus and was elected to serve as the first Vice President of Operations for the California Young Democrats.
In 2018, Will was elected as President of the California Young Democrats.
In 2019, Will was elected Chair of the San Diego County Democratic Party, becoming one of the youngest Democratic Party Chairs in the country.