Candidate for
Council Member; City of West Hollywood

Councilmember John J. Duran was born in Los Angeles and raised in Santa Fe Springs, a community located in South-East Los Angeles County. Duran was elected to the West Hollywood City Council on March 6, 2001. His election was the continuation of a long and dedicated history of service to the West Hollywood community. From 2000 to 2001, he served as Vice-Chair of the West Hollywood Rent Stabilization Commission, adjudicating appeals for landlord-tenant disputes and making policy recommendations on affordable housing and protection of tenants' rights. Councilmember Duran also served as a volunteer attorney for the Coalition for Economic Survival (CES) Legal Clinic, a community-based organization dedicated to protecting tenants' rights.

Councilmember Duran, a native Angeleno, received his juris doctorate degree from Western State University in Orange County, and leads one of Southern California's most prominent law firms on Gay and Lesbian rights and AIDS law. He has represented more than 1,000 clients with AIDS on issues ranging from discrimination to hate crimes. John Duran's current legal practice is criminal defense, specializing in crimes of addiction. John represented the first openly gay Sheriff Deputy, Bruce Boland when he was wrongfully discharged from the L.A. County Sheriff Department.

Throughout his career, Councilmember Duran has worked to defend human rights. His many prominent legal cases include Kolcum v. L.A. County, where he successfully sued Los Angeles County for denying medication to inmates with HIV/AIDS. He successfully defended the Cannabis Buyer's Club during the medicinal use of marijuana controversy. In 1998, he won the first test case of medicinal marijuana defense since the passage of California's Proposition 215. Other successful cases for Duran include Morton v. City of Costa Mesa, where he represented two Lesbians who were subjected to unlawful genital search to determine their gender. He also served as legal counsel for ACT UP (AIDS coalition to unleash power) in the late 1980's, was the trial attorney for the Los Angeles Needle Exchange Program and has defended the first amendment rights of numerous protestors.

John Duran's defense of human rights extends outside of his legal practice into many activist and volunteer activities. He was a founding board member of ANGLE (Access Now for Gay and Lesbian Equality) from 1989 to the present date. He also served as President of the Board of Directors of the Sacramento-based EQCA + Equality California (formerly known as CAPE). Duran also served as a member of the Board of Directors of the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, and has recently joined the Board of Directors of AIDS Project Los Angeles.

Awards and Recognitions:

Councilmember Duran's awards and recognitions include the Labor Day L.A. Humanitarian Award which he received for dedication to human rights and AIDS activism. He was also recognized in 1991 by the California State Assembly for crafting California's legislative response to AIDS as the statewide co-chair of the LIFE AIDS lobby. Councilmember Duran was also named the 1990 Los Angeles Gay Pride Man of the Year by Christopher Street West and Man of the Year in 1989 by Orange County's Gay and Lesbian Pride Celebration. He was recently awarded the "Keeper of the Dream" award from the City of West Hollywood for his civil rights work.

In October 2002, Councilmember Duran was recognized by Being Alive, a coalition of people living with AIDS, for its leadership in HIV/AIDS services and for helping to improve the lives of the affected and infected with HIV. Councilmember Duran is one of very few openly HIV positive elected officials in the nation. In 2003, Councilmember Duran was again recognized for his advocacy efforts on behalf of Latino men and women living with HIV/AIDS. Councilmember Duran received the Community Activist Award from AltaMed Health Services Corporation, one of the leading providers of health and social services to Latino/as in Eastern Los Angeles County.