In June 2007 Cabaldon authored a resolution for the US Conference of Mayors that supported the Filipino Veterans Fairness Act, that was passed unanimously at the annual conference. In June 2009 he pushed through the most sweeping gay civil rights resolution of any national elected officials organization, US Conference of Mayors Resolution No. 46, 2008 winning support for marriage equality, hate crimes, employment nondiscrimination, and repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell. A member of Mayors for the Freedom to Marry, he and the Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake of Baltimore and Mayor Julián Castro of San Antonio published a column, Gay marriage a question of justice, in USA Today in January 2013. In 2019, Cabaldon was named chair of the LGBTQ Mayors Alliance. He is a member of the Mayors Against Illegal Guns Coalition, and a signer of the US Mayors Climate Protection Agreement. Cabaldon was Vice President of the National Conference of Democratic Mayors. He was founder and chairman of the board for the Asian Pacific Youth Leadership Project, a founding member and president of both the Asian Pacific Islander caucus and LGBT Local Officials caucus of the League of California Cities, and a founding member of the Capital Unity Council, a group created to eradicate hate crime violence.