>> building a better bay area, moving forward, finding solutions, this is abc 7 news. >> hi there, i'm kristen sze. you are watching getting answers. we talked to experts about issues important to the bay area and get experts -- answers in real-time. this week is transgender awareness we can do sunday is the transgender day of remembrance. abc 7 is releasing our latest abc 7 original, being gwen, a life-and-death story. when was the bay area teen murdered by men who discovered she was transgender. the producer of the documentary will share the story that has implications to this day. san francisco central subway is finally opening this weekend,

four years late and 375 million dollars over budget. our media partner will take a closer look at what happened, what hampered the project, and if it will deliver on the promise of being a lifeline for downtown and chinatown. but first, the end of an era. the first woman to ever hold house speaker ship. nancy pelosi is stepping down after 20 years as leader of the democratic party in the house of representatives. >> and with great confidence in our caucus, i will not seek reelection in the next congress. for me, the hour has come for a new generation to lead the democratic caucus that i so deeply respect. kristen: joining us to talk about her legacy, abc news political director rick klein. nice to have you back on the show. what did you think of her speech today? >> it was a classic pelosi

speech because we did not know what she was going to say until she said it. and i think it was a tour through democratic political history, talking about her father, the former mayor of baltimore, her beloved san francisco, and to me pretty pointedly talking about the accomplishments under three presidents. she mentioned george w. bush, barack obama and joe biden. she skipped over the trump years which is a little window into the mindset of the accomplishments she has had and the remarkable range that she had. kristen: we have that little clip queued up where she referenced the three presidents. >> indeed, american democracy is majestic. mommy and daddy taught us that public service is a noble calling and that we'll have a responsibility to help others.

in my privilege to play a part in forging extraordinary progress for the american people . i have enjoyed working with three presidents. kristen: i guess true, it was her battle with the fourth that became some of her biggest moments. >> so many defining moments that she led the impeachment charge not once but twice was part of the legacy of nancy pelosi upholding democracy. and in that sense, she can look at the midterms as one final victory. house democrats lost control but they did a lot better than people anticipated and they held the line against election denying candidates. she's near the top as she goes out and i think a lot of people

will remember those battles with the former president as defining one's, times were the house speaker was more important than ever. and just an incredible little capstone of a remarkable career. kristen: what was her secret sauce that allowed her to keep hold of the party for so long? >> people underestimated her consistently. they thought of her as an out of touch bay area liberal but she was the daughter of tommy willis andra who was raised on the streets of boston and she can trace her political connections going back to the kennedy administration. she was steeped in politics at the ground level and by the time she got into politics, willing into her 40's, she was wise and by the ways of the world. she understood the way that people worked and she enjoyed when people would underestimate her abilities or the way that

she would be able to roll the house. she was an unknown quantity when she was a democratic leader. never going to be known as one of the world's great public speakers, but a steady hand who got remarkable things done through congress in terms of helping the democrats get control, steering through the obama years where things were pretty heavy for the democrats. and again, the victories that she was able to deliver under joe biden will also be defining ones. the people that underestimated her did so at their own peril. she was more than happy to let them think that she did not understand the game better than she did. kristen: why now? is it that they lost the majority? is it her age? there has been talk about generational change and leadership needed. or is it more personal? the attack on her husband? >> i think it was all of those

things. probably nudged in the direction that the way she has put her family in jeopardy through no fault of her own but i think she said the attack has influenced her thinking. i think the generational thing is real. her number two and number three in steny hoyer and jim clyburn also in their 80's, all three of them are stepping away at the same moment. that is one last pelosi flourish because it is a very clean relinquishing of power for three of the most powerful figures in democratic politics, making way for a new generation of leaders in their 40's and 50's ready to take over. kristen: let's talk about who is likely to become the democratic leader. >> he has been in congress for a little more than a decade now and he is very close to the

liberal part of the democratic party, but he's held the line against them as well. the defund the police movements, he has clashed with his fellow new yorker alexandria because io cortez. he could become the first leader of either party, potentially the first black speaker if things stay online. and he's coming with a package of others in terms of historic terms, a new generation coming in. i think akeem jeffries has an opportunity to speak to a younger generation of members and also to voters in a way that may be the pelosi hoyer clyburn group was unable to. kristen: which democrats will need to be able to do to get voters in the next few elections. kevin mccarthy will take the gavel from her in january when the new term begins.

should we expect a host of house investigations on president biden and his family? >> the one thing they will not need votes on is to whether to launch investigations from the oversight committee. they will do a lot for hunter biden and anything they can think of in the biden cabinet. there are people that are already in the crosshairs. certainly there is an opportunity for overreach, but i think that is the most tangible thing you will see, that raft of new investigations and new scrutiny. kristen: is there danger for either party to continue the hyper-partisan war? any sign that voters are tired of it? >> i think there were lots of signs that the voters are tired of it but the base of the party needs it. republicans will view themselves as something of a mandate and

they will see an important signal with where they go in that majority. they will be shaped a little bit more by the extremes of the party than the middle because the middle isn't really a constituency for kevin mccarthy at this moment. kristen: metta pelosi gave up her position but not her seat. do you expect for her to serve at her congressional term? sigh think what she says about it is probably the best word on this. she said she will serve for two years and there is no snow down -- slowdown of the energy level. you can imagine she will get more than her share done as counsel. she and the other former leaders are still going to be around. in one of the reasons they are not resigning as they don't want to give kevin mccarthy on any more wiggle room. she will enjoy watching from the back of the room as the

republicans have a hard time keeping their votes together. kristen: rick klein, thank you for talking with us. and abc 7 originals documentary tackles the murder of a bay area transgender teenager.

kristen: sunday is transgender remembrance day. abc news is premiering a new document tree on a new document rihanna highly publicized murder that took place 20 years ago in the bay area. in 2002, transgender teenager gwen was killed by several men and they found out about her gender identity.

the case proved pivotal in the case for transgender rights in the bay area the nation. he is a clip of the documentary titled being gwen, a life or death story. >> she was transitioning in the first time she wore a skirt happened to be the night that they murdered her. >> police think he was murdered because he lived his life as a young woman. >> the issue of gender came up and our juvenile was killed. >> two of the defendants had sexual encounters. >> there was a heat of passion for sexual deception. >> gwen did not owe anyone an explanation of who she was. >> this was a moment of change, a time when the public learned about trans lives and trans death.

kristen: joining me as the producer of the documentary. a multimedia producer at abc7news. usually we just see each other in the newsroom. i remember reporting on this 20 years ago and it was just so horrible and so sad. what made you realize you wanted to bring this story to life? >> i was also working in news at the time and looking back at that story online, i started thinking about how things have changed. when gwen died in the media, and a lot of our news clips, we refer to her by her birth name and we had quotations. kristen: and you heard the reporting referring to gwen as

he. so much has changed with think about the progress made but a lot has not changed. >> does a lot of struggle to transgender community is going through. this tells the story of not just the murder of gwen which was very brutal, but also, her life. she was 14 years old when she made the transition and her mom was very accepting at the time and saying if you want to live as a woman, i will support you. but even she did not know what transgender meant and she was calling her eddie when she was being interviewed so she went through an evolution. the community talks to her and educated her about what being transgender was and she went on to become an advocate for the transgender community. she spoke at schools about what it's like to raise a transgender child. not just her, but the community

as a whole, we all learned what being transgender is. kristen: i s ithat cli tha e spects.>> to tell the story, t back and we talked to alameda county district attorney's office and they still have the interrogation videos. kristen: did we learn anything new? >> some of the interrogation videos wasn't even admitted into court so nobody really saw it. it was one of the women there the night she was killed. some of this, it was only seen by people attended the trial or not seen by anybody else. so you learn a lot about the mindset of the men and what they were thinking, and why they decided to kill her. kristen: i remember one of them

said i can't be gay upon discovering that when was transgender. and that reveals so much about the mindset and the insecurities they had and how that led to the hate. >> yes. gwen had sexual relations with a few of the men, but it only went so far and she would not let them touch certain parts of her body. so when they discovered her birth gender, i guess, one of them screamed does this mean i'm gay? they used that to try to justify what became known as a trans panic defense. i panicked, i can't be gay, and they ended up killing her. it was more about their reaction to this as opposed to this person. kristen: it is incredulous to us that it would be used as a defense but this changed the

law. >> there was a law that was signed by governor schwarzenegger at the time and that instructed juries that they can't take into account the gender identity of a person in deciding any kind of trial. it wasn't until 2014 that california became the first state in the nation to pass a law to outright ban the trans panic defense which is similar to the gay panic defense. they just become enraged and kill them. kristen: the jury rejected that and they were convicted. what happened to them? >> one of them decided to cooperate and testify. he got an 11 year sentence for a manslaughter charge. two of the other ones were convicted for second-degree

murder. there was a mistrial because they cannot reach a decision because of this trans panic defense thing. they were able to convict. kristen: i think about how hard it must have been for gwen as a teenager. it is hard even now. i wonder as you revisited the people she knew, was there a sense that she had -- she said the mom was supportive, but did she have support? and how difficult it must have been. >> the mom says she was being bullied at school and she had to drop out of school. she wasn't allowed to use the bathroom that aligned with her gender identity. and the sister recalls the many people that are struggling with their identity and that she

attempted suicide several times. her story is typical. kristen: this is a really powerfully and beautifully told story that gets us thinking. thank you for coming on to share and i hope folks will tune in and watch being gwen, a life-and-death story available on demand. roku, apple tv, and amazon fire tv. it will also premiere on our 24/7 streaming channel tonight. at long last, san francisco central subway will open. our partner at the standard will our partner at the standard will dive into i had no idea how much i wamy case was worth. c call the barnes firm to find out what your case could be worth. we will help get you the best result possible. ♪ call one eight hundred, eight million ♪

kristen: san francisco's

long-awaited central subway will have its soft opening this week at connecting chinatown to the rest of the subway system. but the project has some hailing it as an economic lifeline and others are calling it a boondoggle. our media partner has an article taking a close look at the promises and problems of the central subway. sarah, welcome back to the show. give us the 411. how frequently the trains will run -- >> the subway will be opening this weekend but it is a soft launch. it is only going to be running for free. trains are expected to run every 12 minutes. all the way up to chinatown. they can head out this week and for the first time. kristen: how long have they been

building this? >> the project was inset did all the way back in the 90's. it really cut off chinatown from the rest of san francisco's downtown because of the embarcadero freeway. it has been a long time coming on this project. and there have been a few delays along the way. there was even a fire. issues with contractors. four years behind schedule for this point. >> some of the hurdles are natural disasters, but there are also some things that many thought were self-inflicted that were kind of indicative of san francisco politics. >> people have been criticizing the sf mta.

for mismanaging big projects like this one, there was also the project way behind schedule and way over budget. they are facing the same struggles of not having enough money or having money that is constricted. in san francisco, we feel it really strongly because our transit needs so many upgrades. we are really feeling it on these projects. >> is chinatown excited? is this the boost they need for the economy? >> i was at the soft opening in

late october. they were so excited. there was art being unveiled, live music performances, a lot of really key movers and shakers within the chinatown community that made this project happen. finally, it is coming to fruition. we are finally doing something with the folks that work so hard on it. kristen: the economy is contracting that -- >> muni has not recovered.

they have not been super willing to estimate the prospective ridership because they don't know how many people are going to be taking it every day since remote work is still very popular. i think that's where a lot of the criticism of this project is coming from, this was designed for a pre-pandemic area. and how many people are trying to get downtown every day, kind of remaining up in the air. >> you could check out the other

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kristen: thank you for joining us today for getting answers. we will be tonight, bracing for several feet of snow. authorities now warning of a life threatening snow emergency. the snow alerts from wisconsin to new york. drivers facing near whiteout conditions. buffalo, new york, bracing for extreme impact. more than four feet of snow possible. tonight, the governor declaring a state of emergency. temperatures plunging across the u.s. matt rivers near buffalo tonight. ginger zee standing by to time this out. also tonight, the end of an era. house speaker nancy pelosi, the first woman speaker of the house, revealing she will no longer serve as democratic leader. tonight, what even herre a adversaries are now acknowledges. rachel scott live on the hill. don't, the driver who plowed into 25 police recruits, two recruits in critical condition. we have just learned from