kristen: hello, you are watching "getting answers." we get answers for you in real time. today's we kick our pride month, abc news and abc television stations have teamed up to share the stories of six young transgender people from across the country. our america, who i am meant to be, is streaming right now. one of my colleagues is the producer and will be here to

share their stories and plain light is important they are told. also, a moment for a san francisco family of six, after nine years living in a 100 square-foot room in chinatown, they finally moved into a four bedroom apartment, thanks to a federal housing after that finally got approved after our media partner at the san francisco standard shined a light on their ordeal. the joyous video you have to see. first, legislation has been passed to prevent workplace violence which is the second leading cause of workplace violent injury. it is especially relevant in the wake of several recent fatal workplace shootings in the bay area. the senator is joining us live now to talk about this bill. thanks for your time. >> thank you, i appreciate your interest in this.

it is a bill that i think can really help change things in terms of the escalating violence we are seeing in the workplace in the bay area and all over california. kristen: i want to congratulate you on the bill passing the senate. does the assembly still have to vote now? >> they do. the way things work, we are in a busy transition right now where all the bills that come through the senate that start in the senate, bills that are authored by senators like me, they have to move off the senate floor and make their way over to the assembly and vice versa. we've got a lot of activity going on right now. descendant has just concluded processing or voting on all the bills. some made and some didn't. see it our way and keep the bill moving. kristen: what prompted?

you to sponsor this bill? i think you did it in february before the more recent incidents we have had here. >> it's kind of an accumulation of impact. i imagine i'm not the only one that feels that way. i had the experience going all the way back to my days on the city council and on the board of supervisors before i became a senator of seeing workplace violence. in my case, i even had a first cousin who was in a grocery store who got severely injured and had to go through multiple operations because of an intruder, an attacker. a lot of people don't know what to do in that situation and we continue to see that happening. when the mass shootin a couple of years ago, i was there almost immediately. the first thing that came to my mind is we need to intervene and intercept workers or coworkers

who were having mental health breakdowns who were about to do the wrong name. we need wellness interest to do that. we need plans in place. we need logs that log violence or threat of violence happens. sometimes you need to keep them away from the workplace or away from where you are going to be if you are a worker that is being stalked or harassed in a violent way. these are things that the bill calls out. they are not radical. they are not new. centers right on campus. we want to take those best practices and make sure every employer in the state of california is doing that. kristen: governor newsom last year help make it statewide, and i want to talk about that. i know that is just one

provision in the bill. talk about the other key provisions that you think will really make an impact. >> training is key. we often find in these workplace situations, perhaps it is because people think it will never be them or it will never be there workplace, but there is not training, there is not an understanding of where to go and what to do for any of us who have -- any of us who have ever practiced a fire drill at work or at a school, we know how important it is just to have a plan and no where you go when that emergency happens. when you don't know where to go, it creates chaos. we have seen that in any number of emergencies, and violence is no different. a plant, tree, some kind of alarm that will let people know that a problem is occurring in real-time, so they can go ahead and get into action and start following a preordained plan. logs that will log workplace

violence and be reviewed annually, not just for that particular workplace, but so that we can aggregate data and start to figure out patterns and trends and where this is happening. so state agencies can intervene even more effectively. kristen: the most recent where you had a suspected shoplifter and a security guard and a struggle. there were a lot of questions asked in the aftermath about whether the contractor to walgreens had mandated or suggested or pushed their employees to actually physically confront any suspects. does your bill address that issue? >> it certainly does, and i appreciate the question. one of the things we did in the bill say that you cannot prescribe the rank-and-file employee, the courtesy clerk or grocery bagger in your store,

you cannot prescribe that person to go out and tackle shoplifters or to prevent intruders from coming in. that is not good, is not healthy or right for anybody. if you are going to have a security team, you have to have actual trained security in your workplace. so yes, we've addressed that and we think it is a growing problem. it is understandable, especially in retail with some of the problems they have been having, they have tried to take shortcuts and rely on workers that are not trained in security to help out. we are saying that is not ok, that's got to be something that is addressed in the state law, and it is. kristen: explain this part of the bill requiring employers to do an assessment of staffing levels as a cause of workplace violence incidents. what do you mean by that? >> one of the things we all understand at some level is that

there is stress that is occurring in certain workplaces because of a lack of help, caseload that is very high, of overtime, situations that are really stretching the person's ability, the employee's ability to cope, and when coping mask and-isms -- coping mechanisms break down, suddenly we have a mental health breakdown. if that person has not been intervene with, if someone hasn't figured out if they are truly violent, we've got a big problem on our hands. frankly, i think that is what happened at bta, that's what happened at half moon bay and what has happened in a lot of places where we have seen severe either mass shootings or just work -- workplace violence in general breakout. we want this information, it's not a way to label people, it is a way to intervene and try to head off some of these problems

and de-escalate before they happen. kristen: let's just take 10 seconds, tell me what is the timeline here? is this going to get done during this session? >> it is. we are very confident, the way the bill is moving, especially after vetting at the senate, we have adjusted some aspects of the bill because of good commentary from our friends in the legislature. we need to get to september, get it all the way through the assembly and back to the senate for concurrence and then over for signature. unconfident that the governor will sign a bill if we can get it to him. kristen: thank you so much, senator. coming up, we are kicking off month with a special edition of the abc new series, "our america." helping tell the

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>> so i wonder, why did you want to have this conversation? why did you want to be here today and talk about this? >> we are just trying to live as young people without having to worry about being judged how we identify. >> i think people still have a misinformed idea of what transgender people and kids are like. i think they just don't know us. >> we are all just wh nobody should force us, nobody has ever forced us to do anything that we don't want to. i think that's the biggest misconception, and the one that

bothers me the most. >> people are scared of what they don't know. think that we should all get the chance to express ourselves how we want to, and no one should have the right to tell us what we can do or what we cannot do. >> i want to be here so that other people don't have to be here. people in the future who might not even be born yet don't have to be here, so that they can just live their lives at home and with their friends or at school or in their careers or jobs. >> there is a picture of her in our bathroom and she is looking in the mirror and she is wearing this kind of like cotillion style dress. she was so happy in this picture. you could see it in her face. she is just in love with herself in the mirror. i had never seen that look from her before. that's when i was like, i know i'm doing the right thing. >> it's really just who we it's like who we are meant to

be. kristen: today's the official start of pride month and abc news and the abc owned television stations have teamed up to share the story of six young transgender people from across the country. joining us is kim mikell who produce the special, always have wonderful conversations. it's good to have you on the set. let's talk about this choice this year for you to focus on transgender young people. why that choice? >> it really kind of lead by what is happening in our country right now. there are more than 500 pieces of legislation across the country that have been targeting lgbtq+ people. half of those laws right now are targeting transgender people, and most of those laws are impacting trends youth. so we really wanted to take the opportunity to hear from the people most impacted by these

laws. what is going on in their life, and why does it matter? kristen: and these six young people come from different parts of the country and very different circumstances? >> all over the country. we have folks from southern california, two folks from texas, people from chicago, from new york. in texas, one of the parents was turned in trying to get gender affirming care for their kid. we spoke to the parents as well in this conversation. kristen: i understand this type of project has never been done before on a national scale. how did this come together? >> i had met with before and they reached out to abc and got back to me. it was incredible opportunity to sit down and talk with them. good morning america, gio

beneetiz was eager to highlight this issue. we shot this in new york and on the live with kelly and ryan set. it was a big effort for the network cruise and we met all these kids in new york and spent time talking with them. kristen: one of the kids said you are scared of what you don't know. it sounds like there is real hope that people will take away from this, get to know us. >> one of the things that struck me and sitting and listening to these kids talk, it was emotional, and one was just an aha moment. all my friends who have kids and are just trying to get their kids to eat vegetables. there that these kids are somehow being forced by outward forces. i just find it hard to believe, it is hard enough for a parent

to understand that their kid may be trends -- trans next level and force them into being trans was an aha for me. there's this moment where one of the kids was talking about how they were having this conversation with her parents about coming out or transitioning, as a lot of transgender people refer to it. it reminded me as a gay man, i had that same conversation with my mom, and the thing that this kid said was i'm a mom, i just want to know if you're still going to love me. kristen: oh my gosh, i'm going to cry. i'm a mom, and yes, that's what our kids need to know. i just want you to see me and accept me for who i am and the journey that i'm on may not be the journey you envision for me, but i want to ask about that. in the conversations being had

nationally and some of the laws being passed in the country, there's a sense that there are some who fear that even if you talk about this are introduce the concept, somehow it will get someone who wasn't ready, to make a tough choice that you know would be so hard for your life. i am not understanding that and i think a lot of people aren't. >> that's what i'm hoping this special will do. we didn't produce it heavily. we asked these kids questions and they answer them honestly. i really hope that people take away, that if they don't know a transgender person now, that they do after watching this. kristen: they're so real, they jump off the screen and touch your heart. i can't stop crying because as a parent, it is hard enough to be a young person. these are great stories. great job.

now. all eight abc owned television stations on the award-winning network, you can see it any of those places. up next, a remarkable story about hope and change for a san francisco family. how they went from living in a single room optic and -- occupancy building to a four bedroom apartment, (bell dinging) how's john? oh, much better. that was quite a scare. got us thinking about a lot of things. like life insurance. if something happened to either one of us, we'd really be in trouble. but where can we get coverage with john's health problems on a fixed income? go with a sure thing. colonial penn. friends have been telling friends about colonial penn guaranteed acceptance whole life insurance for more than 50 years, and with good reason. if you're between the ages of 50 and 85, it's a sure thing.

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just for calling. (bell dings) same time next week? sure thing. kristen: remember in april when we did a story on a san francisco family that got invited to the white house for the easter egg role? these u incomeeiborhoods in san francisco, especially in chinatown. our partner the san francisco standard has done a series ofref families who live inqualor for years. a differeamy had been

cramped into a single 100 square-foot room for nine years, leaving the mother of four despond at. -- despondent. the standard is happy to report today and a new article have gotten their happy ending, although there is still much work left to be done. joining us is the standard reporter who has been following the family. good to see you again. i want to share the happy update with our viewers. the yus tiny room? >> yes, after five years of living in that extremely tiny room in chinatown, the family of six finally moved out of that chinatown room and now they are living in a four bedroom apartment in nob hill, about four blocks away from where they used to live. kristen: did they invite you

there shortly after their move, or was that moving day? >> i think they spent about a month to move slowly because they had to take care of their kids and the mom has to work sometimes. so it took a while. i joined them when they were 80% finished moving and i walked from chinatown to their new place with them, so i can tell a big difference between 100 square feet room and the four bedroom apartment. kristen: 100 square feet, is like one third the size of a typical hotel room. i want to share what the mother told you. she said, how could we dare to imagine?

she seems so emotional. she said something about cooking for her kids, too. what was that? >> when she was living in the sro, the whole floor of the tenants have to share one kitchen. so the kitchen would always be occupied by other tenants. so when her kids are coming back from school and asking, can we have something to eat, the mom might not be able to cook something for them immediately because the kitchen might be occupied by other tenants. kristen: we are looking at video of their old place, the single room there. how did the kids lives change? just looking at this, everybody cramped to get -- together, i don't even know how they would do their work. how did the kids lives change? >> back in the single there was literally no privacy because they were living with all the family members in that single room. now the teenage girls in high

school have their own single room. they can decorate the room, can have their own space as teenage girls. so i believe they changed a lot. kristen: so what made this possible? let show their new place because it is so great to see them in it. this was section eight. why were they on the waitlist for so long? >> they are receiving the section eight housing voucher from san francisco housing authority which will cover their rent. they only need to place -- pay 30% of their income and the voucher will cover the remaining part. that's why they can afford such a big four room apartment in another neighborhood. a lot of low income families have been waiting for years for the voucher to be granted and also i think for this family,

they have been waiting for different programs and finally they got a voucher in late february. kristen: obviously you continue to report on this because they are not the only family in the situation. there are actually quite a number of them, right? >> according to a local coalition of sro families, there are about 200 families still living in sro's in san francisco. we are talking about age 18. there are over 200 of them and we believe the actual number should be much higher. kristen: so big picture, what needs to change, after your reporting, has the city started to work on new policy? >> there is a housing crisis in san francisco, for sure. typically low income families living in sro's are considered house, which means they are not homeless.

they might not be in a lot of conversation or discussion we talk about housing prices, but apparently they are not doing well. about them and there are political pressures. maybe there are some new housing projects, set aside housing units for these kind of low income families who are living in sros. kristen: definitely worth a lot of attention. the yu family story is just amazing, for her to say now i can cook a meal properly for my kids, that is so heartwarming. think you so much. check out more of the francisco standards

kristen: thanks so much for joining us for getting "getting answers." we will be here every day at 3:00, answering questions from around the bay area. i will see you back here at >> tenant president biden's fall on stage during the air force academy graduation, the white house says he is fun. where moments ago they pulled five people from the water. president biden taking part in the time honored tradition addressing military graduates and handing out diplomas at the air force academy and then the fall of the arctic tonight, the white house and the president is fine and he tripped over a sandbag on stage. former president trump news on