within the larger community. they deserve fair treatment under housing, public places, health care, and government programs. lgbt people like anyone else should have their -- the freedom to build the kind of personal intimate relationship most meaningful to them. they deserve to be connected to opportunities, resources, and to each other, have the right to organize for their future and building resources to create a legacy for future generations. weekend -- a firm commitment to the population and make a difference by working toward a future that is free from prejudice and discrimination. ecs provide services to the population and from one of our clients, i would like to state he was thankful to us and told

us, "you are heaven sent, you have kept me out of trouble and understood my frustrations. i am living in new life again." thank you so much. >> good afternoon, supervisors and congratulations, supervisor olague:. . i don't think i can add anything to the comments that have been brought forth here. one group of lgbt people are still suffering an inordinate amount of discrimination and harassment. they are persons of the transgendered community. at times it is very subtle

discrimination such as i have suffered during my 30 years as a civil servant in san francisco. this form of bias is hard to pinpoint but it prevented me from advancing while a city employee. even larry brinken could not penetrate this problem when i went to him because of the subtlety of it. that fear that i suffered for 30 years has carried over, preventing me from contributing more to the community here in san francisco. it brings to mind that sank, a mind is a terrible thing to waste. and so when you discriminate against people, you prevent them from flourishing and helping out

the community as it would like to. thank you. -- helping out the community as they would like to. thank you. >> good afternoon. i would like to start by saying congratulations, christina. all right. i am with planning for elders and senior action network. i would like to say three things. i think it is -- thank you for having this hearing and calling attention to the lgbt seniors. something i would like to a knowledge in -- and honor is the level of things that lgbt seniors have had to live through and overcome and struggle with. i talked to seniors and they said back in the 1950's and this is no surprise to anyone here, i could not go on a date with my boyfriend. we had to meet at a restaurant and we just ran into each other because there was a much -- in san francisco, so much overt

discrimination and it is appalling. i want to honor the fact that people have survived not only layers of institutional oppression but also the a deck -- epidemic and limited housing and employment opportunities because of these discriminations. housing is a critical part. that is what is the thing that makes seniors, lgbt seniors, low income folks able to live in san francisco. if they can have affordable housing, they have a right, they have an ability to flourish and move forward. another thing i would like to echo what has been said here. some sort of mandatory training, some sort of mandatory requirement for compliance for sensitivity and consciousness among people who are city contractor. -- contractors. they have to read-transition not by choice but by force because

people will not honor their true identity. that is a glaring problem and a crime in my opinion. as lesbian and gay seniors having to go into the closet to access care because they do not feel safe, people have survived a lot of historical oppression in this country, that is known. something should be done about this. also, people with disabilities who are not seniors now experience some of these very same things. they rely on home care workers, they rely on medical professionals and treatment that does not recognize all the time their true identity and it is another thing to have to fight for. i want to thank you for having this and this is amazing. thank you very much. >> i want to thank supervisor

campos, supervisor wiener and supervisor olague for having this meeting and thank you, supervisor elsbernd for sticking through a period of want to congratulate supervisor olague. i am with pride at work that works with lgbt writes in employment. i want to know to as an openly transgendered per cent this is something that needs to be explored. their unemployment rates, high unemployment rates even in san francisco in the transgendered community. also at on issues around discrimination around age. i would be interested in looking at what the unemployment rates are for people between 50 and 654 transgendered people and i suspect they're pretty high.

there is also the unique needs around health care. obviously there is a very high rate of not being insured in the transgendered community for health care. most people now many are living in sro's. the challenges they face in those environments. i'm not saying anything that anyone here does not already know. there are some particular days around the transgendered community. it deserves further exploration in terms of on needs. in terms of cultural sensitivity training, that might be something the city should be exploring more. thank you. >> we have exhausted the yellow cards. is there anyone who has not filled one out who would like to speak? please come forward.

in order. -- any order. >> good afternoon, supervisors. it is a great pleasure to speak here and to have you conduct this hearing. i am going to tell you a tale of two of my queer friends. les gilbert at age 92. she was under the care of onlock. every new year's eve we would go to jon's grille and drink ourselves silly. the conductor on the cable car would get her back home. she was an artist and lively and vital and she was still looking for the love of her life. howard grayson was a valued activist and friend and a

beloved care giver of harold wallace. it took the community six days to locate his body. at kaiser. kaiser would not tell us he was dead. that could have been avoided if there were other kinds of contacts in place to let his friends or his family know his condition in hospital. every organization here today wants to be an extended research to lgbt elders in san francisco. the milk club will hold an annual elder life conference on my couch -- on march 24. to learn how we can act

politically and foreman elder caucus. we all want to stay in san francisco. that is what they wanted and we want to work with you on this issue. thank you. >> good afternoon, supervisors. thank you for putting this form together. i am the executive director of stepping stone and a member of the mayor's long-term care coordinating council. so much has been said, but i would like to underscore one important fact. housing is home. it is health. we cannot deliver services to people without stable housing. when people have it, their health improves. safe, welcoming housing. with this population, we have

also heard that many are without care givers and people watching over them. so our support systems are critical to be that caregiver, to know when things are going bad. and to step in. we have heard a fact today that i urge you to pay attention to. that is about the suicide rate in the senior community and especially for lgbt seniors. i heard yesterday from san francisco suicide prevention that they believed not only is it the highest in san francisco, senior suicide, they believe it is double in the lgbt community. there are no statistics. it is double in used and they believe it is double in the lgbt senior community as well. -- double in youth and they belief is double in the lgbt senior community as well.

>> good afternoon. i am on the lgbt advisory committee to the human rights commission and a longtime volunteer for open house. i want to say that as a gay baby boomer, i feel it is our duty, we created that castro and -- the castro. we must acknowledge and care for our aging population. it must be part of the political agenda. i am speaking for many of my neighbors. we have a grass-roots organization called friends of 55 and we have been advocating for this site to be billed for a long time. i am putting that forward. this really needs to be the legacy of my generation to san francisco.

thank you for having us today. and moving the dialogue forward. thank you. >> hello, supervisors. several organizations submitted things for me to read on their behalf. i was going to read those now if that is okay. supervisor wiener: if you could submit them in writing also. >> great, i will do that. the alleys and are -- the alexander hamilton post, which represents the lgbt-focused veterans agency. "on behalf of the 200 lgbt war veterans, alexander hamilton post in san francisco would like me to speak a few words on behalf of our lgbt elders. our country would not be strong or successful if it were not for

them. sexual orientation does not diminish the sacrifices that made for our nation. these citizens carry the burden to ensure that our society, with all its complexities, could succeed courage to those in the 1970's and 1980's, i cannot imagine what you winter in the early years. we owe you a great deal of gratitude. thank you again and got less all of you today." -- god bleesss all of you today" "discrimination can take many forms, including discrimination of omission, refusal of rice to receive visitors, denial of access to hormone therapy, being threatened for expressing gender identity, being segregated, being harassed on the basis of

hiv status, refused the right to visit a partner, and refusal of life-planning documents the dead -- of life-planning documents. we have worked to share with our consumers. i will submit the rest of these. supervisor elsbernd: any of the -- any other members of the public who would like to speak who has not? if anybody else would like to speak, please line up. otherwise, this will be our last public, enter. -- commenter. >> i am a citizen of the lgbt community and i feel is mandated to have proper facilities to reside in as we get into our golden years. i do not feel comfortable having

to leave the city because i cannot afford to reside in this community. i have been here for -- since the 1970's. i feel there is a lot of discrimination even though san francisco is considered to be the liberal cities. -- city. i have been involved in a lot of hate-bashing and name-calling when i'm with other people of the lgbt community. i feel that safety is a big issue. i would feel uncomfortable having to leave the city because of financial situations. i really feel that we need a senior housing for the lgbt community. it is very vital to our survival. if you can do something to make it happen, i would really appreciate it. i do know a lot people who are older than me who do have a lot

of situations that -- they have to move out of the city because they cannot stay here anymore. i came here to represent that situation. i think you for your time. thank you. supervisor farrell: seeing no other members of the public, public comment is closed the. supervisor wiener? supervisor wiener: i want to thank everyone who has come out today. this has been an amazing hearing. i want to thank my colleagues for listening current i noticed a lot of people who -- i have been in the city for almost 15 years and a lot of the people who came to this hearing were not seniors when i first met them or knew they were back in 1997 and. i was 27 and i am entering my middle years carry -- my middle

years. this is so important, as our current generation of seniors, but also preparing for the future. i think every lgbt person i know who lives here really wants to stay here. it is an amazing city to live in. to age in. we all want to do this in a dignified way. this is just the beginning of the conversation. we will continue to work on these issues together. supervisor olague, do you have any concluding comments? supervisor olague: i am not sure where that conversation would take place. i am not familiar all the rules of the government body, the brown act and sunshine ordinance, but i think we do need to have a conversation about the next step. there was some talk of having a conversation at some point where we could work with the department of asian -- of aging

and adult services and find out how they are engaged on this issue. the senior network, clay for elders, have been involved in the ihss. there are so many groups talking about senior issues in general about which the lgbt community is excited -- is affected by. we heard the particular situation around the transgendered community, which are truly unique. issues that affect transgendered situation -- seniors, we do not know what we do not know. planning for elders to have that training, that center provided to us, we are grateful for that. there is still more conversation and needs to happen, more planning on our part, and more

collaboration from the different offices to figure out where to go. as mentioned earlier, so that we do not keep talking but actually come up with some kind of plan and schedule where we start bringing these things to fruition. i am anxious to be part of that conversation. it is just a question of when and where. president chiu: i appreciate everyone's patience as we have been dealing with all the foreign issues and all the conflicting meetings that were scheduled. i am really glad. we started a really robust and substantive conversation about the challenges that we have. i think we all know that, in general, in san francisco, we are going to be experiencing the fact that our senior population, the numbers are rapidly expanding. as supervisor campos said at the beginning of the hearing, i was watching on television, when you

are talking about 25,000 seniors to come out of the lgbt community with all of the challenges that are, that we have for about today, it really helps to elucidate and clarify and inform a lot of us. my staff provided new is a number of records that have been put out on the needs of individuals with hiv and aids who are over 50 and 60. seniors within the lgbt community in. i want to thank those of you share your personal stories. it really helped the policy- making come to life. it impressed upon me and everyone else how important it is that we focus on this. i want to thank my colleagues for bringing this year and working with your leadership. a lot of this is going to take money, but it is also going to take a lot of tough and good thinking in complicated policy areas.

i look forward to working with all of you in doing that. supervisor wiener: i would request that the committee -- supervisor elsbernd: absolutely. can we say that without objection? are there any other items before the committee? seeing none, this committee is adjourned.

>> good morning, and welcome to our city hall. as you know, yesterday -- first of all, let allthank all the members of the board of supervisors that are here today. it is really great day for our city and san francisco. i want to thank the members who are here, and even those who

have not made it here, they have already registered. there certainly here in spirit. yesterday, you heard me talk about our unique opportunity to unite the city and move it forward past old political labels and focus on all of our shared priorities for the city. that is what has been on my mind as i consider this very important appointment to the board of supervisors. as no, i have worked hard to set a new tone of civility, and i said yesterday that ever decision that i make will be in the best interest of all the people of san francisco. that has been my standard and i expect that of any one that i appointed the board of supervisors to also have. that is why i am extremely excited and proud to announce today might appointment of christina olague as district 5 is supervisor.

[jurors and applause] -- [cheers and applause] i have talked to her quite a bit, and i know that she shares my vision of job creation and economic development in putting san francisco back to work. and i know that is also shared by all of the members of our board of supervisors as well. i know she cares about our neighborhoods and smart economic development, and certainly public safety for our neighborhoods. we also share the same values. in our past, a week -- for both came from backgrounds, fighting for the rights of tenants and

immigrants. cristina will work every day for the people of district 5, building on a momentum that so many of our community partners that worked hard to achieve. christina olague brings an extraordinary understanding of city government and land use from her time on the planning commission. i am well aware that this may require her to recuse herself from some of the boats immediately before the board of supervisors. i have considered this. but the strengths of what she brings to the office, in my opinion, vastly overwhelms concerned about individual votes and individual projects. this is not about counting votes. this is about what is best for san francisco and her district. [applause] congratulations, christina, i look forward to working with you. i know you will do a great job,

and this is a great day for san francisco. so if you will step forward. ok, ah, how are you? see, we're working on the last second here. [laughter] please raise your right hand. [laughter] please repeat after me. i, christina olague -- do solemnly swear -- that i will support and defend -- the constitution of the united states and the constitution of the state of california -- against all enemies, foreign and domestic -- that i will bear

true faith and allegiance -- to the constitution of the united states and the constitution of the state of california -- that i take this obligation freely -- without any mental reservation -- or purpose of evasion -- and that i will well and faithfully -- discharge the duties -- upon which i am is about to enter -- during such time as i hold the office of -- member of the board of supervisors -- and transportation authority -- for the city and county of san francisco -- congratulations. >> thank you. [cheers and applause]

>> please welcome the newest member of our board of supervisors, supervisor for district 5, christina olague. [cheers and applause] >> wow. thank you all for coming out here. most of you i have known for a long time. and, you know, i feel really overwhelmed right now. i am a little nervous. i did prepare a speech, because i was afraid if i did not write things down that i would stumble over my words, but i do want to thank everyone here that i