the receiving end of discriminatory practices and tricking devices because of their skin colour. you have other nationalities or even joining in. very much so in the same manner that i come and speak up for other nationalities who are being violated. you watch me speak up for rape victims, you've watched me speak up for it's hispanics in the mission district and i spoke up for people who are at doing in-home care who haven't even been paid for services. now it is time for me to speak up more for my own nationality. i am moving to have a hearing pertaining to the ethnic cleansing in the fillmore area and i moved to have a hearing on the department of public health because of the amount of females that are black who have been discriminated in the health department. i can't believe the number of people who have complained about barb garcia. i want to hear it on both of those topics. >> thank you for your comments. neck speaker, please.

[speaking foreign language]

>> i would like to tell you, it is big time for you to control one district. now you have 11 districts. i know that's very hard for you, and i hope to see calc after 30 years, 33 years i am here to see a biased mayor, to help you. listen to me, i am no joke. the people, you put them in the shuttle and steal their food. i have witnessed it. i have the name. i will give you it. we cry to have it and make it shorter. the manager and employee is still [indiscernible]. i bring it 55 turkeys to feed the homeless -- homeless next-door and they steal it. everyplace want to do that.

look here. even our [indiscernible] said you are the great for the position of work as manager. as mayor derek london, try to understand. we need to have five minutes from you when you are becoming mayor to speak with the people behind me, and to know the problems they have and try to resolve. five minutes with every one of us, one time or two times a month. same like willie brown did before. a good successful job if you do that. second, try to understand, you have a supervisor who used to work with you, now you are bigger than them because you have become the mayor of the city. >> thank you for your comments.

neck speaker, please. >> supervisors my name is bradley wheat fire. i wanted to comment on the process of vetting changes that are coming in this budget, in regard to the san francisco public library. earlier today you stood up for our immigrants, our undocumented sisters and brothers, and i applaud that. the public library has asked to include rfid, radio frequency id into this budget. what does that say to our un- documented sisters and brothers? they will not be able to use the library. that is going to give a level of our government, this lawless, federal layer an opportunity, in

realtime and in documentation, to go after these members of our community. we cannot not serve everyone. and if we are going to do rfid in the library, then we need to serve no one, because discriminating against undocumented sisters and brothers is unacceptable. the same process as with the cumulative stealth shutdown of evening hours. several years ago, my union participated in leaflets to defend monday nights and other evening hours. fifty-one% of people surveyed want evening hours. the library, through a stealth proposal is going to shut down hours in ten branches. all of the hours at sunset and all of the hours at a number of our other branches. this is across the city.

that $3.4 million that is being wasted on rfid which doesn't give them any new technology that isn't already taken care of business, it is just a new gizmo. as you said in the budget committee -- committee, is thi this-- >> ti wife your comments. neck speaker, please. >> good afternoon members of the board. my name is alan jones. for quite some time, i have accused the san francisco city hall of being racist against it's a black community, i also, since this last election have evidence of san francisco being more racist despite the fact of the votes of this last election. with that said, i will be

bringing forth ten egregious stories of where san francisco city leaders have conducted racist acts against members of the black community. one such act is so egregious that once the attention of the nba commissioner gets a hold of it, the golden state warriors will not be able to play one game in san francisco until this egregious act is taking care of. which is ongoing. next week, i will begin my ten stories, 21 minutes each, understanding that there will be a break. but the first one, which is number 10 on the list is about

ten girls up at the san francisco juvenile hall. >> thank you for your comments. neck speaker, please. >> ladies and gentlemen of the audience, and commissioners. supervisors, good afternoon. for the record, my name is emilio. i've spoken before this board many times in the past. i am here today for one reason. before i start, is that if you guys can elevate those t.v. screens 4 feet, you can read them in the back row. you can't read them outside of that. i would like to congratulate london breed at her blowout contest with mark leno. it is nice to be a window -- a winner instead of a loser. i would like to bring to your

attention today, though, the problem we have in the taxi business. i think aaron peskin pushed us into the fda's ff -- s.f. m.t.a. it has been a disaster for the past nine years. it gets worse every year. presently, they have instituted almost a million dollar project to pay a consulting firm to tell us once again what we are doing wrong. every proposal that they have put before us -- before us in the past nine years has been a disaster. medallion sales is just one aspect of it. i, for one driver, i'm totally fed up with the whole situation. i decided to start writing letters to a civil grant journey -- jury, to see if we can get an investigation into the

correlation between the civil service commission, the transmitting project, the sfo commission, and this board. we have gone nowhere as taxi drivers in the past 20 years. while we now have a mayor that has the highest salary in the united states, we have a police chief with the highest salary in the united states pushing 400,000 a year, and we are back to where we were in 1980. >> thank you. the sergeant will come by and pick that up from you. thank you. comments. next speaker, please. >> hello. supervisors, good evening. i'm here to tell you, i'm a taxi

driver and a medallion holder. they totally crushed our business. i am here for your attention. our taxi business, what is going on. i think the city also doesn't mind the half of the company. they also tell us our businesses crashed and medallion owners are suffering. we look for your help. please look at our situation. we buy the medallion for $250,000. please, if you do not want to help us, give us our money back and take your medallion. thank you so much. >> thank you for your comments. speaker, please.

>> good afternoon. i have a medallion for $250,000. i'm speaking regarding medallions. since they have taken over the administration of the taxi business, it is declining. they achieve san francisco taxi disaster. they have... and blessed of the cab company with 3,000 medallions. it made as to throw out taxi medallions to the bank. because sfmta providers are sharing their choices to the public. they never considered taxi drivers as part of the public, and they want us to drive empty.

they are committed to the bank. the refusal to buy back the medallion is a violation. we lost our business income. so we can't make the medallion payments. i believe me. i'm went to the bank today to make a two month payment. and made me nervous in my notes. we do not have other choices to make medallion payments. please make an amendment to the taxi medallion by back and to refund money back he was as soon as possible, and compensate the drivers for their loss. we are losing business for almost four years. we want--

>> thank you. thank you it, sir. thank you fear comments. next speaker, please. >> hello. i am a yellow cab driver. i have been driving -- driving a cab since 1997. the city started selling the medallions in 2010. that's tenant -- that time they said you buy them italian for $250,000, or we will -- there will be no list for a free medallions. you buy it or you are out of the list. we bought the medallions for $250,000 and then huber and lift jumped in. they did not protect our business. after that, they sold them for hundred $50,000 for other people who wanted to buy. why charge $250,000 for cost for

the people who applied after us? they did $125,000. that is a total injustice. my request is please buy back the medallions for us -- from us or give us our money back. i'm not asking for all the money i paid, you just pay us our principal money back to us and take medallion back. second thing, i have a request. i am a cab driver and a work night time. this, i pick up two working people. and i went to the mission district on 19 and mission. they didn't pay my fair. i said, you know, i will tell you the police station will not pay the fair. they said a bad word to my indian race, also.

they opened the door and jumped out. i don't put glasses on for fashion. look at my face over here. it burned my skin and i had to drive to the general hospital. thank god those doctors took care of my i. >> thank you for your comments. thank you. thank you for your comments. next speaker, please. >> i need the cover, please. >> okay. if you see this, i am a community activist for 29 years in san francisco. living 15 years in bayview hunter's point. what you see here, first of all,

congratulations to yourself london breed in regards to your victory. i am happy that this is going forth. the spirit of truth, we need to see women of dignity and integrity. she ran a fair race. she ran a decent race. she ran a race without being faked, without being cunning, without being devious. i want to say that what we have observed here in san francisco was shocking. racism is truly alive. i was never naïve to that, and neither are we. but to have a board that say they are of justice and fighting ethnic examples to be principles of integrity, and to do what was done in this race, i can see why it was meant for me to be on the same. i want to talk in regards the bayview opera house.

on october 21st, there was a pimp awards. you see, did you see that? yes. that's at the bayview opera house. a pimp ball was given. to say that we were the best assets. no way would it be at the opera house. a little 8-year-old boy saw this image. he came with the horror on the left-hand side. a black women, is a horror on the left-hand side. and the first bank coat at the opera house. >> thank you for your comments. next speaker, please.

>> good afternoon. i think everybody knows who i am. first of all, congratulations being mayor, mayor london breed. and also congratulations -- thank you for announcing the committee on the taxi medallion issue. why we keep coming here? people are asking so much. they have not invested a penny into this one. they are asking for the residence and asking for every kind of help. but we are not asking those things. we are only asking what we have invested in. -- that is all we are asking back. we don't want to be a part of

this issue anymore. and we need your help. we are going to keep coming and we will keep asking. let's be honest one time for the taxi drivers. why the taxi driver is not a part of community? the web of things running here, i'm assuming the cabdriver is a kind of alien, and have been following somewhere unwanted. if you don't like this unwanted alien, then just shut down the taxi and the alien will disappear. no need to kill them. with different rules and regulations. the one is getting free medallion and the other is paying $250,000.

thank you very much. i hope you will keep a deep look-- >> thank you. thank you for your comment next speaker, please. >> i am with the taxi drivers. they got a goldman sachs deal but that san francisco government was a goldman sachs, not very good. we should be able to help them. congratulations mayor elect, london breach. before we leave, i want to go back to the meeting where we said no to $80 million from the state government for a new jail, when 60, 40-6 a% of the

involvement with the police was basically with mentally challenged people. emotionally challenged people. the less fortunate, and we said no to that because we don't think we needed that. i think in your next position, you might be able to do something for the city that increases people that are in jail, and can help their dignity. and help our community, and help your families and friends. i know you have a special visi vision. i would like for you to team up with supervisor kim. probably the point person in this city who knows exactly what is happening on the streets and what needs to be done to help these people. i think jail is probably the worst thing to do.

if we can come up with a plan, if you can work together, it would be lovely to get this do done. we will help our communities. thank you and good luck. >> thank you for your comments. next speaker, please. >> thank you. president breed, ladies and gentlemen of the board, i am a voluntary psychiatric outpatient in the city for over a decade. last week i read to you from a law journal. along with you about some quotations by a psychiatrist basically saying that involuntary outpatient treatment means they get to take away constitutional rights of our citizens. and i asked you, are we ruled by loss? are we to be ruled by laws, or are we to be ruled about -- by doctors?

because their decisions are far from infallible. as shown by the fact that they changed depending on which dr you ask. if you take the same patient, one doctor will say they have a serious mental illness. they are psychotic. another doctor will say no, they are not psychotic. they do not have a serious mental illness. they have a personal disorder and another doctor will give you yet another answer. we are holding people post as constitutional rights on this basis. i refer to you sociological research to the effect that significant factors in that decision is a social distance between the doctor and the patient. what social distance -- distance means is race. it means gender. it means of sexual orientation. it means age. and so, by funding citywide case

management with voluntary outpatient treatment of over a million dollars a week, you are finding racism. whatever you say about tearing down streets and statutes, you are finding racism at a high rate. >> thank you for your comments. next speaker, please. >> i think you can actually put the date of the chinese involved in american wars quite a bit earlier. there is a case where people were living in mexico as early as the 16th century. i want to do some numerology. because the christian guy isn't here, i will fill in for him. mind will not require a belief in faith but a force powerful enough to destroy the whole world will save a hundred 44,000

people. there will be less of belief in my numerology. on this day, there have been some very big changes in american history at certain points where the tide has turned dramatically. and parties came into being and other parties disappeared, you know. john adams was one point. his son, john quincy adams was the approximate end of the democratic republican party. of course, the civil war with republicans, and, you know, the depression. another part where the country was going on and off hand direction and change dramatically with that new deal. you probably maybe know this, there his exactly 22 years between lincoln and fdi.

there was 72 years between washington and lincoln. there were 14 presidents between washington and licked it -- lincoln. and 14 presidents between lincoln and fdr. that 72 years ended in 2,004 and we have yet to see a really great president. it seems like our system needs something like this every 72 years. something like that. put it back in line. >> thank you. thank you. before he speaks, are there any other members of the public who would like to address the board during general public comment? please come up to you're right. next speaker, please. >> hello. good evening. i am the director of the library

users association. i feel a little bit like bedtime stories at camp at 615. congratulations to all of those who ran, or whether you ran or did not. we care about the city being sanctuary city. we hear about privacy measures being introduced for the members of the public benefits. what is the meaning of that if we allow the library to impinge on people post as privacy and enable the tracking of not only what people are reading, but also there is tracking throughout the e.f.f. that they have mentioned, and described in its writings at the rfid location which the library wants to install. it will enable the tracking on a selective basis of where people go with their items, whether or not the person tracking cares

about what the title is. i felt encouraged by the first meeting of the budget and finance committee through hearing about people post as objections there. i think it stays that way. and i would like to give you this letter from the electronic frontier notation and aclu which is a very strongly opposed to the implementation of rfid. that is $3.4 million at the library that could be much better used for many other things like more open hours in the evenings and other times. and other things. both the aclu northern california have opposed and continue to oppose the use of rfid technology in libraries because of its very significant privacy and free speech concerns. you can learn more from them, and also from library users association. please show the letter.

>> thank you fear comments. madam president? >> supervisor breed: are there any other members of the public would like to provide public comment? seeing non, public comment is now closed. madam clerk, please read the item without adoption of reference to the committee. >> it is a motion to concur in the continuation of the declaration of local emergency by the mayor and in the actions taken, to me to the emergency of flooding affecting the san francisco public utilities commission, and the moccasin reservoir. >> can we take this item, same house, same colloquy that motion is approved unanimously.

on behalf of supervisors, for the millions of black people held as slaves he was names we will never know, and for those children and family suffering because of the immigrant family separation policies. >> supervisor breed: thank you. colleagues, that brings us to the end of our agenda. is there any other business before us today? >> that concludes our business for today. >> supervisor breed: thank you everyone. we are adjourned.

[laughter] >> get in there. >> mayor farrell: all right. there we go. [cheers and applause] >> mayor farrell: let us get started here. first of all, i want to welcome

everyone to city hall to kick off san francisco's are judy -- lgbtq pride 2018. let's give a round of applause, everyone. [cheers and applause] >> mayor farrell: i want to thank, first of all, the incredible people that made this happen here today. not only outside of city hall, but thank you to the volunteers who are making this month exactly what it is for the city of san francisco. special thanks to our own san francisco pride team and i want to acknowledge teddy witherington who is scheduled to be here. teddy, if you are here, or he will be here soon enough. i want to acknowledge him as well for being here. i want to acknowledge, there are a number of people up here as well. acknowledge the elected officials, alice randolph from art city officials board, carmen two, our assessor recorder, the woman of the hour, for sure.

[cheers and applause] clair farley from our office of transgender services. [applause] london breed, our president of the board of supervisors. our treasured tax collector and our share of. [applause] so today, in san francisco, and throughout the month, we honour both individuals that have made a significant difference in the past that are doing it now in the present and will in the future, for our lgbtq community. we also acknowledge all the organizations that work with our community of san francisco on lgbtq issues that make san francisco who we are as a city. you know, as civil rights are under attack throughout our country, it is so important that san francisco stands tall above

every other place in america. that we, as a city, recommit ourselves to reject the ideologies of bigotry and hatred that come out of the trump administration and others throughout our country, throughout the world, at times. san francisco needs to remain a beacon of hope for everybody. i am proud to be the mayor at the city and county of san francisco that stands exactly for those principles. [cheers and applause] in san francisco, we stand up for our principles of diversity. we stand up for equality for every single person in our city, and we make sure that our city continues to be an example for the rest of our country to follow. you know, as mayor, and before

then as member of the board of supervisors, i've been able to witness the strength of our lgbtq community here in san francisco. we have fought many battles over the years. today, with what was a very narrow ruling out of the u.s. supreme court, but the rhetoric that comes with that, and what our lgbtq community must do to combat that and stand proud and stand tall. it is so important at the rest of us, as a city stand with our lgbtq community. that is who we are as san francisco. along those lines, i want to make sure i let everyone know today, and announce officially, san francisco is joining with the rca of california and banning all business practices with the state of oklahoma. [cheers and applause] we will not -- we will not, as a

city, continue to tolerate other jurisdictions that discriminate upon our civil rights, and certainly with her lgbtq community. we will continue to stand tall as a city, and stoned -- stand tall for exactly who we are as people and residents in our city. you know, i want to acknowledge the contributions of our late mayor ed lee and the things he did for the lgbtq community as well. he founded the federal mayors against lgbtq discrimination organization. but he did so at the national level. he started the player. the first and its client in our entire country. and it has been a great source of pride as mayor to continue this legacy. last week, the supervisors and i

announced that the city of san francisco and i will be backfilling the four-point $2 million for hiv and aids funding that a federal government cut. [applause] together with claire farley, we have created a transgender advisory committee here in san francisco. and legislation that our board of supervisors was proud to pass through and i was proud to sign. creating all gender bathrooms in our sros across a city of san francisco. and also signing legislation naming terminal one for harvey milk at our san francisco airport. [applause] it is with great pride i stand here as your mayor to kick off this month. and to be part of some amazing celebrations yet to come. i would like to say a few comments about the next person who is going to be speaking.

she is going to be the recipient of the teddy witherington award, which recognizes individuals for their long-standing, and lasting contributions to our lgbtq community in san francisco. kate kendall has served the executive director of the national centre for lesbian rights for 22 years. [applause] she has placed the ncl are at the centre of the civil rights movement in our country. under her guidance, they want the landmark equality case in 2,008 and was later part of the team that secured national equality in 2015. [applause] they have done problematic work around asylum, immigration, around lgbtq people in prisons

and transgender rights, poverty, issues for those that are part of our lgbtq community, and issues that matter for lgbtq people of colour. just last year, and clr -- nclr joined court people to file lawsuit challenging trump's transgender military band. it secured a nationwide injunction. that is what we can do when we stand together for our principles. [applause] i've gone to meet kate a number of times to get to know her a little bit, but she is a symbol of standing for social justice in our city, and it is with great pride that i welcome up kate kendall to the microphone and pronounced today, kate kendall day in the city of san francisco. [cheers and applause]

the stage is yours. >> thank you. i was not prepared for that. i really thought i was just coming, just like all of you to a flag raising. i didn't realize that i was going to be acknowledged in this way. what i want to say is that when i came to san francisco, 24 years ago, to start as a legal director for the national centre for lesbian rights, i thought i was coming to be the legal director at the national centre for lesbian rights. i never thought i would be the executive director, and i never imagined that a city could so transform a person and make them feel so embraced and so loved, and so welcome to, so supported that they could, every day, and that is me i am speaking of, have my reach exceed my grasp in

what i thought i was capable of. this city, on the support of many people who are here, and many people who came before and who are no longer here launched me in so many ways, and i have often said, but it is so true, i get so much more than i gave and i am so grateful for this. grateful for the work i'm able to do. the fight will continue and someone else will lead nclr and they will be a bigger badass than me. that is what we know we need to. it is time to know when to lead and time to know when to step aside and let someone else lead and i'm excited for the next chapter for nclr and for this city, and for where we go as a country and taking our country back as a place where all of us can live fully and freely and feel supported for who we are and and hate and discrimination and white supremacy and racism. thank you so much for this and for your support. [cheers and applause]

>> mayor farrell: thank you kate. up next, i have the pleasure of introducing someone who is really a part of living history for lgbtq community in san francisco. someone who has been the forefront of this fight for civil rights, for decades in our city. someone who has had the opportunity to be a leader outside of city hall and inside of city hall. and at this point, it is the only person on the board of supervisors that is part of the lgbtq community. please join me in welcoming up the great lady -- leader for our city of san francisco supervisor jeff sheehy. >> thank you kate i have a certificate from the board of

supervisors for you as well. [applause] just a note, under her leadership, nclr has led on these national court battles, but one of the most moving things i experienced was i was with my husband in a small town in florida, a lesbian couple, the woman who had been previously married to a man was having trouble getting rights for her child and who was there? nclr. small town, big towns, big issues, little issues, they have been there across this country. i salute you, kate. i salute nclr. the greatest. [applause] so, this is an interesting pride to kick off with a supreme court decision against our community. i recognize our acclaim this

year and generations of pride and like kate, is passing down to new leadership and new activism in our community. the person who came up with that theme, larry nelson, the bonds that we need to create between those of us who are in the back of squad cars and lying down in streets, starting organizations in our community. those bonds need to be strengthened and renewed. we are at war. we are at war. when children are taken away from immigrant parents at the border and separated, when our community, i would transgender rights have been under assault from the beginning of this administration, and now we can't even bake a cake. we can't even get a wedding cake. what is this? 7-2. we have to recognize the threat to our community is immortal, it is not just asked. we have to stand with every other community in unison as we've done over the years to fight back these threats from this administration. [applause]

[cheering] >> and we all have to identify the congressional district in california that we are going to be marching and walking and fighting for with democrats this fall. we can take back the house and start to stop this, but we have to do the work. [applause] remember we one the briggs amendment way back in the day with harvey milk. we went to places, small towns across california and showed them who we were, who we are, and show them our love. so, just to close out, i could go on and on, because that brought out the activist in me to see the supreme court decision, not that i haven't been fired up since i came into office, i do want to give a special shout out to gilbert baker. i don't know how many of you know, this pride is the 40th

anniversary of the creation of the rainbow flag. the first rainbow flag. [applause] the first rainbow flag flew 14 years ago, and now you can find it in every country in the wor world. that kind of creative, passionate activism is what we are here to celebrate and to continue. thank you all, and happy pride. [applause] >> mayor farrell: i would also like to introduce claire farley. thank you. the office of transgender initiative, lgbtq initiative, sorry. [applause] >> thank you. thank you. good morning everyone. i'm so happy to be here to celebrate and kick off pride with you all today. [cheers and applause]

i'll give it a minute. as we know, 2018 has been a challenging year, as we fight for basic human rights and lgbtq rights across the country. san francisco continues to be a leader in advancing the rights for transgender and lgbtq people. as our federal administration has it under constant attack. furthermore, our diverse communities across san francisco bring us life and honour are under siege. with all of this, it can be difficult to remember what we are here to celebrate. although, when we look back at our history, we are reminded of the movement and the changemakers that never gave up. we have stood up and fought ba back. we have fought back with our

communities through our resiliency, our community power, working together across communities to develop comprehensive programs, policies and actions that make us stronger and celebrate our differences. i'm so proud to work for a city where i can be out. and where i can be part of advancing the rights for trans and lgbtq people across our great city. whether it is spanning travel are contracting with states that past policies that allow discrimination, or assuring that we have benefits for everyone in our city, or making sure that we have all gender facilities, or developing districts that honour our san francisco culture. or that celebrate the legacy of our lgbtq leaders like renaming terminal one after harvey milk. we still have so much more work to do and i look forward to being part of this change. i am grateful for the late mayor

lee for appointing me and seeing the value in transgender leadership in our city. [applause] thank you to mayor farrell, city administrators, my team and everyone on the mayor's staff in the community for supporting me over my first six months. from constant to s.f. pride, san francisco is a beacon of hope and will continue for generations to come. today, we celebrated the raising of the pride flag over san francisco city hall, and it is a reminder of the generations of strengths that came before us. harvey milk, julius truman, marcia p. johnson, and many more. and honouring the leaders of today, kate kendall, missed major, teddy witherington, cecelia chong, and many more. [applause]

today i have the honour to recognize the changemaker of our future. with ten years of service for our community, he is a writer, a cultural icon, a policy strategist, she is currently the lgbtq policy advisor for the san francisco human rights commission. she was instrumental in the name and dignity act for incarcerated transgendered people. she is a policy of fellow alums for the women's foundation policy institute and lead advocate on prioritizing safety for sex workers. she cofounded the constant cultural district, -- district the first transgender cultural district in the country. please join me in welcoming aria saiid. [applause]

>> good afternoon everyone. i don't want to feel alone up here. i don't want to feel alone. [laughter] happy pride. my name is aria and i am so grateful for the acknowledgement today and this month. i've been doing this work for ten years and i'm definitely having a full circle moments. i moved to san francisco in 2010 with $60 in my bag and got off the greyhound bus and i slaps on the san francisco bar and i used to walk maiden lane, and dream about being more than i was at that time. so i am so grateful for this acknowledgement. i also want to say that my work and in particular is about the promotion of the resiliency of black trans women. i feel like... [applause]

it's because -- it's because of the work of black trans women that i feel like we are free. forty-eight years ago at stonewall, it was a black trans women who was a sex worker and he was homeless. marcia p. johnson who threw the brick at the police officers that started the riot. it is because a black trans women that we are able to celebrate pride, and i am so grateful to be soaking in this moment. thank you so much. [cheers and applause] >> aria, the supervisor has a certificate to give you as well. >> mayor farrell: i also have a certificate from the board of supervisors. thank you it so much for your years of work. thank you. [applause] >> we also want to thank tom

horn for making this event possible. thank you tom. [applause] we would not be able to celebrate this annual event without your support. next, it is my honour to welcome the leader behind pride and helps make pride happen every year. please join me in welcoming the executive director, jordan -- george ridley to help me kick off pride. [applause] >> thank you. thank you mayor farrell and thank you supervisors. i've asked the board president to join me up here today. [applause] honestly, i couldn't do my job without the support of someone like michelle. this is her third year as our president. it's my fifth year at pride. it is quite a privilege to do this. we are quite the team.

again, i need her by my side. i am glad she is here today as well. so, we are pleased to be here at the beginning applied month and honoured to be part of this flag raising ceremony. san francisco is looking very proud. i don't know if you notice, but this past week we installed the rainbow flag along market street and the energy in the city is clearly building to what i expect to be an enormous expression of resistance and hope and solidarity on june 23rd and 24th. i am lucky to work, yes. [applause] i am lucky to work with some dedicated and tireless individuals. we are a small team we are a mighty team. not everyone in the office or working on the event could be here today, they've got some work to do, however, there are some people who could join us. i would love it if you would raise your hand if you are on the team, or on the staff, and

volunteering. everyone give them a round of applause. [applause] >> i think, at this point i would like to recognize our board of directors who has been incredibly supportive of me and of the organization and the vision that we have. as i mentioned, michelle is our board president. i know a lot of our board members are here today and i'm super grateful for that. our vice president is here. [applause] our secretary is here. [applause] i'm not sure if our secretary, when -- secretary was able to make its. all right. we have more members here with us today. [applause]

dj grey. william walker. and other board members that were not able to make it, elizabeth, yeah, -- lanyon, manuel perez, justin taylor, please give them a round of applause as well. [cheers and applause] pride is a perfect portrait of all the things that we love about san francisco. this year, we are expecting 270 contingents in the parade. that is on par it was last year market street is going to be so filled with community groups, activists, elders, children, companies, international and local, performers, celebrities and elected officials marching side-by-side down market street. is a massive organic expression of a million voices

simultaneously erupting as we march down market street and gather at civic centre. for all of those voices building to a crescendo that calls out in the name of strengths, solidarity, and unrelenting demand for equality. [cheers and applause] our theme this year is generations of strengths. as a supervisor pointed out earlier. i think you would agree that this years grand marshals and honourees are wonderful examples of the strength that is found throughout our communities. this is where i will ask for michelle's help. first, i want to acknowledge that kate kendall has been an incredible inspiration for me. [cheers and applause] i also want to thank you for starting out by crying, because i normally do as well. this is perfect. thank you. [laughter] with that, i will give michelle some airtime. [laughter]

>> oh,, i don't know anything about airtime, but i love it. thank you so much. i'm very honoured to be here again and thank you to tom horn. thank you to everybody. the leaders of san francisco for making this happen and to kick off pride month for a world destination city like san francisco. in three weeks we will see a lot of people come to san francisco to celebrate pride and to support the lgbtq community. i want to piggyback off of what the supervisor was talking about as far as a community being under attack. in some ways, we are at war with the supreme court voting against us as a community. it is not just one person. it is not just one organization that is going to make the equal rights movement happen. it takes all of us, and visibility as a backbone. i'm very proud to be part of a board that has made it their mission and their commitment to make sure we recognize the work of the leaders of our community

who are working at the very grassroots level and changing hearts and minds. to introduce this year's grand marshals and honourees, and those being selected, keep that in mind. there are many of us who, just by attending the local churches, by being educators, by being out, that that is part of our due diligence and social responsibility, and making sure we do fight for equal rights. these are the people who are making and paving the way for us. that was from my heart. now i will go on script. [laughter] from the little -- multilayer grassroots advocacy work that is being done in the bay area by the incredibly talented kinfol kinfolks, they are our community selected grand marshal. [cheers and applause]