>> hi everybody. oh, no. that was a permission to respond. hello everybody. i get really nervous actually when i'm asked to publicly speak and, you know, during the pandemic, we had the luxury of zoom and so i was able to do these speaking things in a room alone and now it's even more nerve racking because this is family. thank you so much, mayor breed, if for this moment. it's such a beautiful day today that it is transgender history month. it is also marsha p. johnson's birthday, a mother of our movement who famously said i want my gay rights now. and so it's very special to not only be celebrating the 55th anniversary of the compton's cafeteria rights and the amazing incredible history that

we have as trans people. and so all my trans siblings in this space, i want us to know how powerful we are and how resilient we are and how we are more powerful than our minds can digest and it was harvey milk who actually advocated for san francisco pride. once upon a time it used to happen in golden gate park and he fought tirelessly before, you know, but he fought tirelessly for pride to actually happen at city hall every single year because he said that queer people and trans people deserve to be at the seat of power in the city. and so i'm so grateful that we have this moment and that we have mayor breed and the office of trans initiatives truly advocating for trans peoples' history and our experience and

culture and all the contributions that we've made to the world not just since 2007, but for the last hundreds and hundreds of years to be known. and i want to also acknowledge some very special people that were also going to be honoring today which is ms. talara chang who was at the compton cafeteria riots who has been fighting for over 55 years for trans people and ms. si cilia chung since the 80s and 90s. and ms. camille moran. and i'm just so grateful to be soaking up this moment so i don't want to hold al. i do want to introduce a very special lady. she's a trans latina advocate. she's also undocumented and a doca recipient and she is

actually a huge reason why today is happening. she has been fighting and advocating and harassing me and claire and everyone in between to make this moment possible and for trans people to be heard during this month in this way. and so i'm going to ask that the ladies of the trans district come up with ms. jupiter peraza who is the director of our social justice initiative. [ applause ] >> sorry everyone. very beautiful earrings, but very hard to navigate. can you hold these? thank you so much. thank you aria. thank you, mayor breed for this

wonderful opportunity. and, i just wanted to say that this is a step in the right direction. in order to understand our community, we must understand the history. and, in a society in which trans people are regarded with so many misconceptions, it is time that we alleviate those misconceptions with education, candor, and legitimacy. when we learn about others, we learn about ourselves. what we have here is an opportunity, an opportunity to embrace how similar we are from one another. an opportunity to deseminate and uncover how much my community, the trans community has given up for the well being

of all of us. trans people are my past, they are my present, and they are my future and they are yours as well. as we have proven, we are capable of transending what is imposed on us to attain a life in which we are authentically and exquiz italy us. i talk about us and being us because we should talk about that more. and with transgender history month, we will talk about that. the goal is to remind every single transperson whether you're thinking about transitioning or you've lived years as the person that you were bound to be, how vital and

how critical you are. you are a cornerstone. you are a beacon of progress. thank you to all the leaders in this room. to mayor breed for welcoming this proclamation. you always know what the best san francisco looks and feels like. thank you to claire farley and everyone at the office of transgender initiative. you are representing us with might and cleverness. to honey mahogany for spearheading and breaking down barriers and most importantly, an immense thank you to the

co-founder and president of the transgender initiative aria sayid for being the leader our community needs. you are brilliant, relentless, when it comes to what direction progress is. and, to the ladies that stand beside me, we have a very bright future ahead of us. happy transgender history month everyone. [ applause ] >> i'm so motivated and inspired today. we're going to if you're following the program, we're going to change it up just a

little bit. i would like to welcome -- it looks like she's being interviewed. sicelia, would you like to come up and say a few words? >> hello everyone. thank you, sister roma. interestingly, i think in san francisco 1985 i started college. so we just dated ourselves i think. it's really wonderful to be here to be able to talk about the rich history and all the stories that san francisco represents for the transcommunity. i still remember the first time when i got to the city, i came here because i know my community was here. and i could find someone to understand what i was going through. san francisco will always hold and is still holding a very special place in my heart.

this is the city where i began my transition. this is the city where i became homeless. this is a city where i found a way out and this is a city who gave me these communities, you know, to serve in this privilege to be on different commissions to lead by different positions. i was lucky enough to be appointed to the human rights commission and then the department of public health, the health commission, i really am grateful for the opportunity to serve and to show the world that transpeople can lead too. it's not an accident that we see such a big and beautiful community here in san francisco. it was because of all the resilience we endure and all

the fights we got into. by the way, i think we're also the first city that the community actually fought with and made the supervisors apologize to the community. and to be able to see the progress means a lot and i'm old in a grateful way because i get to see all the young leaders emerging. and also to celebrate some of the names that maybe you have never heard of or maybe you know such as ms. major and marilyn robinson who recently just passed away.

their leadership helped to save the movement today. without them, we wouldn't have so many, social justice organizations that are being led by these beautiful transwomen. that shows we're capable of doing more. or and maybe one day, we will see a trans president. you can be as big as you won't because of the rich history because of all the giants who paved the way for us and thank you for being here and thank you mayor and making the office of transgender history month.

[ applause ] >> so we've seen some great leaders, we've acknowledged that we have new leaders who are giving us all hope for the future. i think one of the talents of our community is we've been compelled to re-elect them. please welcome supervisor from district 8, rafael mandelman and omar runcon. oh, well, he's an important

person. sorry, rafael had to leave. i'm glad you're still here, mayor. thank you. should we do the awards? >> what would you like to do, ladies? i'm always happy to introduce ms. honey mahogany. i like to always watch her meteoric rise to leadership and power here in san francisco. please welcome honey mahogany. [ applause ] >> thank you mayor breed, thank you claire farley. one of my truly best friends and one of the reasons why we are all here today jupiter

peraza for her advocacy. i just want to say a few brief words about how we ended up here today. when we founded the transgender initiative, that have been serving the transgender community for decades here in san francisco. that includes organizations like t.j.i.p.. it includes organizations like st. james infirmary and it also includes organizations like the q foundation. we all banded together because we saw what was happening to our beautiful city of san francisco. there was rapid gentrification and development that was displacing so much of our community from our beloved venues to our residents. back then, i was actually working as a social worker and one of the most heart breaking things that i would see is the transpeople who are displaced from housing in the city to

places like pittsburgh and antioch who were displaced from resources, family, transportation, unwaebl to get jobs and i saw many of our clients evolve and self-medicate and some even attempting to that he can their own lives and create opportunities for transpeople where we have been for more than a generation. so i amex streamly proud of the work the transgender community has been able when it was just getting started. since aria has taken leadership it has become an organization that's been internationally

known. people are being housed, people are being given jobs, people are creating change in the physical environment of the tenderloin and fighting for a brighter future where we can all still be here. so i just want to give a shout out to the entire transgender team. an ally to the trans community. he's an honorary trans. and, of course, the leadership of our mayor, claire farley, and all the supervisors who invested so heavily in the transcommunity. thank you for believing in this vision for continuing to fight for what is right for not just trans people, but for san francisco. so thank you. it's an honor to be here. [ applause ]

. >> of course, honey is the first elected black transchair of the d.c.c.c. [ applause ] >> the first trans president. where do i vote. i'm ready. so i believe that concludes our program. do you have something? >> sorry everyone. we didn't want to leave here without giving certificates of honors to members of our community that have truly shown their dedication, resilience and tenacity making sure our community is advancing and progressing. we have required certificates of honor from supervisor

haney's office. we'd like to recognize and her monumental role in health equity and social empowerment spaces for and by transgender people over multiple decades as a transgender activist. cecelia chung. [ applause ] next, we would like to give this in recognition of the tremendous contributions that she has made to the transgender community making institutional strides for equity during a time where opportunity and change for transpeople were limited, socially challenging and fatal. we award this to camille moran. and, finally, in recognition of her role as a transgenderer and

queer freedom fighter at the cafeteria riots in august of 1966 and continued activism and public service for the transgender community spanning over 50 years, we thank tamara change for her advocacy in the community. thank you, honey. and, we meant to supply cecilia chung with a certificate of honor not just from supervisor haney's office, and we have omar rincon who is here also to extend his certificate of honors to these three lovely individuals. however, cecelia, you already heard from her. but we wanted to present these certificates of honor for all they've done. >> that's wonderful.

i'm glad you were able to do that. thank you all for joining us. let's mingle safely and if you are invited we will be doing the flag raising on the balcony outside the mayor's office. you're invited to watch it from below. happy transgender history month. [ applause ] >> all right. are we ready! [ applause ] [cheers and applause]

>> growing up in san francisco has been way safer than growing up other places we we have that bubble, and it's still that bubble that it's okay to be whatever you want to. you can let your free flag fry -- fly here. as an adult with autism, i'm here to challenge people's idea of what autism is. my journey is not everyone's journey because every autistic child is different, but there's

hope. my background has heavy roots in the bay area. i was born in san diego and adopted out to san francisco when i was about 17 years old. i bounced around a little bit here in high school, but i've always been here in the bay. we are an inclusive preschool, which means that we cater to emp. we don't turn anyone away. we take every child regardless of race, creed, religious or ability. the most common thing i hear in my adult life is oh, you don't seem like you have autism. you seem so normal. yeah. that's 26 years of really, really, really hard work and i think thises that i still do. i was one of the first open adoptions for an lgbt couple. they split up when i was about four. one of them is partnered, and one of them is not, and then my

biological mother, who is also a lesbian. very queer family. growing up in the 90's with a queer family was odd, i had the bubble to protect me, and here, i felt safe. i was bullied relatively infrequently. but i never really felt isolated or alone. i have known for virtually my entire life i was not suspended, but kindly asked to not ever bring it up again in first grade, my desire to have a sex change. the school that i went to really had no idea how to handle one. one of my parents is a little bit gender nonconforming, so they know what it's about, but my parents wanted my life to be safe. when i have all the neurological issues to manage, that was just one more to add

to it. i was a weird kid. i had my core group of, like, very tight, like, three friends. when we look at autism, we characterize it by, like, lack of eye contact, what i do now is when i'm looking away from the camera, it's for my own comfort. faces are confusing. it's a lack of mirror neurons in your brain working properly to allow you to experience empathy, to realize where somebody is coming from, or to realize that body language means that. at its core, autism is a social disorder, it's a neurological disorder that people are born with, and it's a big, big spectrum. it wasn't until i was a teenager that i heard autism in relation to myself, and i rejected it. i was very loud, i took up a lot of space, and it was because mostly taking up space

let everybody else know where i existed in the world. i didn't like to talk to people really, and then, when i did, i overshared. i was very difficult to be around. but the friends that i have are very close. i click with our atypical kiddos than other people do. in experience, i remember when i was five years old and not wanting people to touch me because it hurt. i remember throwing chairs because i could not regulate my own emotions, and it did not mean that i was a bad kid, it meant that i couldn't cope. i grew up in a family of behavioral psychologists, and i got development cal -- developmental psychology from all sides. i recognize that my experience is just a very small picture of that, and not everybody's in a position to have a family

that's as supportive, but there's also a community that's incredible helpful and wonderful and open and there for you in your moments of need. it was like two or three years of conversations before i was like you know what? i'm just going to do this, and i went out and got my prescription for hormones and started transitioning medically, even though i had already been living as a male. i have a two-year-old. the person who i'm now married to is my husband for about two years, and then started gaining weight and wasn't sure, so i went and talked with the doctor at my clinic, and he said well, testosterone is basically birth control, so there's no way you can be pregnant. i found out i was pregnant at 6.5 months. my whole mission is to kind of normalize adults like me. i think i've finally found my calling in early intervention,

which is here, kind of what we do. i think the access to care for parents is intentionally confusing. when i did the prospective search for autism for my own child, it was confusing. we have a place where children can be children, but it's very confusing. i always out myself as an adult with autism. i think it's helpful when you know where can your child go. how i'm choosing to help is to give children that would normally not be allowed to have children in the same respect, kids that have three times as much work to do as their peers or kids who do odd things, like, beach therapy. how do -- speech therapy. how do you explain that to the

rest of their class? i want that to be a normal experience. i was working on a certificate and kind of getting think early childhood credits before i started working here, and we did a section on transgender inclusion, inclusion, which is a big issue here in san francisco because we attract lots of queer families, and the teacher approached me and said i don't really feel comfortable or qualified to talk about this from, like, a cisgendered straight person's perspective, would you mind talking a little bit with your own experience, and i'm like absolutely. so i'm now one of the guest speakers in that particular class at city college. i love growing up here. i love what san francisco represents. the idea of leaving has never occurred to me. but it's a place that i need to fight for to bring it back to what it used to be, to allow all of those little kids that come from really unsafe environments to move somewhere safe. what i've done with my life is

work to make all of those situations better, to bring a little bit of light to all those kind of issues that we're still having, hoping to expand into a little bit more of a resource center, and this resource center would be more those new parents who have gotten that diagnosis, and we want to be this one centralized place that allows parents to breathe for a second. i would love to empower from the bottom up, from the kid level, and from the top down, from the teacher level. so many things that i would love to do that are all about changing people's minds about certain chunts, like the transgender community or the autistic community. i would like my daughter to know there's no wrong way to go through life. everybody experiences pain and grief and sadness, and that all of those things are temporary.

of the public who are streaming or listening to us live as well as the staff and other presenters who will be participating in today's meeting. following the guidelines set forth by local officials at this time, the members of the commission are meeting remotely to ensure the safety of everyone, including members of the public. thank you, all of you, for joining us this afternoon. madam secretary, please call the first item. >> clerk: item 1 is roll call. commissioners, please respond when i call your name. [roll call]