(gavel) >> good morning i'm so honored to be with champions of-in the fight for civil rights and getting the bill across the finish line. the respect marriage act is affirmation the united states will stand up and protect the freedom for all americans to marry the person they love. it is reflection of the fact that for

overwhelming majority of americans across political parties back fp grounds and every corner of the country the debate for marriage equality is settled. it was at city hall nearly 19 years ago when our governor then mayper begin issue mayor license for same sex couples regardless of it consequence. the court battle lead to success sfl lawsuit by equality california represented by friends from land legal (inaudible) aclu challenging the state maerj bans. we move victorious in the fight we were devastating months later voters approved prop a. while the courts invalidated it ban the defense chb marriage act and all marriage bans we know (inaudible) own words that this new far right supreme court can not be trusted to up hold precedent or protect our civil rights. in contrast to the

court this week's victory comes at a time when nation wide support is all time high. 71 percent of all americans from all walks of life acrautss dem graphics geography and party lines agree loving committed couples deserve equal rights equal justice and (inaudible) equal dignity under the law. it is big victory to be celebrated but not the sunsitute for full lived equality for all lgbtq plus people and will not end discrimination across the country or the hateful rhetoric. less then 2 weeks after the mass shooting in colorado springs 5 people murdered and dozens injured we continue to morn the lives loss and support the community shattered. all people deserve to feel safe and respected in the place we call home. we thank you senator

pudia and senator feinstein for colleagues and leadership. tomorrow we fight for a world healthy just and equal for all lgbtq plus people. next is a friend and colleague leading the fight on (inaudible) marriage equality for 2 decades. chief legal officer jenny- >> thank you. 31 years ago couples in hawaii sued for freedom to marry. public support at the time was 20 percent land legal joined them and things were going well but september 1996 as presented the testimony to trial court a bipartisan majority passed the defensive marriage act. three months later won the twile shown nothing about the welfare of children justify marriage

discrimination. over the next decades scores of lawsuits, hundreds of legislative and ballot sites and tireless efforts of thousands upon thousands of community members have transformed public understanding moving public support from 20percent to more then 70 percent today. the happy largely unremarkable family lives of married same sex couples everywhere have shown the claims of danger to children and society as a whole if same sex couples can married is untrue. the road we all paved together since 1991 had many steps from the thrilling san francisco marriage chapter here in early 2004 and 4 years of state court litigation leading to our summer of love when 18,000 couples married across california in 2008 and of course prop 8. i like to acknowledge two of my

favorite clients karen strauss and routh bornsteen, the lead couple in the state court challenge to prop 8 and their jen rosry and courage that helped protect the 18 thousand cupping but the california supreme court refused to strike down prop 8 and that took the federal case chris perry will tell you about in-more litigation about social security benefits and immigration and the va benefits are still not finalized. every step forward has been hard one by group efforts sharing personal stories organizing public education, changing laws and changing lives by telling the truth. the respect for marriage act at long last removes the defensive marriage act and repplace with affirmative marriage

recognition federally and state to state. it shouldn't be needed and maybe it won't be, but if the supreme court does outrageously erase the constitutional protection for the freedom to marry this law will mitigate the harms. f it doesn't override state laws restricting who can marry in state, congress doesn't have that power, but it can require all states and local governments to treat all married couples equally. this law also doesn't answer the open questions about religious objections. in the private sector, but the laws bipartisan religious amendments make explicit safeguards for religious liberty and house of worship and organizations formed for religious purposes not craftstores, hobby lobby, not web designs 303 creative or bakers or florist. allowed religious base

discrimination in many private sector institutions businesses universities taxpayer funded social services and that matters, because discrimination against lgbtq people in those context is a huge problem. that is why we neat equality act. we need the equality act. that bill is about the public market place and public services which must be open to all equally. the respect for marriage act will require government at all levels to honor our marital status and it is necessary but not sufficient. we celebrate this milestone it's huge and it is not enough. we have to keep going. all of us together, making our case for full equality and for security freedom everywhere. and now it is my immense pleasure to introduce your mayor mayor london breed. [applause] >> thank you and thank you everyone for being

here. i want to start with expressing my appreciation and that representation matters. having our senator, our united states senator alex padilla here to highlight this very important legislation that passed in the u.s. senate and still has a way to go through the u.s. house of representatives but thank and commend him for his leadership along with senator feinstein. it extraordinary to have people like that who represent san francisco values at their best. i also want to acknowledge our state senator scott wiener for his fierce advocacy in sacramento and continues to be a beacon of hope and shining example what

80 can do when we work together. it is great to be her with our district attorney -sorry brook. i had a brain freeze. our district attorney brook jenkins and our supervisor who is joing us safai. leaders who support this community and why is that important? it is important because when you think back in the not so distant history. not just 20 years ago, but back in 1967, the court case of loving versus virginia, the court case involved a couple interracial couple, a black woman and white man who wanted to be married who got married and basically dealt with a number of legal obstacles because it was illegal, illegal in this country for people of

different races to marry. fast forward to just 20years later and our previous mayor gavin newsom had the courage to step up and despite state law and despite the united states law issued some of the first licenses to allow same sex couples to marry in san francisco. it was a proud moment in our city and our country history when that occurred. why is this important? it is important because in other places there continues to be obstacles. every place is not like san francisco. we represent values that others tend to follow but way after the fact. we need this now. there are too many couples who have not had the privilege and right they deserve to be married and also the benefits and some of the other legal challenges

that continue to persist just in case something happens to their partner and their inability to take care of their partners. it is a very very challenging complex system and it is very unfair. dr. martin luther king who we know everyone quotes often times is basically pushed forward a number of speeches that talked about fighting against injust laws and how we as a community have to stand for what is right. this legislation the right to marry gives anyone, he, she, they, any person in this country who wants to marry someone that they love, they have the right to do so and they deserve the right to do so. we are proud here in san francisco. [applause] to support this

legislation and hoping that there comes a day where it is not needed, where it is naturally a part of what people, human beings in this country are able to do. justice delayed is not justice denied and we will continue to fight and lead the challenges right here in san francisco and we are so grateful to our elected leaders on the state-wide level and federal level, especially our u.s. senator who just was elected for a full 6 year term, so he's going to be spending that time-he's going to respond the time fighting for the city, fighting for the state and fighting for this country and so we are honored to have him today and i want to thank all of you for being here and i want to introduce a fierce advocate who i just absolutely ador. he is one of the most extraordinary policy makers i had the privilege to work with. he fights for yes,

the lgbtq community but he fights for san francisco and he is unappall jtic in the fight. ladies and gentlemen please welcome state senator scott wiener. [applause] >> thank you madam mayor. you know, i think when we talk about this issue, which has been going on for a long long long time and this is truly historic, it is so important to always remember this is about real live human beings and their lives and i remember back when yfs on the board of supervisors when the u.s. supreme court decision came down right before pride weekday and we had marriages here at city hall all throughout the weekday and pride sunday and went inside for a few hours to perform ceremonies and i still remember a young couple two young latino men from kern county who had driven up for pride to get married,

and it became very very clear to me as i talked to them two things they were deeply in love with each other and getting married would allow them to stay together and not be separated. and so it was about real real live people who's lives are made better by having a country that recognizes their humanity. that recognizes their existence so i'm so thrilled we are at this point today. i'm old enough to remember 1996, right after i graduated law school. the defensive marriage act passed and what a horrific and depressing time for a lot of us and it wasn't just republicans it was democrat s voting for that dispickable law. decades later and not have a party-a bipartisan vote in both houses to

repeal that disgusting law and make sure that people's marriages are going to be valid all throughout this country. but it is is absolutely the case that we have more work to do. this is a historic win. i want to thank senator padilla, thank the president joe biden-(inaudible) our member of grtss nancy palosi. we need to get prop a out of the constitution and equality act passed so this is a big step and know there will be many more great step tuesday come. with that, i are now have the honor of bringing up i are remember-i believe it was vice president harris that performed her wedding ceremony but the amazing chris curry. [applause]

>> i'm incredibly moved by the rapid progrsds we made and the role california and san francisco played ibthe lgbt rights movement. mayor newsom propelled same sex couple forward by authorize marriages at city hall. sandy and i along with our 4 boys sped across the bay bridge from berkeley to join thousands of couples elated by the prospckt of equality and even though the marriages were nullifyed later the year it started historic chain of lawsuits rulings and discriminatory ballot measure prop 8. in 2009 we brought a federal lawsuit and after 3 week trial and 5 year aappeals prop 8 struck down in 2013 by the united states supreme court. honesty, one

of the happiest moments of our liferbs is the day sandy and i were the first couple to be married by kamala harris at san francisco city hall and it is remarkable how quickly we arrived at this moment 9 years later celebrating a legislative people by the people and for the people and despite that historic moment the preservation of basic civil rights for all americans is not done which is why we need leaders like mayor breed, sinister wiener and (inaudible) immigrants grew in the san fernando valley and studied-since arriving at the united states senator has been a champion for working class families and staunch

defender of lgbtq rights. introduced legislation to enhance protection for the lgbtq communitychieve full quality and proud to cast his vote in favor of respect for marriage act this week. my honor to introduce senator alex padilla. >> thank you chris for the kind introduction and to mayor breed for your hospital-scott winer. -executive director townie wang and all the local state and national leaders that i joined with us here today. it is great to be here in san francisco. and it is momentous week not just for san francisco but in american history. as you heard we are

gathered today after united states senate pass respect for marriage act taking the big step repealing the hateful defense of marriage act and codifying same sex couples into law. that is a big big deal. [applause] and it is not lost on me where we gather today. it is very intentional. in a city known for not just tolerance, but love of the steps of city hall where san franciscans californias and americans from all over have come to wed the person they love. we remember the long past to progress that it took to get here. we remember the protests

and marches on the streets of san francisco lead by trailblizeers like harvey milk calling for equality. we remember the lines that extended out the door and down the block then mayor newsom began to issue same sex marriage licenses. and we remember the proposition 8, the court battle both in state court here in california and in federal courts and eventually the celebrations after the supreme court ruled same sex marriage the law of the land. just a few minutes ago i had the honor and privilege of officiating a vow renewal ceremony for a san francisco couple, (inaudible) chavez. where did they go? there we go. [applause] there is such a beautiful story and it is because of

couples like them all across the country that bipartisan group of senators came together this week, because their right to marry is worth protecting, so this-the senate took a bold step to affirm the lives of millions of lgbtq and interracial couples in america. we sent a clear message members of the lgbtq community are worthy of equal treatment under the law regardless of who you are, who you love or who you choose to marry. and i'm looking forward to seeing this bill pass the house. we hear tuesday will be the vote in the house of representatives overseen by none over san francisco own speaker nancy palosi and on to

president biden's desk for signature. let's be clear, you heard from other speakers . we have so much more work to do to achieve full equality. the fact this bill was even necessary, the idea that in the wake of the decision to overturn roe v, wade, some of the most fundamental rights are threatened by a radical wing of the supreme court means that congress must act. we still have more of you to protect against states who might try to ban same sex marriage if it is overturned and we have work to do to pass equality act, to ban discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity so we better protect all lgbtq americans. but this

week, this week not only did we expand for lgbtq and interracial couples we fundamentally pushed our nation one big step closer to a more equal more compassionate, more perfect united states of america. [applause] and in so doing we are proving that in america change is possible, progress is always within reach and we are willing to fight for the rights of all americans no matter how long it takes. thank you all again for being here and we'll open up to a few questions. [applause] imagine we might have answered all of them by now. >> alright.

>> thank you all very much. you all have a great weekday. >> we are right now in outer richmond in the last business area of this city. this area of merchants is in the most western part of san francisco, continue blocks down the street they're going to fall into the pacific ocean. two blocks over you're going to have golden gate park.

there is japanese, chinese, hamburgers, italian, you don't have to cook. you can just walk up and down the street and you can get your cheese. i love it. but the a very multicultural place with people from everywhere. it's just a wonderful environment. i love the richmond district. >> and my wife and i own a café we have specialty coffee drinks, your typical lattes and mochas and cappuccinos, and for lunches, sandwiches and soup and salad. made fresh to order. we have something for everybody >> my shop is in a very cool part of the city but that's one of the reasons why we provide such warm and generous treats, both physically and emotionally (♪♪)

>> it's an old-fashioned general store. they have coffee. other than that what we sell is fishing equipment. go out and have a good time. >> one of my customers that has been coming here for years has always said this is my favorite store. when i get married i'm coming in your store. and then he in his wedding outfit and she in a beautiful dress came in here in between getting married at lands end and to the reception, unbelievable. (♪♪) >> the new public health order that we're announcing will require san franciscans to remain at home with exceptions

only for essential outings. >> when the pandemic first hit we kind of saw the writing on the walls that potentially the city is going to shut all businesses down. >> it was scary because it was such an unknown of how things were going to pan out. i honestly thought that this might be the end of our business. we're just a small business and we still need daily customers. >> i think that everybody was on edge. nobody was untouched. it was very silent. >> as a business owner, you know, things don't just stop, right? you've still got your rent, and all of the overhead, it's still there. >> there's this underlying constant sense of dread and

anxiety. it doesn't prevent you from going to work and doing your job, it doesn't stop you from doing your normal routine. what it does is just make you feel extra exhausted. >> so we began to reopen one year later, and we will emerge stronger, we will emerge better as a city, because we are still here and we stand in solidarity with one another. >> this place has definitely been an anchor for us, it's home for us, and, again, we are part of this community and the community is part of us. >> one of the things that we strived for is making everyone in the community feel welcome and we have a sign that says "you're welcome." no matter who you are, no matter what your political views are, you're welcome here. and it's sort of the classic san francisco thing is that you work with folks.

>> it is your duty to help everybody in san francisco. cal

order call the roll. >> president ajami >> here yoochl vice president maxwell >> here >> commissioner stacy. >> here. >> and commissioner paulson is expected we have a quorum. do to the covid-19 health emergency and the recommendations issued by the d. public health and the emergency orders the mayor concerning social distancing and lifting restrictions on teleconference this is held teleconference and televised by sfgovtv.