you played a critical role during the pan dem and i can worked keep residents informed. adapted to changing situations that allowed our residents to engage and participate in government. thank you for 3 decades of informing and inspiring and connect the people of san francisco as the voice that >> >> >> >> >> >> we are so excited to be here with so many of our leaders from far and wide that you will hear from in just a moment. to finally do something that we should have done a long time ago is open up the first lgbtqia+

museum in the country! [cheers and applause] >> and there are so many people who helped to make this possible, but i want to appreciate someone who has been a tremendous partner on the san francisco board of supervisors, supervisor mandelman. [cheers and applause] >> he and i worked together to commit these resources to ensure that there was a permanent home for a museum, a place that paul told the stories that brought people together that ensures that the voices of this community and the history of what helped pave the way for opportunities for so many people

who are a part of this community all over the world and those stories are not lost. i remember when i ran the african american art and culture complex and there was an exhibition that we did that was entitled, "we were there". it was about many of our lesbian sisters who supported many of the men in this city who were at the height of the hiv/aids epidemic. and women were there for that expedition and were telling the story. and i thought to myself, these are the kinds of stories that need to be preserved, these are the kinds of stories that need to be up lifted. [ applause ] when the board of supervisors decided to make a terminal at

the airport after harvey milk, what was great about that, when you walked into the airport, it wasn't just a name and you wondered, but it was a story that was told through the pictures, through the written history, through the oral history. that is what we need in san francisco and that is what we deserve and that is why we are here today. [cheers and applause] >> so, i want to just acknowledge and thank senator scott weiner, for the $5.5 million. [cheers and applause] because it is one thing to purchase a building, and it's quite another to do all the build-out and put all the fixtures and the lights and the things that you need to make it a museum, but also a museum that

opens its doors to community events, activation fund and especially when people come here from all over the world. they get to see our stories on full display. thank you, senator scott weiner. [cheers and applause] >> and i want to thank roberto and the folks from the lgbtqia+ community. i want to be very very clear, the city is providing resources to purchase this building. senator scott weiner is doing all the work to help with the build-out, but museums take money and they will be doing a lot of fundraising. if you want to be a parent on lay -- away with a $5 a month contribution. we have to support it and protect it and

value it. thank you to everyone who's going to be the stewart of this incredible opportunity. [cheers and applause] i can go on and on. there are some incredible people here today whether it's the pride parade and all the folks who are making these activities fun and special, whether it is the director of mahogany office of transgender initiatives. [cheers and applause] so many people are the fabric of what make san francisco's lgbtqia+ community special and especially that it's thriving, also it's a part of what makes san francisco special. we look forward to opening this museum and making it a welcoming environment for those who live here and for those who come from

all over the world. now, i would like to welcome my amazing partner, we are making things happen, we are opening businesses, we are seeing this excitement and we are seeing them again. we are doing it. let me just acknowledge the first drag lohr in san francisco. we are making magic happen. the best is yet to come. ladies and gentlemen, welcome the supervisor of the castro! raphael! >> [cheers and applause] >> good morning, everybody. who is excited about this? [cheers and applause] >> sometimes i think mayor breed's purpose in life is to give him a place to go to and she does this a lot. we are incredibly grateful and

mayor breed, this has been your vision for years and years and years. it has been a community vision longer than that, but from your time in office, this is actually the second go round of trying to buy the building that we have been trying to do. we tried to do this before and we ended up buying a six story building that is going to be queer housing down the street. and she said we are not done with that project. we need to get that museum. she put in the budget in 2021. it is not an easy thing to see $12 million in a city budget over a number of years and the mayor kept putting in and my board colleagues kept leaving it in. thank you, colleagues for keeping that money in there.

[ applause ] the mayor has thanked senator weiner. 5 1/2 millions of dollars is amazing. to the mayor's point, that is the beginning. there is an incredible amount of work that needs to happen on this building. we need to redo the top floor which is amazing and over time they are going to be growing and expanding and moving to the ground floor and at some point, the building comes down and is replaced with a newly built museum with maybe senior housing on top. there is an amazing future here and we need those $5 contributions as well as those $5 million contributions. wherever you are.

daphney stuck a deal with walgreen's and he deserves credit for that. [ applause ] there are so many people in mayor breed's team and my office and working on the city's bureaucracy working on this project for years. i want to start by thanking andrès howard and victor cornerho. [cheers and applause] he's keeping his eyes out for the community of castro and he finds help for us and gets this and helps the mayor be the best mayor for the queer community that we have ever had.

thank you, andrès. and this year, i don't know how many years we have been doing this. [cheers and applause] >> he doesn't make just events happen, he actually makes this stuff happen. thank you, victor. henrico is not here. i could not acknowledge enough the department of real estate who has been with us after letter of tenant, and appraisals and you don't know how many buildings we have looked at and henrico has been here all the way and the arts commission, raf ralph, and attorneys and nancy

tailor in the city attorney's office and some city alumni. i want to acknowledge joanne lee who has been helping all the way. i would be hugely remiss, if i didn't acknowledge the generations of the staff work on this process. adam, jacob and my office has been particularly involved, also roberto with your team, we have been watching you grow and expand, and i believe in you roberto and i believe in your team. and they have been getting the incentives to make this work.

mandelman, if you do this museum outside the castro, i will kill [ applause ] >> another thank you all for insisting that this goes into the castro. it is a great, great building and a great investment in the community. i want to acknowledge roger dowdy, from the foundation who has done great things to invest in our community. when you invest, throw some money rodgers way. this is a non-profit. my predecessor who is killing it in sacramento and going to be killing it in dc one of these days, senator scott weiner. [cheers and applause] >> thank you. thank you supervisor. i want to say for the record, victor and

andre, they worked in my office and the mayor and staff. they are amazing. this is, you know, i was so thrilled to be able to and i want to thank my colleagues and the mayor for this and the supervisors put forward. this is the first project that i can remember where we actually had all the money in place and needed the building. usually it's the other way around. we have the building but how do we get the money. i'm so grateful to everyone who was able to identify this building and just purchase it. it's just amazing. this is exciting to me as a 27 year resident of the castro, as a gay man, it's amazing.

but, what's also amazing is i look back to the first time that i ever set foot in the castro which was in 1994, three years before i moved here in 1997. i came here in 1994. this is a different neighborhood. this is a neighborhood that has still not fully come out of the works of the hiv/aids crisis and an absolute die off of gay men and so many people who were dying and so many people who were sick. the community was deeply traumatized. as i look at what's happened 30 years later, this neighborhood is still tough

and strong and i want to thank everyone for fighting in this community. we have made sure over the years [ applause ] to really embrace the identity of the castro. we did it with lgbtqia+ community center, right on the edge of the neighborhood. we did it on the castro street sidewalk and put the rainbow on the walk and the plaque, and the rainbow on the crosswalk and now we have this amazing museum for our history and it's going to be double the size than the main one. [cheers and applause] that is incredibly exciting. i want to thank the mayor back

when we were on the board of supervisors together and every year we were losing money for lgbtqia+. and i never had to question whether london breed was there working with us. she is putting her money where her mouth is and always there, thank you, madam mayor for always standing for our community. finally, i want to say, yes, the idea of the history of museum is great, but it's more than just a great place or great cultural place. the history of our community is essential. unfortunately this is just normal, right? over time, especially younger generations may not be as connected to that history, may not even know about that history. younger people were starting to

forget about harvey milk before that amazing movie came out. we have to make sure that people know the history of this community, and know all the people who fought and made unbelievable personal sacrifice including death to fight for the rights that we have today. we stand on the shoulders of generation and generations of lgbtqia+ people who had no rights, who were living in the shadows and told they were human garbage, they were kicked out of their homes, who were criminalized and they had the courage to fight for this community. that's why we are here today. so with all the crap that we are dealing with in this country right now, all the people who are trying to make lgbtqia+ illegal, trying to demonize trans kids, trying to push us

back into the shadows, going back and looking at what our ancestors did when they were faced with equally harsh persons, they won and we are going to win again. [cheers and applause] >> and now, it is my great honor to bring up the leader of our lgbtqia+ historical society. this is an amazing organization that has really for decades moved forward without the resources that it really could use. so with an archive and museum on 18th street that made the very best of limited resources and has been such an incredible service for our community. it is my honor to bring up roberto.

[cheers and applause] >> thank you so much senator weiner and supervisor mandelman and mayor breed. wherever there has been history, there has been lgbtqia+ history. together we recognize history in the making and on the eve of historical society, san francisco is establishing a permanent home for the nation's first museum on lgbtqia+ history and culture and its world renown archive and research center. [cheers and applause] >> i sincerely thank the lgbtqia+ historical societies, present and past board of directors, please wave your hands so we can acknowledge your incredible dedication. these staff and board members

have worked so hard every step of the way and today would not have been possible without your support. a special thanks to our esteemed board chair ben chavez. [cheers and applause] whose real estate expertise, deep love for community and always optimist and caring spirit has gotten us here today. -- >> also deep thanks to chair of our boards steering community for our communities, annie rivera. [cheers and applause] >> friends, today is a long time coming. it's more than just a purchase of a building, but about creating a permanent building, a home for our history where we can share lessons of joy, activism, perseverance which all define our lgbtqia+

community. this place will shine with light from the stories of trail blazers of those who came before us and preserve the voices of the activist and leaders who placed us where we are now and empower our struggles and speak out loud from those who are trying to take us back into the closet. [cheers and applause] i feel so much pride in the historical society because we have changed lives. i met a mother who recently visited our archive and she was so happy to share that how we have helped her trans child and helped to work on their project.

regardless of age, this is to learn from and produce knowledge to advance our legacy. this visionary day could not have been possible without you, mayor london breed. thank you so much for your leadership, thank you so much for your dedication and keeping the promise for making this day happen. many thanks also to senator scott weiner and raphael mandelman, the society. we appreciate your commitment to the lgbtqia+, also thanks to former supervisor duffy and all the elected leaders who are here in attendance today. [ applause ] >> friends, we all know the facts. our queer community has been here since the dawn of time and

guess what? we are not going anywhere! [cheers and applause] >> from the first people's of the land who have always honored diverse expressions of gender and sexuality, to the days young queer leaders who furiously advocate for safer schools and communities. no one can deny the truth of our legacy. the last few years have been incredibly challenging for our community. political extremist have fought to erase us and targeted the most vulnerable against us, targeted the most vulnerable in our community, our transgender and our views and white supremacy and used their tired old roads from the past.

they have under estimated our collective power and our collective resolve. they assume that the challenges we face make us weaker rather than realizing, they make us wiser. [cheers and applause] >> they do not understand the depth of our commitment to one another, that together we embrace our rich and diverse past and build a brighter tomorrow on it. like many other institutions of lgbtqia+ community has built, we will create this home for our history together. we will continue to increase understanding not only to better appreciate and mark our community's progress, but also to fuel the work ahead that still needs to be done. this new permanent site for our museum, archive and research center will provide us a larger state of the art facility to consolidate all of our programs and operations under one roof

and to scale our vital work. this new home will allow us to enhance preservation and accessibility, expand exhibition and program spaces, improve the visitor experience, strengthen community engagement and expanding nationally and globally. this has been in the making with countless hours of advocacy and deep collaboration. i want to also acknowledge founder greg pennington and founder lintberg and kosanovich. [cheers and applause] >> i also want to acknowledge former chair of the board of directors aguirre, maria powers and sandoval. we have so much appreciation for the san francisco arts commission and the mayor's office of housing and community

development, brian chew, victor, all of those from the historical society to you. may this investment serve as a local model for local state and governments across the nation regarding the role that government can and should play in advancing cultural equity and may serve as inspiration here at home to deepen our investment in arts and culture and other important strategies that lift up communities that have historically been left behind. many thanks to our partners and community vision and partners and remarkable team of experts who aren ingrained in community values and many thanks for offering pro bono services and many together with cast we will operate this space within this site. this remarkable public and private partnership will ensure that the historical society one

day owns this property. [cheers and applause] for over a decade path has modeled a new way to secure affordable spaces throughout the bay area and we will leverage the real estate expertise and structures and models proven for knowledge and agencies and you have helped numerous agencies and i want to thank julie phelps for her incredible leadership well. [cheers and applause] >> lastly, i want to thank all of you here today. we would not have gotten here without you. we will continue to count on you as we embark on this incredibly remarkable journey who designed our home for our history and raising funds to ensure that all who walk through those front doors can see themselves reflected in the exhibition on

our walls, able to see our hidden treasures in our archives and really live the history to inspire our communities and brighter future. this is our history, the history that we will make together for generations to come. thank you. [cheers and applause] >> as senator weiner pointed out, we stand on the shoulders of so many ancestors and we also stand on the shoulders of many people today who hold this all true together. there is no other person, we are all going to be ancestors one day. [ laughter ] >> queen is a forever thing. >> i want to thank jones for his

incredible activism in our community and for his history making and always lifting up all communities. thank you. please join us. >> thank >> [ laughter ] [cheers and applause] >> okay, first of all, standing with the gay man's chorus, i was with you in 1978 for the first public performance for harvey milk. i'm so grateful for your existence. and going to be singing at my birthday party. and girard, come up here.

there is no one better that has served our history, thank you, girard. >> when i was a little baby homosexual in arizona, i didn't know there was anyone in the world like me. i thought i was all alone and i thought i was the only one on this planet and planning to kill myself and then i heard about gay liberation and san francisco and i got the hell out of phoenix and found this community. i learned that our people have always existing in every time and there is people like us. it's important to know that because that information saved my life. with all the progress that we have made, and i have witnessed

such extraordinary progress [ applause ] but i tell you there was no doubt within a mile of us right now there is a child that feels they have no place in this world, who think they will not beloved, who have no purpose, no family and they are getting ready to take their own lives. it is still happening. this is the way we save those lives. i want to thank everybody, raphael. [ applause ] i called him up and screamed at him more than a few times. you have to keep it in the neighborhood. the neighborhoods matter. anybody who calls it a ghetto, doesn't understand the history of the world ghetto. this is a community and we love together and want to be together. out of this ghetto came this political power and cultural vitality and the ability to

provide specialized services among the most vulnerable. mayor breed gets that, scott gets it. we get it. this is the kind of power that gets this kind of progress. i'm really grateful. it's been a good month. we have the landmarking of the rainbow flag that was created, we have the history society museum, and you all have to do everything you can. thank you, again, mayor breed, supervisors, president peskin for putting this on the ballot together to make harvey milk plaza. i'm very glad to be here. come to my birthday party october 11th. [cheers and applause]

>> let's give him another round of applause. >> [cheers and applause] >> his story needs to be told and that's why we are so excited to be here today. again, we want to thank all of you for being a part of this historic occasion. i can't wait to see you here when we open this place up. >> >> you know, i remember when i was a teenager, they did i think it was on the grammys,

boss scags narrated the san francisco scene and they did a spot on it and how it's evolved and convergence of multi culture and the emergence of gay community, lgbtq, it was not even called that then. >> so like any good listening back then, i played softball and a friend on the team said, the fire department is recruiting women. i took the test in 88 and 89 i got hired. and i always say this, it was like a perfect career, it was like social work, i love that connecting and helping people aspect and physical. so i was like a social worker

with an ax basically. and i just thought, this is like, this is it, i hit the jackpot. part of my story is, i grew up across the street from a fire station and as a young girl, i use today love going in there and would go in there whenever my parents voted, they the old fashion voting machines. sxifs in awe of the place but i never saw anybody that looked anything like me. it was all men, it was all white men and so, i never knew that i could do that. this was in the 70s. and i worked in several different things and i was at the pride parade in 1991. >> and the chief of the department, she i did give her courtesy card to come in, i remember it to this day, june 30th.

the hand and hand together and i was with a friend of mine and fire fighter named anita prattly came up to me and we had a mutual friend and we didn't meet. and she came by the table and as soon as i looked at her, i said hi o to my friend, i could see she was super athletic. >> and she knew my friend and she said hey, do you want to be a fire fighter, here's an interest card, join us. >> there was something about her that could roll with the punches and also give a few punches. she would be great and i just knew it. i did give her the courtesy card. it was my greatest achievement. >> and it was something i saw myself, yeah, i love a good crisis. and i'm good in crisis and i'm good on thinking on my feet.

and i'm you know, super fit and physical, maybe i can do this awesome. >> but just in terms of pride in general, being able to go to pride and be who we are and be who i am, it's like the sense of digity and equality and inclusion. i was always incredibly proud to represent the community and to be doing service for the community, because that's what i love doing. >> coming to san francisco for me, was really key because i love the city. the city is so vibrant and diversity is really, it's one of its treasures. so being part of a department that represents diversity is huge and so important to me that we welcome everyone.

and not just face value, truly to integrate to have diversity, have representation not just on the fire fighter level but all levels in this department, all ranks up and down the chain of command. it's huge and it's, stepping in as a woman of color as part of the lgbtq community, means more than just myself, right. i represent more than just myself. but as a leader, other people in this department, other people in the community that are looking at me and seeing that there is space for them. and so that is really creating space for everyone. >> when i first joined the military, it was still under don't ask don't tell. i had to be super cautious about what i was doing.

i was still figuring out what i was doing. i joined when i was 19, i knew i was part of the community i was not accepting yet. my first duty station was officer guam and that's where i got to explore who i was. and being under the umbrella of don't ask don't tell, and having a friend being separated because he was gay. it was very rule. had you to make sure that you were following the rules you needed to do everything you need today do. i was fortunate to be there when don't ask don't tell was repealed. you find people who are making a big deal about it, the next day everybody went to work like nothing happened. we were accepted and nobody made a big deal about it. work performance was even better because you didn't have to hide something and worry about hiding.

the transition from that world into this one is basically the exact same. i was able to just jump in and just you know, not even test the waters. >> i grew up with firefighters, my uncle and cuss infor a volunteer department in canada. here it's quite different, bigger department, a lot of different people. you know, just working with san francisco i really enjoy having all the different personalities, background, experiences, i'm a pro lead rhyme now. i'm a year into my probation and i'm already finished. and i felt like everybody has brought me in and show me what they know. and regardless of my sexuality, my gender, my race, i was 28 when i decided to change my

career and go any different direction. i'm 35 now just starting out in a whole different field. >> san francisco has a large population of lgbtq community in general and our department is reflective on that. the one thing i love about the san francisco fire department, is we do look like the community we serve and we're making every strife to reflect that. so even in our out reach, recruitment efforts, we're trying to make sure that every single person including the lgbtq community has an opportunity to become a member of our department. soz a subpoena officer, it's important to make sure that i welcome my crew. that includes every single member that is on my apparatus, i feel we can do a better job. >> my dad was a football coach and he taught me to persevere

and be committed and i'm showing that i'm doing that. i'm very proud to say that i get to start my career off as a fire fighter for the san francisco fire department. and i'm proud to be who i am, proud to be all the colors that i represent, proud to be, you know, i love being a woman in the department and to feel comfortable with who i am and very secure and excited to come to work. >> you know, one thing my mom also en grained anything we set our heart to and anything we wanted to do, the only thing stopping us was us. it's my dream to be a fire department member and i'm here, being changed because of who i was and now being able to out and proud of who i am, it's, i feel it should mean something. >> it's important as a san francisco fire fighter, that we

understand the community that we serve. it's important that our department is made up of different genders, different ethnicities, different sexual orientations, because the community that we serve need to reflect the apparatus. >> i've seen, i've seen the evolution of this department, i've seen it change through the years. we're in a better place than we were many years ago. i think we continue to evolve. i'm really hopeful for this next generation of leaders who do smart, determined, lead with heart and i'm hopeful for our future for this department going forward. >> we're your department. we're here for you. we're you and that, and i really believe that san francisco really embodies that. i tell you, it was the greatest decision i ever made.

i kept thinking, my gosh if i didn't play softball i wonder if i would have heard about it. it's funny you plan in life and gu to college and you plan your next steps, but the most profound decision nz life, is how you meet people are random. i was meant to be i think and it was such a great fit being that social worker with the ax, that's it. >> so i see san francisco and san francisco leadership and government as a beacon for the entire country. because we are so up front about what we believe in, we're really up front about inclusivity and i know that, others look at us, many look to us. we've had other departments, contact us in terms of how do you, how do you do this? how do you create a diverse

equitable and inclusive workforce? and so, but i would be lying if i said that we don't have any problems in california or in san francisco or in the department. we are out liars, sure? are we doing our best again to address those things with implicit bias training? with changing the culture, our department has made huge huge leaps as has the city and i really feel like san francisco is part of the solution to moving forward in a better way. people are individuals, there are a lot of different types of people in this world and celebrating our differences is what pride is all about.

[music] hi, my maim is judy seeber and owner and bier for emily joubert my-my husband and i own the store together and i started 20 years ago. my husband always thought we should open more doors, and we had two

middle school age children and were waiting for them to get older. once they left for college we opened more doors andf is was a natural for me because my grand mother raised my mom in the city on california. emily joubert is my mother's mother and when i original bought the store in woodside it was named in any event and wanted to make it more personal so my inspiration for my whole life has been by grand mother. she was really into fashion and sewing and cooking and all things that make a home and i love the thought my grand mother strolled up and down the street and i feel it is perfect location for the store with her namesake and i want to be a source of inspirational things and something convenient for the neighbors. and the community at large. in the neighborhood i like to think of it as a wonderful place that if

you need a gift we have a lot of hostess gifts. if you need table pillows. we have everything for the home. it is like a mini-general store. i don't know there is a lot of home and garden stores in the area. i know there is dedicated garden stores rchlt what sets me apart i think is just my dedication to doing things that i think my grand mother would love what inspires me and i find in her home if she were alive today and things again, that make a house a home. i take great pride in really discovering and sourcing things that you can't easily find at the store down the street. we want to welcome everyone in the neighborhood and in the city and in the greater bay area to come and discover

emily joubert. [music]

>> we are the risk takers the dreamers the expires we are the creative the artists the makers and the innovators from the gold

rush and shaped by earthquake and cool by the fog. rocked by itself people. we been here we grow here and take a a chap here we have roots here. we found ourselves here. and we are the small businesses. >> with 2040 opened in san francisco where we met supportive people to help every step and stage and breaking. >> to welcoming the first encumbers and from idea to opening san francisco listened to our dreams and made them real. start your legacies (musi

>> today wire he emergency operations center for england with one activation so oversight board that one of the many activations have locations which probably has between to one hundred people at this time 340r7b 25 different city departments and hundreds of partner local partners and straight and fell partners we're in the echg a critical consultant of emergency center and surcharged with the single voice communicating with media about all issues with the apec and go a lot of preparation went into stemming up this e oc and little actuated managing things

as they come up and the people in the room and making sure that everyone is in the next step and doing count work of a single set of objectives with a single idealogy in mind many is having an apec that runs smoothly. >> i basically organ the agency projects and um, whatever this is in-person, transmissions have (unintelligible) to we're never (unintelligible) i will get a response right now and (unintelligible). >> please check in. >> my role here in the agency to help the cooperation and the way to do that is by sharing information corresponding activities and some cases requesting additional resources when the cfo steady the property

of the departments working at the moment and one of the first agencies that was called the energy planning for the agency that we do streets and pipes and others involving a to point b. >> and this activation there are parts of the city cut off limited access points and information is sometimes confusing and so the information that not necessarily always refined for their knowledge and this activation is different from the activation we're waiting for something to happen if or if we don't have the resources available we we have to piecemeal it because 6 departments we are able to make things happen and from my

department is the 9-1-1 features and be able services which runs the emergency operation center where we are right now. >> by insuring the rights of people to exposure the first amendment rights our job we don't want people to think that because the federal government was coming into town that for federal government will be cracking detain on protesters looking to demonstrate and also the law enforcement partners insures that people could do that while keeping everyone safe and something we are doing. >> the jet has responder to over two had the and advising people of the impacts and plan for delays and plan their travel

of entertainment commission and wounding to do that without people. >> what is happening on event like this people love individually and because they find integrity in themselves that didn't go know was there and have to rise to occasion they didn't know they'd have to and really across the board for us and the city to make us a better city. >> and really a good learning experience xrefrns city augment but amazing departments across the city working together or working together in the same room and part of this in a meaningful way it everyone is united truly everyone. >> what we do matters a lot of i can't take credit. >> when i'm done with that all

we can tie the bow on that and send it off. >> i'm he getting an opportunity to find it exciting that's what we're here to do to serve the city we love and wanting really great learning experience. >> extremely rewarding and the great relationships with the people

>> roll call, please. [roll call] >> let's start again. your microphone is not on.