really impact lgbt individuals. i think coming to the training, i bring a lot of passion for the subject, but it's easy for the passion to sometimes turn off other people who may not share my views on the subject. so it's helping to create more effective advocates. well, when you are dealing with the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender population, you have to be aware of the unique culture that people come from and also the discrimination and stigma they have suffered, all which can contribute to substance abuse, as well as to relapses in treatment. and those pile on other stigmas and discrimination that people face and you have to understand the whole gamut of identities that people bring. and this is a very good place that training helps you do that and then helps to translate that into a treatment approach. i also find that depending on the nature of the room, when you can walk around the room, it's a great way to make that connection with someone. yes, i hear and get right up to them and at the same time- i thin

we will talk about the needs of the lgbt community. when we get kicked out -- toledo gets to move back home. also, our issues are your issues. we are you. we represent every community. just today down a little bit. the other rights that other people get for free, it has been making these substantial investments in trying to secure a marriage of quality and repeal the defense of marriage act. to allow us to have the dignity of our nation's largest employer in the military. all of the safety net services, all of that money is gone. we are tattered at the edges and we are coming off at the wheels. we should not have the most vulnerable people in san francisco. it is a luxury for us. what people with hiv/aids need in this town is a job. we need a job. anybody know a disabled person that has a job here? raise your hand. where is it? there are money and services for people to get jobs to serve us, but where are our jobs? that is indicative of some kind of endemic discrimination against creating employment. transgendered people need the jobs.

witnesses anti-lgbt behavior, they do little or nothing about it.e we face is the fact that bias-based bullying complicates adult response, whether out of fear of controversy, failure to recognize the seriousness of the behavior or active indifference of the fate of the students involved. adults charged with the education and care of our children are not consistently living up to their responsibilities. federal leadership is necessary to make the basic level of the extent of their responsibilities crystal clear and to assure those who fear controversy or backlash that they are doing the right thing. we are grateful for the office of civil rights at the department of education and to the department of justice for their commitment to exercising what authority they have under title 9 to protect lgbt students but this statute only covers some of the serious challenges that lgbt students face. research consistently shows that the policies that most effectively address anti-lgbt behavior in our schools actually name the problem by specifically enumerating

i also work at the lgbt center. i also think it is an opportunity for people to feel safe in their community. my question is, i distinctly remember not being able to go inside. why is it open to the san francisco unified school district high-school? what was done differently? >> un to the recreation center and there is a wrestling team using the space at the moment? >> it was closed to people like myself. i am wondering what was done differently. >> i am not sure i know enough about the specifics about that particular day. >> it was not a particular day. >> let me repeat where we are at the moment. we are firmly committed to a youth space. we don't support an unstructured for unsupervised where there is no supervision. what we want to bring to the space is a healthy, safe, fun program. some of the programs that i think are being offered include crotty, dance, spoken word. there is a dodge ball and street hockey program going on in the space. >> again, our recreational programming really does want community employmen

we also want to speak to the issue of the myth of lgbt affluence. there is a sense that the community is one of economic privilege when we are not. we largely reflect the world around us and have specific barriers to economic success, including employment, education, lack of access to family support, discrimination areas of housing, many intercepting barriers that particularly impact members of our community. so our program has really been developed to speak to the specific needs of that. we are really pleased to be working for the work force development and our home buyer's program, which is new and growing, and we received strong support from the mayor's office of housing with a program. we are looking at a pretty significant cut of 60% of our economic development program, so she is going to speak a little bit more to that program. >> thank you. i am director of economic development at the lgbt center, and i want to start with the same thank you for the process. i know there have been difficult decisions made about what to do in an arena of increa

passage of the uniting american families act or inclusion of ufa and lgbt families in immigration reformwill not only benefit me about the thousands of people who are also in the same situation as i am. amending immigration policy of this country to include permanent partners will serve, in the long run, to keep families like ours together. it is a great privilege to be here with you today. i humbly ask for your support, and thank you. [applause] >> good evening, everybody. i have to do it. now i cannot see you. i want to thank the commission, organizers, and tell the panelists how great we are for your insight and advocacy. my name is melanie nathan. i am a personal advocate and conflict resolution specialist. i serve as vice president on the board of fair housing in marine and was recently reappointed to the marin human rights council. i practiced law in south africa before moving to the u.s. in march of this year i was faced with a choice. i could stay in the united states with might call-year-old daughter in a shared custody arrangement or i would have to leave her behind to go into

lyric, lavender street, market street, bay area positive, lgbt center. district 6 is one of the neighborhoods with the highest number of lgbt youth in san francisco. last year, and is 15% to 20% that reported for our services reported they lived in this district. the number of total the live in the district is unclear because of the lack of comprehensive data in san francisco, but the number is substantial. many that the partnership are working with are facing will double issues, especially transitional age. they are among the most vulnerable and among the least served populations by mainstream agencies. many have left abuses and a supporter homes, dealing with homelessness and affordable housing issues. they have a real need for comprehensive and culturally competent services, and mental health and substance use. as a result, lgbtqq youth are particularly vulnerable because of the budget cuts likely to happen, both because of a lack of culturally competent services and the lack of access for lgbt youtb at many other agencies across the city. lyric alone

it comes amidst concerns that a clinic who serves lgbt clients has had financial difficulties and has raised the possibility of closing. this appropriation loan is intended to help ensure that women in lgbt population of san francisco continue to receive needed services in life these developments. i'd like to thank the department of public health for their good efforts and of course the community working impressively around lion martin as well in trying to help shorten their deficit. the next i'm submitting a motion for the creation of a joint committee between san francisco board of supervisors and the city college board of trustees. mimicked after the joint committee between the san francisco board of supervisors and the unified school district and the board of education is i think an opportunity to provide that same kind of joint endeavor to deal with the student body network that has even more students that reside in san francisco than the unified school population, city college has 70,000 san franciscans that attend and i think it's important that we begin to open up dialogue wit

i helped to build the lgbt community center. i started doing campaigns. i gradually got involved in democratic party politics. i got involved in the alice b. toklas democratic club. i ran for the democratic central committee in 2004. i ended up sharing the committee. it was a gradual process for me. by the time i started thinking about running for supervisor, it made sense because of my involvement in the community and in politics. >> what did you learn from campaigning for supervisor? >> i learned a lot. i knocked on about $15,000. -- i knocked about 15,000 doors. i met a huge number of people. that is the best way to learn about the neighborhood, the city, and what people want and what their concerns are. i feel i can do so much more than before and started campaigning. -- i feel like i know so much more than before i started campaigning. we're all part of the left on the national standard. i am a good liberal democrat. in the san francisco spectrum, and probably considered more middle of the road. -- i am probably considered more middle-of-the-road. i

so, this is a lengthy question from rebecca at the lgbt center. san francisco has 8000, of whom 40% -- i apologize. in recovering from a cold. they are homeless are marginally house and face challenges including physical and mental health issues, unemployment, substance-abuse, hiv risk, and lack of access to services. the city has failed to provide adequate resources, either directly through city departments, or three city- funded services and nonprofit organizations. most recently, we had a proposal to eliminate funding for the lgbt transition aid services for the fiscal year 2011-2012. can you speak to your commitment for this hon. population -- vulnerable population? question mark. [cheering] >> [unintelligible] supervisor wiener: i am going to take this question as a member of the budget committee. excuse me? >> [unintelligible] supervisor wiener: ok. i am going to answer the question. it is an important question. i would like to answer it. so -- >> [unintelligible] supervisor wiener: thank you. it is an extremely important question, particula

staff intervened whe the witness and i lgbt be here. in the recent months, school districts in oklahoma city, jackson mississippi, dallas and park city, utah have adopted in memory the policies that includ sexual orientation and gender identity among their protections . just last month the state of arkansas passed an animated and i believe in law. the 11th state to do so. but state law and a district policies create only a patchwor quilt of protection for lgbt students to read as a baseline matter of safety, we need to establish a national floor of protection upon which states an districts to rebuild as the national issue of equity we als need nondiscrimination protection for some of our nation's most vulnerable students. i encourage the commission to support the improvement at, a measure introduced in congress with a bipartisan support in both chambers and a broad base support among education and youth development, health, religious and civil rights organizations and the student nondiscrimination act which the standard on the protectio

from the lgbt perspective, this is going to be tough, and i submit to the city that they consider the following list of ideas which i have cryptically penned for this testimony. i have noticed that time has gone over, and i know how that feels, so i would just read one or two of them and make my testimony available in writing. the one that i would like to read which may add to what the professor had to say is, i think the city and county needs to form an urgent advisory committee and instruct a point person to work with our congressional representatives and senators to include promotion. that's send citizens to washington d.c. -- washington, d.c. they really do want to hear from us. i have another list of ideas that i would like to present to you. i will not take your time now. so my respectful and more urgent request, if you could get to make and use them to get a phone call as soon as possible to rep gutierrez's office and senator schumer's office to tell them how important it is to have comprehensive reform here and that it must include our gay and bi-national couples. we need to e

lgbt advocates say the message of support from the giants is a home run. >> it's incredibly meaningfulhe giants took this step to support young people who we know that even here in san francisco are experience something challenges and some discrimination. >> reporter: the giants plan to make the video even before chapin's campaign. now they'll join him and others in that great rally in cyberspace. joe rosato jr., nbc bay area news. >>> within the hour, the lapd held a news conference updating the investigation surrounding bryan stow. as of right now, still no arrests have been made. as for his medical recovery, doctors treating bryan stow plan to give the public an update on his condition tomorrow. stow is being treated in san francisco general hospital. the only hospital in the bay area that has doctors who can handle the serious head trauma like stow's. doctors say stow will be hooked up to continuous ekg monitors so they can treat his ongoing seizures. they hope to stabilize stow and transition him into rehabilitation. we expect to get an update on exactly where stow is in that proc

congresswoman norton is it fair or unthey're to limit adoption for the lgbt community? >> why don't we just call it absurd. it's particularly unfair to kids in need of loving parents. >> the question is what is best for kids. fulfilling the desires of adults ever ought to trump what is best for children. >> i think it's absurd that we have children living in foster homes and ups take substitutis when there are loving people out there who want to adopt and were discriminated against them because of their sexual orientation. >> i think the priority should be traditional family ways, but if more importantly that our child welfare system and foster care system is atrocious in this country. that should really be the focus. >> when you say atrocious, because there are half a million children in the social service network because of about 10,000 of them are -- 130,000 of them are biological parents don't want them back and they're available? >> yeah. >> leave them in foster care? >> no, that's what -- that's the discussion and the problem oftentimes when you're dealing with th

when you add the stigma and shame that are often felt by the lgbt people living in this culture, it becomes even more complicated. i want them to know that they are valuable, i want them to know that they deserve the same respect. dr. clark, we were talking about, john was talking about complicating factors in terms of health challenges that may present at the time of intake for some special population individuals. can you address, continue to address that? well, one of the things that we at samhsa are stressing is that every person who has a mental health issue or substance use issue needs to also get a good physical health assessment. one of the things we know about the misuse of alcohol or drugs is that it does have an effect on the organic integrity of the body. so you may get liver disease, you may get gastritis, you may get heart disease, you're at greater risks for various infections like hepatitis c or hiv. and we want to make sure that anybody who is on the course of recovery has as much information as possible. there was one quote i read recently and a guy says, "i spent all this

little bi more about this susceptibility and the vulnerability and especially young people in the lgbt category who in terms of bullying and this kind of conduct it's important to draw out why it is the protection is necessary in these instances? >> many survey studies have looking at especially middle an high school boys and girls have found that those who are lesbian , gay or bisexual or those who have a history of same-sex attraction and behavio often appear to be not functioning as well, at least o average and many are functionin well but on average they look like they are doing worse than many of the other kids, and the often manifest higher levels of depressive symptoms of anxiety, they miss class more often, the skip school come the often engage in risky behavior, and that was one pattern that was observed in research but then when they started asking about the kids experiences with the victimization and harassment in the school setting it turned ou that helped explain what a lot of the disparities. and so it seems that the experience being targeted for harassment and violence i

we went through the chief selection process, he was very productive and advocated strongly for the lgbt community, and i have to tell you, it is a loss to not have him here tonight, and hopefully we will have him backstage. commissioners proved commissioner -- have him back soon. commissioner? commissioner: i will also miss him. protecting the rights of victims, and he was passionate about that cause. we should continue to make sure we carry out what his top priorities are on the commission, and in the time he has been on the commission, there are a number of things that he volunteered for, a number of committees that he was on, and he puts in a very significant of time in his evening and weekends working on commission work, and it is like a second job for him. there are cases that he handled wonderfully, especially our oldest and texas cases, so i do hope that he returns. >> commissioner, can you fill us in on the process? apparently, he has made the decision to go forward with another term? is that which understanding is? president mazzucco: i do not know what his decision is. >> i am

dedicated a significant amount of her time working on issues that impact the immigrant, latino, and lgbt community, i am confident commissioner gamez will add a unique and needed perspective to the san francisco commission on the status of women. she has set herself, change starts with stronger individuals. with that chsaid, i generally look forward to seeing the results of your work on the commission. thank you for being here. [applause] nancy kirschner rodriguez. thank you for serving. with over 25 years of experience in national, state, and local policies, and as a former director of governmental affairs in my office, and the is uniquely qualified to expand the work of the commission on the status of women. she currently shares her expertise by serving on a variety of bodies from the city, including the board of directors jewish community council center, and is a driving force behind the work being done by the san francisco collaborative against human trafficking. her experience with government on all levels and your desire to better the lives of all of those we certification leaves m

you were both addressing lgbt students. would you say the same holds true for students bullied based on their race, religious, disability or gender? >> well, at least one of the studies that i cited was from the california healthy kids study did look at those other factors and, yes, the comparison was between kids who had been bullied based on their sexual orientation, perceived or actual, versus kids who were bullied for reasons that weren't related to identity, and there was -- there we saw the difference, my recollection of that study is that they did find other -- that being targeted as a member of a particular group, racial group, for example, is more -- is associated with greater harm than being targeted what we might call routine sort of violence. i would say there's a parallel in what we see in research with adults. we see, for example, that adults, lesbian and gay men who have experienced hate crimes in recent years -- because of their sexual orientation show greater psychological distress and more problems than ot

community, somewhere where anyone can go at any time and just the comparable and particularly for lgbt people, having a place we can go whether you are a customer or an employee and you have a lot of people who worked -- and this is an amazing thing. equally important to their successful running of the 40- year business in our committee, dennis and bill also play a very important role in maintaining the jane warner plaza formally known as the 17th street plaza. this was the first laws that in the -- department of the city and this was an experiment. when you do an experiment, you never know how it will go. one of the issues that we have in san francisco with a lot of our public spaces is how do we maintain it and keep it up with a limited budget. you rely on volunteers, you rely on people in the community who will take care of the property. dennis and bill have done that in a remarkable way. they are the eyes on the years of the plaza. they call the police when necessary, they fix things in the plaza, they move the tables and chairs in and out every day. it is not the restaurant. they