another sector of society that also suffers tremendously is the gay and lesbian, the lgbt, community and in particular now with some of the incidents that we have seen on television or violence against them. how do we handle, i mean, are there particular efforts in place to really address those issues? we have a program at community connections specifically for lesbian and transgendered folks. and it focuses in on the additional feeling of disaffiliation, of stigma that people experienced when they tried to come out to family members. there are very few communities, regrettably, where you are easily embraced when you reveal an alternate lifestyle, so that you may have been traumatized physically or sexually as a child but then, as you come to identify yourself more fully as a person, you're traumatized all over again for your honesty. and we get into also, i mean the whole bullying aspect within the schools, you know, not only against lgbt youth that are experimenting and really haven't made up their minds as to their sexuality, and so on and so forth. but on top of that, then you la

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

it is critical that lgbt couples are included in the house and senate versions of comprehensive immigration reform. is a quality-based legislation is critical for the tens of thousands of gay or lesbian couples living in exile, illegally, in fear, in detention, or perhaps separated from loved ones. california makes up a large percentage of bi-national couples, and with special notes -- social networking, it has probably tripled. the largest percentage is from the bay area. i would be remiss -- i believe it would be remiss of san francisco for this iconic city to fail in its local by not placing this as a critical element regarding any advocacy modifying legislation. the city of santos, has its work cut out for it. it must stand for all its residents. well certainly is committed to strong support immigration reform, it is apparent there will impose the inclusion of -- rather than excluding no one. 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

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

these lgbt kids on the street. they're at great risk and kids.xcited about it, and she asked if she could call it the true colors house and use my name. i said absolutely. then we started working together and helping with whatever we could. and it was opened. it was -- it's -- it was very moving, but it's 30 beds. >> amazing. >> there's a big -- there's a big need. >> when we talk about the need, though, one thing you're doing coming up is the holiday concert at the beacon theater on december 4th. what inspired you to pull, cull together all of this musical talent with the money going to help lgbt homeless youth? >> well, you know, with the true colors fund, we've been doing a lot of research. we realized that what isn't out there and what they need, you know, trying to find out to help them and one of them is to maybe some day have this network that you can -- you can connect all these wonderful people, doing all this work with these kids, and come up with a program that could help them. and, you know, that's what i've been -- that's what the tr

another sector of society that also suffers tremendously is the gay and lesbian, the lgbt, community and in particular now with some of the incidents that we have seen on television or violence against them. how do we handle, i mean, are there particular efforts in place to really address those issues?

we have lgbt. we have immigrants, people of color, youth, and a high proportion of seniors in the city as well. we heard that people want to see more jobs, want to see access to more jobs for our residents. we want to see more preventive instead of just reactive. we want to see after-school programs versus the police picking them up because they are out on the street, which i think our chief agrees with. i actually ran for the board of education in san francisco and got to serve a term on our school board. what really surprised me was how much i enjoyed it. i loved it. i love meeting with families, meeting with youth, meeting with teachers, visiting schools, and getting a deeper understanding of what it means to make our system work better. the one thing i really enjoyed was i got to run within a district instead of citywide, was that i really got to know voters and residents. i actually enjoy campaigning more because i had time to knock on doors and the voters individually. i'd love it. i actually

saturday night, being a tireless advocate for belgae bt equality -- lgbt equality. we feel very lucky to have her serving there now. one aspect of the career is that she served as the longtime president of the police officers and a vocal advocate for gbt members. we could not be more proud to have our qualified-employee here for recognition -- quasi- employee be here for recognition. congratulations. [applause] >> this is unexpected. director, i have to say that it is my absolute pressure -- pleasure to be a part of this agency. all of you should be extremely proud. we have worked collaborative leading other. i have loved every moment that i have been here. i am very humbled by civil work. i have spent the majority of my time in the police department as an advocate for lgbt officers in the community. i am in all of what they do every day. a -- we -- awe of what they do every day. i am happy and proud to be here. thank you. >> congratulations. [applause] >> a brief clipper card update. i think that i gave you an update at the last meeting. or the one before. just a f

can also be a thought leader and help other cities do a better job in recognizing the needs of their lgbtitizens and be a thought leader in that regard, but i intend to be a great mayor for san francisco. please visit me at bevandufty.com >> election day is november 8, 2011 view that as the last date to vote in person and the deadline for receipt of vote by mail ballots. >> i am tony hall, and i am running for mayor because san francisco more than ever need someone who would deal honestly with the hard truth that in our city pier i am not a member of a political party and not seeking some higher office. for 35 years, i am have served you, the people of san francisco, as an administrator in seven different apartments. i know how the city functions, but more importantly, how it should be functioning. i am running to solve our city's problems, not very them. first, let's be honest about pension costs. a $7 billion unfunded liability continues to grow at $400 million per year. because of these costs, san francisco is like a runaway car driving 100 miles an hour down the road into a brick wall

i was involved in community work, helping to build the lgbt community center, doing neighborhood workand i eventually started doing campaigns and gradually got more involved in democratic party politics. ultimately, in 2004, i ran for the democratic county central committee and ended up chairing 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 the politics. i knock on about $15,000 -- i knocked on about 15,000 doors and a huge amount of people. the best way to learn about the city and what people want and what people's concerns are. i feel like i know so much more than before i started campaigning. i am a good liberal democrat. in the san francisco, miniature spectrum, i am considered pretty middle of the road. one thing about me is i am very independent when it comes to the issues, and i do not vote on party lines. i judge each issue on its merit. we have provided woefully inadequate support for our transition-age youth, and when we do not provide that support, we

family is, but i was always interested in sanford cisco in terms of the city, culture, the amazing lgbtommunity -- i was always interested in san francisco. i am an attorney. i started off in private practice, doing complex litigation. in 2002, i moved to the san francisco city attorney's office, where our work on the trial team, doing trials for the city and doing my own cases and supervising a team of attorneys as well. another huge issue confronting the city is the deferred maintenance on our infrastructure. we have a lot of infrastructure that has been deteriorating because we have not maintained it properly, from our roads to our sewer system to muni. we need to be much more diligent about maintaining our infrastructure. i have been interested in politics since i was a kid. i have worked on campaigns since i was a teenager. i was involved in campaigning against senator jesse helms when i was in college. when i came out here i was not initially involved politically. i was involved in community work, helping to build the lgbt community center, doing neighborhood work, and i eventuall

commissioner fewer: on october 19, i attended the school district's first annual lgbt family center. it was a smashing success. i think they thought 50 people would show up and it was packed. clearly next year, will have to have a larger venue. i would like to thank staff for putting this on. this was a fun event and i felt that everyone who attended had a great spirit, very family feeling, and i hope that next year we will have more families that will participate. at this time, i would like to make an appointment to my advisory committee. i would like to appoint edwin yuen to the bilingual council. he is bilingual in spanish and chinese and is the parent of a daughter. commissioner maufas: the select committee meeting is this thursday over in city hall starting at 3:30. i wanted to say before this meeting is over -- president mendoza: do you know what the topic -- commissioner maufas: an update on the shipyard school district. >> i got my test back a few weeks ago in chinese and i could not read it. my mom was bashing on me and i could not read it. why didn't i get one in english? >

one of the proposals would strip out the inclusion of lgbt people in the law that mandates teaching about minority groups. another proposal would allow parents to pull kids from the classes if they conflict with the family's beliefs. >>> herman cain the first 2010 -- 2010 of presidential candidate to -- 2012 presidential candidate to get secret service protection. the request was approved yesterday and agents are already with the candidate. secret service protection is given to each major party's nominee but can be provided earlier if circumstances warn. >>> president obama announced secretary of state clinton will travel to myanmar next month. the first such trip by a secretary of state in more than 50 years. the president announced the visit in bali today. the president spoke by phone yesterday with a nobel laureate before deepening his engagement with myanmar, formerly known as burma. >> >> 4: . fbi director robert mueller says law enforcement has to stay on cutting-edge of technology. mueller spoke to the commonwealth club in san francisco yesterday. he took the helm of the fbi a week

i will speak for the lgbt community we have in san francisco, with a large number of hiv-positive individuals. many of those individuals are benefiting from medical cannabis. it is about human rights, a civil-rights issue. we are asking our federal government to respect state laws and the will of the voters, and to give access, properly regulated, to medication. on the issue of proper regulation, i am for proper regulation. we have rules that were instituted a number of years ago. supervisor mirkarimi played a key role in making that happen. we have become a model for how to do this, how to regulate this industry, and that is the solution. this is about giving patients access to medication they need. supervisor mirkarimi: thank you for your leadership on this. we do get to recognize a certain distinction. our city was the first city in the united states that was able to provide for a complete land use, planning, and public health zoning guide to regulate medical cannabis the centuries. there are over 10 states in the united states that have borrowed from what we have implemented. we were the

congresswoman called him the rosa parks of the lgbt community. he spent most of his life advocating for equality for gays and lesbians after being fired from his job for being gay. >>> from zero to six in a matter of months. the details about wal-mart's plans to build across the district. >>> and an one undate on two settles of twins. >>> and five incredible teenagers are honored for their efforts to beat the odds and make it to college. >>> after a couple of years of rough weather, the question might be what >>> we have confirmed that wal-mart is ing to build two more stores in the area in addition to the four in planning. one of the stores is expected to be built at the skyline shopping center in southeast d.c. and another at rigs road and dakota avenue southeast. an announcement is expected tomorrow. the stores will generate 1500 new jobs. but community groups are worried about the impact on small business. >>> sisters are now walking as two separate girls. the two showed off the results of their complex surgery today at the children's hospita

commissioner fewer: on october 19, i attended the school district's first annual lgbt

initiative introduced yesterday is the second attempt in less than four months to overturn the state's new lgbt history law. it failed to collect enough signatures. opponents con temd it's inappropriate for the school kids to learn about the community or to be discussing sexual orientation while in school. >>> big weekend at the box office. "happy feet 2" and "twilight brn breaking dawn," both open in theaters to. "happy feet 2" is getting better reviews but the twilight series has a solid grip. they're earning more than the third twilight series movie but it wasn't enough to beat the harry potter series. >> you're excited about "happy feet 2" aren't you? >> i'm excited about both. i think it will be a of of fine. >>> a sure sign that the holidays are upon us in the south bay. >>> san jose downtown ice arena is ohm. it running through january 29th. prices the same as last year. 15 bucks for adults, 13 bucks for children ten and under. >>> and free for jeff because he's an excellent skater. >> i'm going to be out there monday. keurig has over 200 varis from 20 leading brands, including tully's.

our work and creating an lgbt community forum for the first time in the city. as the chief of police in san francisco, i was able to bring homicide rates down to 1860 levels. there were 97 homicides in the city. i came in the middle of 2009. there were 20 homicides this year. we were able to bring it to 50% -- to over 50% from being down 23% and here we have the highest referral rid of cases in six years. as your d.a., i am committed to working closely to dealing with violent crime. we have prosecuted eight out of nine homicide cases this year. i have also worked to create neighborhood courts to bring low-level offenses out of the courtroom, and drug courts. >> i want to start by thanking the lead and bar and for all of you for coming tonight. your story running for this return because our criminal justice system is completely broken. we spent so much on our personnel have practically bankrupt in the state. seven out of 10 people who come out of prison return within three years. we need to completely overhaul this broken system. in order to do that, we need som