my name is martha knudsen the co-chair of the lgbt democratic chair and joined by my profess co-chair and fell board member neilson. i want to thank supervisor farrell for authoring this legislation and voice support of the legislation on behalf of the entire board of the alice b. tokelis lgbt club. this is an important legislation until the federal government recognizes same-sex couples and marriage equality. on a personal note as a city employee whose same-sex spouse was covered by my health benefits for the past nine years, i paid this for nine years. what that meant is my income was reported as -- my income a little bit over $300 every pay period was increased and it's not reported as null income and social security. or medicare or for the retirement board. so it's not actually reported. i am proud of my 27-year relationship with my spouse. and i have always presented it publicly, whether it was registering as a domestic partner or getting married in a civil ceremony. yet because i sought to insure her i was punished and forced to pay higher taxes than i should v. we urge full sup