they are the unsung heroines, not me. i would like to accept this on behalf of all the women in the world we have worked with. the women who have been courageous enough to share their stories, and the woman who are really the unsung heroines of the world. thank you. [applause] >> our next award is the extraordinary public service award. [applause] she is a u.s. naval academy graduate and gay-rights activists. she is the first and only openly gay person allowed to remain on active duty in the military prior to the end of don't ask don't tell. [applause] in december 2010, she stood beside president obama as she signed the don't ask don't tell appeal. -- repeal. to many in congratulating her. -- join me in congratulating her. [applause] >> good afternoon. thank you for that introduction. one of the common things we keep hearing about in these profiles is when you love decided to give voice to those who do not have a voice -- who have decided to give voice to those who did not have a voice. women are stepping forward, that is

>[applause] >> our next award is the unsung heroine award. leisel is the director of -- is an expert on human rights in africa. her work at him and rights watch has included documenting access to safe and legal abortion in ireland. before doing -- before the joining human-rights watch, she worked for some of the key institutions promoting human rights and democracy. including the south african human rights commission. she was involved in high-profile human rights litigation to promote women and children's rights, including the case the change the definition of rape in south africa. please join me in congratulating her. [applause] >> thank you. i think we do not do enough to celebrate some of the things that we have achieved. as many of the speaker said today, there are still many things we need to write. i think if will look over the past 20 years, we will see that significant improvements have been made to the lives of women. i am really happy you chose to take a timeout to celebrate those. i am very honored to be part of this distinguished

i must say that there are many unsung heroines in this room, and my guests at table three are many of my own personal friends and supporters to keep me honest, keep the focus, and make it really very special and important to do what i do. i have got a lot of guidance and support from these women. for those of you who have not met them, please, after lunch, these are the women who make up a big part of my life. i think what is also important is that we need to support each other and with each other up. but i would also like to acknowledge, a former khmer brown's daughter is still here, never publicly think your father. he appointed me to the airport commission 12 years ago, and at that time there were not a lot of women voices on the commission. we on the commission at that time decided we had a lot of good training ground as to how to work with the city and make policy changes. as many of you commissioners out there know, we don't get a lot of training how to behave, what our role is. we get ethics training, but beyond that, how people function and are effective on our local commissio

. >> our next award goes to the unsung heroine, carol ito. she is bed a passionate advocate for women of all levels of the community. she was one of the founding members of the national asian pacific women's movement in the late 1970's, which resulted in the development of the local bay area group, pacific asian american women. the have been running 30