LGBT Committee Member Profiles
Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Advisory Committee
Minutes of the August 19, 2008 Meeting
Committee Members Present: Commissioner Cecilia Chung, Commissioner Julius Turman, Jane Aceituno, Saurabh Bajaj, Dora Balcazar, Alex Baty, Bill Doggett, Winston Dong, Jr., Ted Guggenheim, Justin Patrick Jones, Poonam, Allison Laureano, Mark Murphy, Yvette Pannell, Martin Rawlings-Fein, Greg Shaw, Lindasusan Ulrich, Brad Vanderbilt.
Committee Members Absent: Commissioner Mark Dunlop (excused), Commissioner Julius Turman, Rene Astudillo (excused), Samer Danfoura (excused), Paul Klees, Poonam (excused), Alic Shook (excused).
Staff Present: Nadia Babella, Larry Brinkin, Domenic Viterbo.
Guests Present: Stephen Schwichow.
1. Call to Order and Roll Call:
Commissioner Chung called the meeting to order at 5:30 p.m. Mr. Brinkin called the roll.
2. Approval of August 19, 2008 minutes (Action Item):
Mr. Vanderbilt moved to approve the minutes as written. Mr. Dong seconded. The motion passed unanimously.
3. Public Comment for Items Not on the Agenda:
Stephen Schwichow, a former Committee member who is presently a member of the Outreach Work Group, introduced himself.
4. 7X7 Presentation: Winston Dong, Jr.: Why Planning is Important to Queer People and the Queer Community:
Mr. Dong talked about how design is an important tool for social change: well-designed communities, streets, and public spaces are the physical framework for a better society; and his work as a landscape architect, urban planner, and urban designer is driven by his experience in and commitment to social justice and community advocacy.
As Project Director at Reconnecting America (RA) he focuses on transit-oriented development (TOD). Queer communities need to think about TOD because they have always evolved around transit, and it is key in thinking about how to keep queer and all places affordable, diverse, healthy, and vibrant.
Before that he worked at Urban Ecology (UE), especially focusing on community design and neighborhood plans for community benefit districts (CBDs), which are usually business areas who self-assess to fund improvements. Mr. Dong used his work with the Castro/Upper Market CBD to illustrate how planning can improve queer communities, and how he was able to guide the CBD toward design solutions that would address issues of diversity, inclusion, equity, access, community character, economic vitality, and public space. The Castro-and most queer communities-have little public space and this has a real impact on our culture and community.
Mr. Dong entertained questions from Committee members.
5. Follow-Up to last Month's Panel on Blood Donations (Discussion Items):
A draft letter andresolution were handed out to the Committee members for review. Commissioner Chung said that the Committee could do one of the following: (1) call the panelists from last month's presentation to discuss work being done on this issue, and (2) research if the FDA has made any responses on this subject that they're not aware of. This would help in making a final decision on the language used. Mr. Brinkin said that staff would check for any online articles with any current information. Any new information found will be forwarded to the Committee before the September meeting.
6. Letter of Concern to the Health Commion Regarding HIV/AIDS/STD Advertisements Being Stigmatizing (Discussion Item):
This item has been tabled because Commissioner Dunlop, who was working on the letter, is not in attendance.
7. Work Group Reports:
Anti-Racism: Mr. Brinkin reported that the meeting was cancelled due to lack of members present. He reported that he met with Steve Adams, President of the Merchants of Upper Market and Castro (MUMC), to discuss the diversity project. He invited Mr. Adams to attend their next meeting on Tuesday, September 9, at 5:30 p.m. Mr. Brinkin strongly encouraged work group members attend this meeting.
Youth: Ms. Babella reported that Kevin Gogin of the SFUSD will make a presentation at the September 16 meeting to report on the findings from a survey given to 5th-12th graders in the City's school district. Two projects that were identified at this year's retreat remain to be addressed: (1) political identification of youth, and (2) same-sex child abuse, a possible panel for the February 2009 meeting. Their next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, September 2, at 5:30 p.m.
Outreach: Ms. Babella thanked the Committee members who took part in the online survey on accessibility of the HRC website then reported on several of the suggestions offered that include making the website so that information on panel presentations and meeting minutes can be found more readily. Next steps will be discussed at their next meeting on September 2 at 5:30 p.m. They will also discus when to have regular meetings scheduled.
The Ambassadorship Program was discussed which would involve Committee members attend events in other Committee members' communities to learn about the community and to introduce the work of the HRC. Members will report on the event as a 7x7 presentation a the next Committee meeting. Commissioner Chung said that the program is about networking and representing our community by building alliances in order to take the Committee to the next level by mentoring and being mentored. This will be further discussed at next month's Committee meeting.
8. Commissioner Report:
Commissioner Chung reported that she attended the International AIDS Conference in Mexico City. She reported that marches which took place during the course of the week were truly inspiring. On August 3, the first international march against stigma, homophobia, discrimination, and for universal health care on HIV treatment were held. The director of the CDC was able to provide statistics on MSM, but failed to give statistics on women or transgender people. The overall message was that we have to fight stigma and discrimination in order to provide effective behavioral intervention. San Francisco will be the host city of next year's U.S. Conference on AIDS.
9. Staff Report:
Ms. Babella reported that Ellise Nicholson accepted a position with the Office of Citizen Complaints. Staff is working on finding another staff person for the Outreach workgroup.
Staff is currently busy giving LGBT sensitivity trainings to DPT parking control officers. Staff learned from the parking control officers that they all face discrimination on a daily basis by members of the public. Staff will work with DPT to creatively come up with strategies on how to handle members of the public who openly discriminate against them. DPT staff is being given these trainings is due to a number of complaints filed in trying to change the environment of their department.
10. Old/New Business:
Mr. Rawlings-Fein reported that the bisexual invisibility workgroup started a group on Google. They're in the process of gathering input from the community on its content, recommendations, etc., and deciding on the structure of the report by looking at other HRC reports. Ms. Ulrich said that the workgroup felt that their best plan of action is to create a report that will be presented to the Commission instead of having a public hearing. Commissioner Chung said that a small hearing may be organized to present the report. Their next meeting date is to be determined.
11. Announcements:
Ms. Ulrich announced that Horizons Foundation is having an online auction, Celebrate@Home, instead of a huge gala this year. Once the online auction goes live on September 1-20, simply logon to www.horizonsfoundation.org and place a bid any of their fabulous items.
She also announced that is PARK(ing) Day, a one-day global event in which parking spaces are temporarily turned into public parks, will take place on Friday, September 19. She and her partner will transform a parking space at Castro and 18th Streets into a wedding chapel and will conducting weddings. Visitors can sign a guestbook and have cake! For more information, go to www.parkingday.org.
Mr. Rawlings-Fein announced that Art for AIDS, AIDS Health Project's annual fundraiser, will be held at the Herbst International Exhibition Hall in the Presidio on Friday, October 3. For more information on this event, go to www.artforaids.org.
Mr. Bajaj, is still raising money for the AIDS Marathon. The monies raised goes to benefit the San Francisco AIDS Foundation and other organizations fighting the epidemic. Go to his webpage is: http://www.aidsmarathon.com/participant.aspx?runner=SF-1427&EventCode=SF08 to donate.
Mr. Doggett announced that Committee members can receive a brunch for two at Crepevine if they refer his photography services to photograph same-sex wedding ceremonies.
Commissioner Chung announced that Asian and Pacific Islander Pride is presenting its 5th Annual Family Presentation Banquet at the Hotel Whitcomb, 1231 Market Street on, Saturday, on August 23. The banquet celebrates A&PI families who support their LGBT children. For more information on this event, got to www.apifamilypride.org.
She also announced that proceeds raised at Shangri-la, a monthly dance event held at the Endup, will benefit Sichuan earthquake relief in helping to rebuild schools that were damaged or destroyed. The event will take place on Saturday, August 30.
12. Adjournment:
The meeting was adjourned at 7:06 p.m.