The Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Advisory Committee (LGBTAC) was established in May of 1975 by amendment to Chapter 12A of the San Francisco Administrative Code, requiring at least three members. LGBTAC's members must reside in San Francisco.
The committee strives to represent the diversity of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender communities. The Committee provides assistance and advice to the Commission regarding discrimination against the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender communities; advocates for the civil rights of persons with AIDS/HIV; and educates the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender communities about issues of diversity within those communities.
The LGBTAC meets on the third Tuesday of the month from 5:30 pm to 7:30 pm in the main conference room of the HRC.
Meetings in 2010
Commissioners:
Community Members:
|
Jane Aceituno
Alex Baty
Bart Broome
Corrin Buchanan
Ruby Cymrot-Wu
Samer Danfoura
Mark Dunlop
Elizabeth Labedz
Allison Laureano
Dominique Leslie
Amos Lim |
Mark Murphy
Joseph K.S. Peralta
Bianca Polovina
Poonam
Fayaz Rajani
Martin Rawlings-Fein
Ray Rudolph
Donna Sachet
Mark Synder
Lindasusan Ulrich
Vaughn Villaverde |
AGENDAS AND MINUTES FROM PAST MEETINGS
To view past reports prepared by this Committee, please visit: http://www.sf-hrc.org/index.aspx?page=6
LGBTAC MEMBER BIOGRAPHIES
Jane Aceituno
LGBTAC Member, 2006
Jane Aceituno is a graduate of Harvard and Boston University School of Law. She lives in San Francisco, where she is a lawyer. Jane was born in San Francisco and grew up in the Central Valley with a gaggle of younger brothers and sisters. She enjoys working with a different set of brothers and sisters in the queer community and contributes to a number of LGBT activities, including the Center Women Present at the San Francisco LGBT Community Center and the Harvey Milk Club.
Alex Baty
LGBTAC Member, 2008 
Biography coming soon!
Bart Broome
LGBTAC Member, 2009
Bart Broome is a Government Relations Manager for the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission. From 2002 to 2008 Bart worked as a legislative policy staffer, first for California Assemblyman Paul Koretz (D-West Hollywood), and then for California Assemblyman Mark Leno (D-San Francisco). He has been involved with the passage of key HIV and LGBT rights legislation enacted in California in recent years, including AB 205 expanding domestic partnership rights, AB 228 protecting patients with HIV in need of organ transplants, and AB 1586 prohibiting discrimination based on gender identity in the provision of insurance. A longtime resident of San Francisco, Bart and his partner of 18 years were among the first same-sex couples to be married at San Francisco City Hall on February 12, 2004.
Corrin Buchanan
LGBTAC Member, 2009
Corrin Buchanan currently works as the Community Programs Director at The Women’s Building. Corrin came to the Bay Area in 2002 as an AmericorpsVISTA volunteer and decided to make San Francisco her home. She graduated from UC Berkeley with a degree in Development Studies with a geographic focus in Latin America. While studying abroad in Mexico City she interned with their city’s own Commission on Human Rights. She is currently a fellow in the Women’s Foundation of California’s Women’s Policy Institute where she is working on state legislation related to economic justice. She has also worked on labor, housing, and health issues in the Bay with various groups including Young Workers United, Pride at Work, Bay Area Coalition for Our Reproductive Rights, and Valencia Neighbors for Community Development.
Ruby Cymrot-Wu
LGBTAC Member, 2010 
Biography Coming Soon!
Samer Danfoura
LGBTAC Member, 2008
Born and raised in San Francisco, Samer Danfoura graduated from St. Ignatius College Preparatory, and earned his B.A. in English from Georgetown University. He then spent a year advocating on behalf of LGBT youth in Washington, D.C., and went on to UCLA School of Law. Upon receiving his law degree and completing the Program in Public Interest Law and Policy, he joined the New York Bar in 2003 and worked as a tenant-side attorney on behalf of low-income tenants in Manhattan. After teaching abroad at Birzeit University’s Institute of Law, Samer returned to San Francisco in 2005 and joined the California Bar in the same year. Samer now provides legal services to diverse clients at Danfoura & Nimr Law Group.
Mark Dunlop
LGBTAC Member, 2005
Mark Dunlop has been involved San Francisco political and social issues for thirty years. Starting in 1977 by joining the fight against the Briggs initiative he has consistently been a part of the S.F. activist community since then. In 1980 he co-founded Haight Ashbury Community Services, one of San Francisco’s longest running food programs. From the beginning of the AIDS epidemic, Mark has worked to support people with HIV. He formed a support group at All Saints Parish and has served on the San Francisco HIV Planning Council. Mark also has been concerned with housing issues and was appointed by Mayor Agnos to the Citizens Committee on Community Development. In 1997 Mayor Brown appointed him to the San Francisco Redevelopment Commission where he served as Vice-President and President.
Allison Laureano
LGBTAC Member, 2007
Biography Coming Soon!
Elizabeth Labedz
LGBTAC Member, 2010
Biography Coming Soon!
Dominique Leslie
LGBTAC Member, 2009
Ms. Dominique Rosa Leslie is a 51 year old male to female transsexual who has lived her whole life in the Bay Area and has been living in San Francisco since 1979. She is mixed race, (Guatemalan /Scottish), and pansexual identified. She has been in continuous Recovery from Drugs/Alcohol since 1988. She has worked since 1990 as a Substance Use/Abuse Counselor, a Case Manager, a HIV/AIDS Prevention and Education Outreach Worker, and as a Consultant. Her specialty is HIV/AIDS, Substance Use/Abuse, and Transgender issues. In 1995 she was the principal author of “Transgender Protocol- Treatment Services Guidelines for Substance Abuse Providers,” which was accepted as standard of practice by the San Francisco Department of Public Health. She was also principal author of the Transgender chapter of “A Provider’s Introduction to Substance Abuse Treatment for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Individuals.” by US Department of Health and Human Services, Center for Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services, Center for Substance Abuse Treatment, 2001. She has served on the LGBT Constituent Committee of the State of California’s Alcohol and Drug Programs, 1998-2001(appointed by both Governors’ Wilson and Davis); on the Transgender Civil Rights Task Force, 2000-2001(appointed by San Francisco Board of Supervisors); Drug Abuse Advisory Board, 1995-1997(appointed by San Francisco Board of Supervisors); LGBT Substance Abuse Task Force of CSAS, San Francisco Department of Public Health, 1994-1996; SFLGBT Pride Parade, Board Member, 1996-1997. She has also spoken at NGLTF’s Creating Change Conference’s 1995, 1996, 1997, 1999, and 2000; at A Gathering of Wisdom Conference, 1998, 1999; at Alive with Pleasure, 1996; and at the 7th National AIDS Update Conference,
Amos Lim
LGBTAC Member, 2009
Amos Lim, a native of Singapore, came to the United States in 1999. He has been actively involved in raising awareness about same sex binational couple’s immigration struggles as well as fighting for marriage equality. He co-founded Out4Immigration , http://www.out4immigration.org , and was the Community Organizer at API Equality, http://www.apiequality.org , a project of Chinese for Affirmative Action. Amos helped organized San Francisco’s 2007 Immigrant Rights Summit where LGBT immigration issues were raised and was also involved in the City ID Card committee. Amos has an extensive professional background in the corporate sector, having worked in business development and human resources at Meditab Software, and Deutsche Bank AG. He is fluent in several Chinese dialects. Amos and his husband spend their free time playing with their 15 month old baby daughter.
Mark Murphy
LGBTAC Member, 2008
Mark J. Murphy, a San Francisco resident since 1991, previously served as Interim Executive Director, and Treasurer and President of the Board of Directors, of Positive Resource Center. A graduate of Creighton University, with a B.S. in Statistics, he combined his academic interests with the love of the arts, dancing with the Omaha Ballet and various modern dance companies. Self employed as a Corporate Marketing Strategist, Mark delivers problem-solving marketing solutions to his clients. He is proud to acknowledge his partner, David Allyn, a 3rd grade teacher in the San Francisco Unified School District for all his support. A native of Iowa and Nebraska, Mark enjoys San Francisco’s charm as well as its world-class sophistication, working each day to leave this place cleaner than how he found it.
Joseph K.S. Peralta
LGBTAC Member, 2009
Since emigrating from the Philippines to the US in 2001, Joseph has been active in different performing arts, public health and LGBT non-profit involvements. A graduate of UC Berkeley, he was particularly interested at how intersections of race, immigration policies, sexuality and technology have reshaped the mail-order bride system. He has served as a volunteer medic with the Berkeley Free Clinic and a sexual health peer counselor with the Tang Center at Cal. He was also chosen as one of Hargraves Fellows, working intensively on the United ENDA campaign, capped by an outreach effort at the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver, CO. Most recently, he was involved with LYRIC'S The ACCESS Project, developing workshop curricula, coordinating trainings, and talking to youth and staff about the organizational impact of heterosexism and hate speech. He currently works as the Community Programs Coordinator at the San Francisco LGBT Community Center. He is also a member of Harvey Milk LGBT Democratic Club, the San Francisco LGBT Pride Celebration Committee, a current singing member of the SF Gay Men's Chorus and an Associate Board Member for Folsom Street Events. He loves traveling on a dime, playing competitive volleyball, and discovering the joys (and pains) of marathon running.
Bianca Polovina
LGBTAC Member, 2010
Poonam
LGBTAC Member, 2008
Poonam is a 1st generation Indian American woman who would have been open to a pre-arranged marriage - if it was with a lesbian! She loves embracing her three cultures: Indian, queer and American and feels honored to represent her queer sisters of color on the LGBTAC. As a member of the LGBTAC she hopes to serve the interests and needs of the LGBTQ community of San Francisco in a lasting and impactful way. Poonam is also a Board Member of Trikone, the Bay Area's South Asian LGBT organization. In her spare time she loves dancing, karaoke singing and supporting friends’ creative endeavors.
Fayaz Rajani
LGBTAC Member, 2010
Biography Coming Soon!
Martin Rawlings-Fein
LGBTAC Member, 2006
MartinRawlings-Fein is the father of a very active toddler and is an active leader in both the transsexual and bisexual communities. Rawlings-Fein served as a former steering committee member of Female-to-Male San Francisco (FTMSF), the former Co-Chair of Female-to-Male International (FTMI), the former Co-Chair of San Francisco Transgender Empowerment, Advocacy & Mentorship (SFTEAM) and is one of the founding producers of the annual Trans March. Currently Rawlings-Fein is a steering committee member of the Mamas & Papas, an LGBT parents group. He is a lay leader at Congregation Sha’ar Zahav, San Francisco’s only LGBTIQQS affiliated synagogue and just completed his first feature length documentary project Clocked: An Oral History, an intimate portrait of transgender communities through personal insights, stories and reflections on the meaning of community and being transgender.
Ray Rudolph
LGBTAC Member, 2010
Biography Coming Soon!
Donna Sachet
LGBTAC Member, 2009
Donna Sachet arrived in San Francisco 18 years ago. She reigned as Miss Gay SF in 1993 and the thirtieth elected Empress of SF in 1995-96, co-chaired the SF GLAAD Media Awards for 4 years, and has served on the Board of Directors of the AIDS Emergency Fund, Positive Resource Center , the Imperial Council, and the SF LGBT Community Center. She is currently on the State Board of EqualityCalifornia and the International Court Council. Donna currently writes a biweekly column for the Bay Area Reporter, provides quarterly press releases about the LGBT Community to the SF Convention & Visitors Bureau, co-hosts with Tim Gaskin a weekly LGBT television series called OUT Spoken on Comcast, and stars in Sunday's A Drag every Sunday at Harry Denton's Starlight.
Mark Synder
LGBTAC, Member 2010
Biography Coming Soon!
Lindasusan Ulrich
LGBTAC Member, 2007
Lindasusan Ulrich is a writer and musician known for her humor, her depth, her engaging live performances, and her absolute love of language. She is currently recording and producing her second album of original music, Consequences of Seeing in the Dark. When asked to describe her music, she calls it the songcraft of Ani DiFranco getting a hug from Celia Cruz. Lindasusan also has extensive experience as an activist, working on issues as varied as bisexual visibility, sustainable transportation, political campaigns, and social justice in Latin America. She holds an SB degree in nuclear fusion from MIT and an MA in English from UC Berkeley. Lindasusan is proud to serve as the Communications Manager/Writer for Horizons Foundation, an LGBT community foundation based in San Francisco, where she lives with her sweetie, Emily Drennen.
Vaughn Villaverde
LGBTAC Member, 2008
Biography coming soon!
Amy Whelan
LGBTAC Member, 2010
Photo and Biography Coming Soon!
