Thank you for your tire less work as well. We want to thank web core builders. Wsp on the air train station. We are proud to be here. 30 years in the making. Thank you all for being here. Lets hear from our mayor. I am so proud. Here is mayor london breed. [applause. ] you do the work, i cut the ribbon. First of all, let me just say i am excited to be here today. I remember when i was on the board of supervisors and we approved the believe of this new hotel the building of this new hotel. We worked with mayor ed lee. He was here during the groundbreaking and would have been so proud of this major accomplishment. What is so exciting today is that no only do we celebrate opening the hotel. It is a new milestone in the future of sfo and what it will deliver for millions who come through those gates on a regular basesis. The fact this is so close to the airport, connections through air tran and how people will come here to stay here in order to get to the airport on time in the mornings, it is going to be an incredible persons. Especially people who come from all over to the take flights. I want to thank the project managers, construction team, people who worked on delivering this hotel on time and budge get. Almost on budget and the hard work you put into really making this a beautiful place for each and every one of us. I hope to stop by. I heard about the restaurants and the food is supposed to be absolutely incredible. What is being offered here is definitely an example of what you would get all over San Francisco. I know we are not directly in the city and county of San Francisco. We have an opportunity to make sure a taste of San Francisco is experienced right here in sfo. I am excited about that and the fact this is such an incredible environmentally Friendly Hotel with the solar roof panels, charging stations for electric vehicles. We thought about everything in the future of what hotels should be like all over the country. Not to mention the incredible artwork to really represent the bay area here is a true testament to a Great Partnership between the client and the city of San Francisco. I do want to take a moment to acknowledge the work that was done to do outreach to higher people from this community to work in this hotel. The outreach that is continuing to happen to reach out to people to work in this hotel. Yes, we are still hiring. The office of economic and Work Force Development put out an announcement today to outreach to communities to let people know that we are open for business, looking for great local workers and what an incredible thing to do today. I am excited to cut this ribbon, to get this place opened, and to make sure we are making money to pay to San Francisco so we can continue to do all of the support we provide and thank you all for your work, partner ship and this incredible milestone here today. Thank you. applause . Thank you, mayor. May i have the speakers up on the stage to cut the ribbon. Five, four, three, two, one. applause in 201,755. 7 million passengers traveled through San Francisco international airport. We have on average 150,000 people traveling through the airport every day. Flying can be stressful so we have introduced therapy dogs to make flying more enjoyable. The wag brigade is a partnership between the airport and the San Francisco therapy Animal Assistant Program to bring therapy animals into the airport, into the terminals to make passenger travel more enjoyable. I amgen fer casarian and i work here at San Francisco international airport. The idea for therapy dogs got started the day after 9 11. An employee brought his therapy dog to work after 9 11 and he was able to see how his dog was able to relieve passengers jitter. When we first launched the program back in 2013, our main goal was to destress our passengers however what we quickly found is that our animals were helping us find a way to connect with our pang. Passengers. We find there are a lot of people traveling through the airport who are missing their pets and who are on their road a lot and cant have pets and we have come in contact with a lot of people recently who have lost pet. I love the wag brigade. One of my favorite parts is walking into the terminals and seeing everybody look up from their device, today everybody is interacting on their cell phone or laptop and we can walk into the terminal with a dog or a pig and people start to interact with each other again and its on a different level. More of an emotional level. I just got off an 11. 5 hour flight and nice to have this distraction in the middle of it. We look for wag brigade handlers who are comfortable in stressful situations. I like coming to airport its a lot of fun and the people you talk to are generally people who are missing their dogs. They are required to compete a certification process. And they are also required to complete a k9 good citizen test and we look for animals who have experienced working with other orgorganizations such as hospits and pediatric units and we want to be sure that the animals we are bringing into the airport are good with children and also good with some of our senior travelers. I think toby really likes meeting kids. That is his favorite thing. He likes to have them pet him and come up to him and he really loves the kids. Our wag brigade animals can be spotted wearing custom vets and they have custom patches. There is never a day that repeats itself and there is never and encounter that repeats itself. We get to do maximum good in a small stretch of time and i have met amazing people who have been thrilled to have the interaction. The dogs are here seven days a week, we have 20 dogs and they each come for a two hour shift. There is a lot of stress when people have traveling so to from these animals around to ease the stress and help people relax a little bit. I think its great. One of our dogs has special need and that is tristine. He wears a wheel around. He has special shoes and a harness and we get it together in the parking lot and then we get on the air train. He loves it. Little kids love him because he is a little lower to the ground so easy to reach and he has this big furry head they get to pet and he loves that. He doesnt seem to mind at all. Probably one of the happiest dogs in the world. Many people are nervous when they travel but seeing the dogs is just a wonderful relief. What i absolutely love most about it is the look on peoples faces, so whenever they are stressed and flying is stressful these days you get these wonderful smile. I am the mom of lilo the pig and she is San Franciscos first therapy pig. Lilo joined the wag brigade as our firs first pig. Wag brigade invited us to join the program here and we have done it about a yearandahalf ago. Our visits last 1. 5 to 2 hours and it does take a little bit longer to get out of the terminal because we still get a lot of attention and a lot of people that want to interact with lilo. I feel honored to be part of the wag brigade. Its very special to meet so many people and make so many feel happy and people that work here. Its been a great experience for me and a great experience for to totoby. Its been an extremely successful program, so the next time you are here, stop by and say hi. Are we ready . Okay. Five, four, three, two, one. Here we go whoops. Roll it. [applause] the hon. Lond the hon. London breed it is trans Awareness Month in San Francisco. Just have a seat and ignore the reserved seats signs because everybody for the reserved seats signs are probably behind me. Happy trans Awareness Week in San Francisco. We need to do it bigger. Lets do a month, and this is where we are, celebrating so many amazing things, so many amazing accomplishments. But we also know, sadly, that our Trans Community all over the country is under attack. Just recently, sadly, we shouldnt be surprised, but the president has rolled out some new discriminatory plan against our Trans Community, trying to take away millions of dollars of federal funds from our cities throughout the country. And we are of course, in San Francisco style, going to continue to fight back time and time again against the discrimination that continues to attract attack our Trans Community here in this city. [applause] the hon. London breed we understand, more than anyplace else, despite the differences that we may have, that our diversity is our strength. That is what makes San Francisco such an incredible, unique place. And im proud that every single time this president tries to put forth a discriminatory policy, we come back harder and badder than ever with more investment, with more policy changes, with a new approach to doing things. The fact is this didnt happen because of us, it happened because of you. It happened because we have incredible leader like senator scott wiener and supervisor Rafael Mandelman who continue to lead the charge. It happens because of people who make sure we are making the right investment. [applause] the hon. London breed now more than ever, we have to be bold, and i want to really thank Mickey Callahan for being here. Because when i put out the forms last year to make the training and initiatives and other things possible so that people who work for the city and county of San Francisco can have the appropriate training to work with our Trans Community, that we make changes to our documents so people can choose whatever they want to identify with on our forms in the city, she was a leader in moving forth that effort, so thank you, mickey, for being here to celebrate with us today. [applause] the hon. London breed but i will tell you, one of the proudest things that i think San Francisco has done is to put forth not only millions of dollars of investments in organizations that not only serve our community, but trans home sf will really be a game changer for our community when it comes to supportive housing. We see, saddly, that our Trans Community is 18 times more likely to experience homelessness than any other population in the city, so we have to be deliberate about the investments that we make to make sure that we change that. And so thank you so much for all of your work and advocacy. When i first became mayor, and we had that initial meeting, we talked about tony, you remember not just housing and homelessness, but investment in the arts, investment in resources to make sure that we as a city arent just talking about what we support, were putting our money where our mouth is, and weve seen record numbers of investments. Im excited about the future of San Francisco, and im excited to be here with each and every one of you today, and yes, i wore the deliberate colors of the flag. I wore my pink on my shoes and my white on my ears to let you know how proud i am to be here in San Francisco at this moment, celebrating a resilient community, one that represents San Francisco so well in how we continue to push the envelope on policies that really not only support this community but support all communities that continue to be left out of what prosperity should be for all citizens of this city. And so i want to thank you all for continuing to shine a light on issues of equity that need to be addressed in San Francisco, and i want to really thank claire for her leadership and her hard work and commitment. And i also want to acknowledge that we have other elected officials here today to support this incredible occasion. Thank you so supervisor matt haney for joining us as well as treasurer jose cisneros. I think i were not only funding trans programs, but that were doing it in an equitable way. So you know, San Francisco has really had a long history of championing the community, and weve been a beacon of hope. So this morning, when i was thinking about what i wanted to share it wasnt that i was reminded of a quote by robert f. Kennedy that says each time were asked to standup for an ideal or strike out against injustice, we send forth a tiny ripple of hope. And i see that San Francisco in these times where folks are under attack, black folks are under attack, immigrants are under attack, trans folks, lgbtq folks are under attack, San Francisco can be a beacon of hope. So if we want to have better investments, it starts with recognizing and creating awareness. So we kick off this month filled with wonderful events. We have the amazing trans Film Festival, spear headed by shawnna thats been a prominent fixture in our city, and well get to hear from her today. We also get to kick off our trans home, which is a 2. 3 Million Investment in our community, which will include rental housing and subsidy for our community. [applause] and also through the leadership of supervisor mandelman, well be doing the board of supervisors first trans leaders recognition and accommodation day this month through city hall. And lastly, you know, theres a lot of events to share, so i wont go into all the detail. But we have our trans day of remembrance, which, you know, is often a very sad day. This year specifically, weve lost more and more black trans women. I know for many of us in this room, weve been going to these events year after year, and we continue to see the same challenges. So today, i want to commit my office, with the support of the mayor, to really focus on how we can end violence in our communities. We are grateful that San Francisco has done incredible work on this, but we know that we need to do more. And as we look out to the rest of the country where we continue to see such loss of life, its important that we remember that we can be that change. So as we move forward, i really want to recognize, and ill bring her up later, nicky colma, whos been leading the charge. Nicky . [applause] wow. I have a lot of notes here. I dont know how i thought id get through them all. You know, so as the mayor mentioned today, trump again came out against lgbt health care. It seems like he has something against fridays and trans people. Its like every friday, theres something else. And so i just want to remind folks, because i think this can be a scary time, that outside of even november, that San Francisco and california will continue to protect our community. And so regardless of what happens in washington, you will be protected. We will stand together, and we will make change together. [applause] so in closing, you know, i really want to encourage us all to get involved and encourage our allies to be a part of this change. We know that being open about your love and respect and value of trans coworkers and friends and partners is key to shifting the landscape of violence that our community faces, and that also starts with policy and our elected officials. So as kennedy said, well move forward with a ripple of hope, and i hope today is just one moment of that, and i really appreciate you all for being here. And with that, i would love to introduce our first speaker whos going to share a little bit more about our trans home and has been a leader of change, miss tony newman from st. James infirmary. [applause] i am so excited to be here. I wrote a book in 2011 called i rise, and it was in mind that transgender people can get power and rise. And i see that San Francisco is the only city in the country whos financially supported trans home and safety and housing, and that deserves a round of applause. [applause] i would like to thank mayor breed for your support, the supervisors for their support, especially rafael and matt. Matt has been very supportive to st. James, and were thankful to him. And i would like to thank larkin and their team. I want to announce that weve hired the trans home team. The social worker is matthew peda. Would you stand, please . [applause] the housing navigator is camden carter. [applause] my bilingual navigator is jessie santos. [applause] were also in touch with john mckinley, whos the Housing Project manager at t t. G. I. Justice manager project. We can help you immediately or with your own apartment. Were here to serve you with the community, so come to st. James starting december 1. Were not quite ready. We have to train these folks. They just got hired yesterday, so come to st. James starting december 1 with your needs, and we will do the very best we can to serve you in the capacity as your ambassadors. Thank you. [applause] are we ready to get our community housed . Yes. I also want to do a shoutout to aria saheed whos leading our cultural district. Aria, thank you for all of your work. So next, were going to move on, and its my honor to introduce someone who was in the office and has been leading the charge in trans and lgbt policy on the state level, our state senator, scott wiener. Thank you, claire. I also want to acknowledge aria saheed who we honored as our district 11 woman of the year, so thank you, aria, for all you do. You know, weve made a lot of progress, and we tend to focus on the challenge because its important, and we have to overcome them, but sometimes we need to step back and recognize where weve been. In 2011 when mark leno authored the program to extend health care to trans people, it was lambasted by fox news. Fast forward to 2012, when we were able to get health care to extend full coverage to trans people in San Francisco. We braced ourselves for this explosion, and you could have had a pin drop. Thats just in a decade. That shift was extraordinary. But we know theres still huge challenges around poverty and unemployment and homelessness and around the violence. And the epidemic of trans people and particularly trans women of color who are being brutally murdered all across the country and living in fear. And people should not be in fear to walk down the street, and yes that is the atmosphere that we have for so many trans people in this country, and that is unacceptable. And you have to call out the elephant in the program. Part of the problem is there is lack of trust in the criminal Justice System in the Trans Community, and it is well earned mistrust, and we have to change that. And this year, we were able to pass legislation, and i want to thank toni and st. James infirmary for sponsoring it, to provide that when a sex worker is reporting a violent crime, they cant be arrested for sex work, because [applause] when we talk about keeping people safe, and keeping trans people safe, the last thing we want is if i go to report i was being assaulted, raped, or kidnapped, or i saw someone getting assaulted, raped, or kidnapped, that theyre afraid to report it, that creates a community of fear. Were working to pass legislation to ensure that trans people who are incarcerated. That if they choose, they can be incarcerated and housed in the housing that they choose, not their birth gender. Were going to continue to work i want to thank the amazing trans leaders who make all of the work we do in city hall and in the capitol possible. And the fine another challenge i want to leave you with is we need to help elevate more trans people into high leadership in this society. [applause] i would never have thought that we still would not have a transgender member of the board of supervisors. We have never had a trans state legislator in california, but we might change that. So i know we have a lot of work to do, but thank you, everyone. [applause] so speaking of leadership, i want to recognize my team. Were a small and mighty team. Hal craigo and mateo pearson. Were also taking on a Training Officer to train all our departments. I know its only one person, but were going to do our best. I also want to recognize our amazing Trans Advisory Committee who advises our office as well as the mayor. To our Trans Advisory Committee members, if you could raise your hands. Give a little love to them. [applause] thank you so much for your leadership. So now, its my honor to introduce someone whos been doing incredible work both as a director of Community Health projects, formerly a. P. I. Wellness center, but also leading the charge for trans day of remembrance, trans march, trans visibility day. I dont know how she has the energy she has, but please welcome nicky colma. Thank you, claire. Good afternoon, everyone. My name is nicky colma, and i work for the San Francisco health center, formerly known as the agency a. P. I. Wellness center, and i oversee our programs and Community Engagement of the organization. So im very honored to be here with everybody and speaking here, you know . I came to San Francisco in 1989, and i was right behind mark leno when they were doing all those initiatives to to give health care for all the city employees. And i wasnt wearing glasses then, and now im wearing glasses coming back here. So but i just wanted to let you all know whats going on, the contribution that were doing. You know, ive been doing a lot of events for my community, and this one this one event is something that every time it comes near, i always have to think about if i want to really spearhead it and make sure that its happening because i think its something that we just dont want to have it anymore, you know . Its the transgender day of remembrance, and for many of those who dont know, the transgender day of remembrance started in 1989 by transgender advocate Gwendolyn Smith to honor the memory of her friend, rita hester, who was killed in 1988. And this day is to remember those who we have lost. Sadly, across the country, in 2019, we have seen 22 transgender people shot or killed by violent means. 22 people of color or transgender African American women. The body of b. Love slater, 23 years old, a trans woman of color, was found on august 23. Her body was badly burned, and she had to be identified with dental records. This hasnt stopped. So i would like to invite all of you to join us this coming november 20. Its going to be a city event. We have a march from city hall to u. C. Hastings, where we held it last year, as well. Its going to be at 5 30 to 6 00 for the march and a celebration at 6 00 at u. C. Hastings. And i would like to invite folks to come to our annual trans giving event. I think its official that San Francisco was the very first city that had a Dropin Center for the transgender community, and that was trans pride, so that was trans at that time. And we do this wonderful brunch for our community on thanksgiving day itself from 11 00 to 2 00, and wed love to see folks who could like to serve or like to help out or just, you know, talk with all the clients that we have at trans tribe. Id like to also mention the trans pride board is here, who we just brought somebody new on board, our president , carol and anjalie. Were going to rock s. F. Pride and make sure we are there, so everybody, thank you so much. [applause] so before we continue, i would love to just take a moment of silence and really honor all those folks that nicky mentioned that weve lost this year. Now, id like to thank tom horn for helping us make this event happen. It would not happen without his leadership and support. Standup, tom. Okay. [applause] he doesnt like the attention. And charlotte, too. Thank you so much for your ongoing support and work. These events are done with love, and it takes resources to make them happen, so thank you so much. So speaking of resources, we have a huge champion for our community and our lgbt community. Our district 8 supervisor, and the only out lgbt member on the board. Please welcome supervisor raphael mandelman. [applause] supervisor mandelman thank you claire. And as others have said, thank you so much for the extraordinary work that you and your office do. And thank you, tom horn. The mayor was whispering to me before we started that tom horn always comes through. Thank you. [applause] supervisor mandelman i guess ill begin where senator wiener finished, in that harvey milk knew how important queer representation is, how important it was for people to come out, and for people to be elected and serve. I think i had said at other events i look forward to the day when i am speaking after a trans elected supervisor. We need to do that, and it will happen soon. We have other queer people who are serving on School Boards and other places, tom temprano and mark sanchez. Since were quoting great elected american officials from decades ago, i often think about Hubert Humphreys quote, about the three groups of american citizens. In San Francisco our actually in the United States in 2019, i think the moral test of our Queer Community and certainly here in San Francisco, the moral test of our community is how we treat our Trans Community. And until recently, i think we all know and continuing to this day, by that measure, we are failing, and we have failed. But i do want to thank this mayor, london breed, for the focus she has brought to the Trans Community and the unprecedented achievements she has made, but we need to do more. These shelters particularly around homeless and the workforce events we are doing is so important to this community. But we need to do these things not because the Trans Community is in need but because the Trans Community is our strength. Certainly as queer people, we know our Movement Began with trans folks. The reason that donald trump finds repeated reasons to attack the Trans Community is because the Trans Community is everything that donald trump is not. And ultimately, donald trump will lose, but every single trans person in this country presents a fundamental threat to what donald trump is all about. So the future is trans if were lucky and if we work for it, which i know were going to do. Have a fantastic month, everybody. [applause] wow. The future is trans, and for now, well start with a month, but so i also wanted we have one more speaker, but i want to recognize our lgbt commissioners, and our department heads. If folks could wave. I see you back there, naya, being all shy. [applause] when we talk about pathways to leadership, the supervisor spoke, theyre a great way to be on one. So come talk to me. Its my pleasure to introduce two people that have been doing incredible work in the arts, shawnna veraga and shawn dorsey have been leading the way for the trans festival and the fresh meat festival every year. And last week, shawn, whos on our trans committee, met with the mayor about the need to preserve trans art in our city. We come to San Francisco with the hope to be able to share that with the rest of the city. And with so many of us displaced, its really important that we invest in art so that we not only remember our history but that we preserve the stories and art that make our community so important. So with that, please welcome shawnna veraga and shawn dorsey. [applause] excuse me. I i cant right now. Speaking to the mayor. Okay. Byebye. Hi, everybody. My name is shawnna verago. Im the artistic director of the San Francisco transgender Film Festival, and im so honored to be here today. Im so grateful to be here today. I came out in the 1980s, and so when i go to trans events, whether its the San Francisco transgender Film Festival or fresh meat or anywhere else where a lot of trans people gather, im usually the only person from my generation of friends thats still alive because of suicide, hiv aids, poverty, murder. And so i feel very driven to continue our battles and our and our fight against our avowed enemy. You know, its interesting because im primarily an artist, and im been thrust into being an activist. And ive heard so much inspirational wisdom here today, and i would like to thank i have a long list of gratitudes, but i do want to thank senator scott wiener, supervisor mandelman, everyone at the office of transgender initiatives, and especially the Mayors Office and mayor breed for helping us continue to thrive, to increase our budget. We when we started, we one of the codirectors had a credit card, and thats how we were able to rent the theater. We applied for years to get grants. We couldnt get a grant to save our lives. And so through grit, through punk rock toughness, really, we managed to survive since 1997. And were the longest running transgender Film Festival in the world. And we started here. We started in the mission district. Weve screened over 300 films since that time, and i do think, as we know, our communities are under attack, but that the San Francisco transgender Film Festival, i think we kind of all have to know what our expertise and our lane is. And i think theres these political geniuses behind me. But we need to change the narrative of how were viewed in our culture. And i think weve proven since we have been here since 1997 that trans people wont be silenced, we wont be erased, and were going to continue the fight through the arts, so thank you very much. [applause] hello, everyone. I just want to add i dont know if you shared that the trans Film Festival was founded at the worlds first trans Film Festival, so i feel like we should give ourselves a round of applause. Hello. Im shawn dorsey, and im the director and founder of the fresh meat festival. Were all about investing in the creative expression and cultur Cultural Community in the Trans Community. Right now, i want to invite all of us to take part in a creative expression exercise. So i want everyone to please repeat after me. I love trans people. [repeating] except say it like youre not so sad about. I love trans people i love gender nonconforming people and as we talk about the continued genocide and murder of black trans women, thats an equation. So the other side of that equation is please repeat after me. I will invest in the wellbeing and leadership of black trans women. I love trans people [cheers and applause] thank you all so much. Please yes, check out our work and please come to the San Francisco transgender Film Festival next week. Its thursday through sunday. Sftfs. Org. Two programs are closed captioned and a. S. L. Interpreted. No one turned away for lack of funds, so please join us. Thank you so much. [applause] so its almost that time for drinks and food. Im sure youre all ready for it. Its friday, but i also want to recognize honey mahogany from the dccc and supervisor haneys office and ana deyano and her team. [applause] so as we move forward, as i mentioned, we need to continue to prioritize communities that are impacted in our city and beyond. And the mayor has taken leadership and really supported Mental Health and housing four for people in our city, and that includes the Trans Community. And over the last year, weve lost so many to suicide. So its really important we reach out for help, we see each other in our community because you are loved, as shawn said. We want to continue to be a part of a community that continues to grow. And as i said, have a great trans month of awareness. Yes, drinks. Lets get drinks. Shop and dine in the 49 promotes local businesses and challenges residents to do their business in the 49 square files of San Francisco. We help San Francisco remain unique, successful and right vi. So where will you shop and dine in the 49 . Im one of three owners here in San Francisco and we provide mostly live Music Entertainment and we have food, the type of food that we have a mexican food and its not a big menu, but we did it with love. Like ribeye tacos and quesadillas and fries. For latinos, it brings Families Together and if we can bring that family to your business, youre gold. Tonight we have russelling for e community. We have a tenperson limb elimination match. We have a fullsize ring with barside food and drink. We ended up getting wrestling here with puoillo del mar. Were hope og get families to join us. Weve done a drag queen bingo and were trying to be a diverse kind of club, trying different things. This is a great part of town and theres a bunch of shops, a variety of stores and ethnic restaurants. Theres a popular little shop that all of the kids like to hanhang out at. We have a great breakfast spot call brick fast at tiffanies. Some of the older businesses are refurbished and newer businesses are coming in and its exciting. We even have our own brewery for fdr, ferment, drink repeat. Its in the San FranciscoGarden District and four beautiful muellermixer ura alsomurals. Its important to shop local because its kind of like a circle of life, if you will. We hire local people. Local people spend their money at our businesses and those local mean that wor people willr money as well. I hope people shop locally. [ ]