spanish as a native language. so this is an amazing chance for us to feel honored and we appreciate very much the work that everyone here does. thank you very much to the commissioners for this award and also for the work you do on behalf of immigrants. [applause] >> honorees. when you come on the stage after you speak, you will receive your award and certificate from our wonderful commissioners and then you can exit stage right. is that right? stage right. ok. next award is our industry leader and this is going to leo sosa. he is an immigrant from guantanamo and he launched throw youth technology programs before starting his own non-profit dove mission, which aims to train young adults age 16-24 for careers in tech. he has also worked in many neighborhoods throughout the city helping to connect low income families to broadband, distributing computers and building computer labs in affordable housing communities. please welcome leo sosa. >> hello. i like the sound of that. now we're ready. i would like to thank my parents. i arrived to this country of may 10 in 1985 not knowing how to speak english, not knowing about the culture, not knowing what was going to happen to me. i can tell you today it's a very special day. i want to thank the san francisco immigrants right commission for nominating me for this wonderful award. this award is not about me, it's about thousands of young people that i have trained for careers in the tech industry since 2003. 60% of those people are immigrants. i just left the computer lab inside valencia gardens and i asked the cohort how many of them are immigrants. out of 18, six say they are and the rest of them say their parents are immigrants. imagine what we're doing in san francisco to connect these people in tech. again, there would be no admission without organization likthe missioneconomic developm, mission house and development corporation, the san francisco house and development corporation, and mercy housing. those are the pillars that made me who i am today. without their support, they'll be no youth technology programs that i launched, no programs, no computers, there will be no subsidized employment dollars for young people. there will be no scholarships and there will be no jobs in tech. so with those non profits, i started building this model that we're going to clothes diversity in the tech industry but most importantly, we're going to connect high school, middle school, elementary and young adults to career pathways that they're going to provide them to stay in san francisco, financial capability opportunities and at the end of the day, they'll be the next immigrant leaders in san francisco. so thank you very much for being here tonight and lastly, i want to thank my wife, my family, and everyone that has believed in the work that wore doing in san francisco in affordable housing communities. [applause] [applause] >> moving right along. next we have three grassroots community organizations in advocates that we'd like to honor. first one is vanessa moses. a powerful black bay area leader and the executive director of just cause. she has a long track record of buildings and leadership of working class communities and in 2017, vanessa's leadership lead to the formation of bay rising a regional alliance of community that organizations working to address inequality and vanessa was a co creator of bay resistance, a rapid response network of over 50 organizations. unfortunately, vanessa is ill tonight but accepting the award for her is gloria. >>[ speaking spanish ] >> good evening, my comrade here and i are representing the work of cal sahouta. present!present!present! [voice of interpreter] thank you very much for this recognition. it means a lot. we would like for the immigrant community to be here as well. the community we work for and the community that works for us on the daily with a lot of effort. [applause] [voice of interpreter] i would like to say it's the immigrant community across the world that is the main economy for the world and it is because of us that we would like to have happiness, peace and love. [applause] [applause] >> our third grassroots leader is kind in need of defense. not the health bar but the organization so kind works to ensure that no refugee or immigrant child faces immigration court alone through direct legal representation of children and they recruit and train pro bono attorneys and advocate for policies that protect the rights of unaccompanied children. kind is a member of the san francisco immigrant legal defense collaborative and it's attorneys participate in the rapid response networks and volunteer as attorneys of the day in immigration court. we are so fortunate to be able to honor kind. [applause] >> hi, everyone. my name is katie and i'm a managing attorney for kind san francisco and fresno offices. thank you so much to the san francisco immigrant rights commission for this honor today. i'm joined by our amazing, incredible team here in san francisco. we are a large team. we have lots of important work to do and we're so honored to be recognized today. kind represents unaccompanied immigrant and refugee children in immigration court proceedings. our clients are part of abandonment in their country and they're in court alone. including children as young as two-years-old but we represent here in san francisco. i was in court today along with my other attorneys and being surrounded by young people, by children in court without attorneys -- it was overwhelming. but kind with support from the city, from all of the partners here, we're a proud member of the san francisco immigrant rights, immigrant legal defence and with support from that collaborative from the mayor's office, the city of san francisco, from observ c c.a.a.e create a model and example for other cities, for other places across the country, the work we're doing here in san francisco. i want to thank our staff here today. [applause] i want to thank our friends and family who are here and most important, i want to thank our clients. they're brave, resilient and examples of all of us and we're so proud to work with them. [applause] >> congratulations to our grassroots leader. ok, if you guys are checking your nba scoreboard on espn, make sure your phone is on silent. ok, thank you. we'll let you know in a minute. our next honoree is a san francisco native and mother of four and she's the head of the committee. she has been involved in community organizing for years. not only does she chair the committee but she formed this organization to support yemini american communities in the bay area during periods of social unrest. her advocacy and organizing efforts challenge harmful, national security and foreign policies that impact the americans and their families here and back in yemen. please, welcome gihan. [applause] >> good evening, everyone. thank you to the san francisco immigrant rights commission and to the office of civic engagement and immigrant affairs. to the city of san francisco and its leadership for this recognition. i am truly honored. as a san francisco native, i am proud of how my city has been at the forefront of protecting immigrant communities. especially during this harsh, anti immigrant islamophobic political climate. the yemen community has been so brave. so brave in resilience and these times even while still impacted by the war in yemen. even still separated due to the muslim ban. to my community, i am inspired by your strength. and will not stop being an advocate for our causes. to our allies, i thank you for your solidarity. our struggles are bound and our liberation is bound. i would not be here today without my family. shout out to my family. and my team are also chairs of the alliance committee here. [applause] and my organizational bffs on the ground still fighting the good fight. is san francisco will stand up and fight back. thank you. [applause] [applause] >> all right. next stop, i'm not going to read you the score yet. we have our public-private non-profit collaboration and our honoree this year is the latino cultural district. it began in 1999 as a grassroots organization formed by community members in the mission district. it's council members represent merchants, residents, landlords, service non profits, arts, organizations and the mayor established a latino cultural districts. the mission is to preserve enhance and advocate for latino, continuity, and. >> i first just want to thank the immigrants rights commission for this great award. we all do and folks from the commission district are also honored to receive this award. we became a cultural district in 2014 but we have an active since 1999. as you know, the mission district has been impacted greatly by gentrification displacement in the last 10 to eight years and we've our work is great and we realize we can't do this alone and there's a lot of us involved in the neighborhood with our allies and our neighbors and our merchants and our non profits and artist are all involved in this great battle to preserve our community, our culture, our business. everything that creates our community, everything that makes us viable and sustainable is that we're trying to preserve. so, we can't do this alone and so we have all of you, at the city, to really help us preserve our community. we can't do it alone. thank you. [applause] [applause] >> our next award is special. it's the vera hail champion of justice award named for our late i.r.c. commissioner who, as all of you know, a very fierce advocate for immigrants and the underserved. she never let us forget for a second who we served and challenges us always to never stop fighting for the rights of others. the san francisco public defender immigration defence unit was established on may 23rd, 2017 by our late brother, the late public defender jeff hadachi to ensure that detained immigrants facing deportation and immigration court have accessed to council. the unit has handled more than 240 cases and helped stop the deportation of around 75% of its clients. pretty good success rate. it is now among the largest and the best known publicly funded detained removal defence providers in california. accepting the award is deputy public defender jennifer freedman, who many of you know from her outstanding work in new york state and francisco, our long time colleague and champion. [applause] >> good afternoon, thank you. i want to thank the immigration rights office and immigrant affairs for this recognize and all of us in the immigration defense unit at the public defenders office. through the generous support of the city of san francisco, we, the public defenders immigration unit, represent detained immigrants facing deportation right here in san francisco. there arality attorneys and five support staff. this work has never been more important and never been harder. this unit was designed by our fear less leader to fight back. we believe fiercely that every immigrant deserves zealous representation, even those with criminal convictions. everyday, we're bringing our public defenders' spirit and determination to the table to bat many on behalf of our immigrant neighbors. we represent the entire san francisco community, all of us. when we show up to court and demand our clients' rights. together we are fighting back. we will not allow this administration to deprive our clients of their faraday in fain court. thank you for making this possible. we would not be here without all of your support. [applause] >> each year the commission recognizes an emerging youth leader and this year we are honoring karla laurel, west bay filipino multi service center. karla is a second generation filipino-american and bay area native. she began working at west bay a decade ago as a volunteer helping to launch the first culturally sensitive college prep program for filipino youth in south of market and expanded west based services to immigrant families from other countries. as executive director, now remember, 10 years ago she was a volunteer, 10 years later she's executive director. not bad, huh. karla supports west bay's mission to enhance the quality of life, of underserved youth, seniors and their families. >> good evening, everyone. thank you to the san francisco office of civic engagement and immigrant affairs. the executive director, clerk, the immigrant rights commission and it's chairs for this amazing honor. first and foremost i want to thank god for this amazing honor. i would also like to thank all of those who have made a difference in west bay for the past 50 years that we've been in service. to all of the board members, past executive directors, our community partners who are here as well. and all those that have dedicated themselves to the work who have supported me and west bay. thank you for being here today. i stand here simply as a face to an organization who have had the privilege of working with such a vibrant community, a filipino immigrant families. we have now gren to support vietnamese, latino and recent immigrant families as well. it was brought to my attention a little while ago that i am the first filipino to get this award. [applause] and as the director of an organization that started before i was here, and is rooted in 100-year history of filipinos in san francisco, and representing the largest immigrant community here in san francisco, i'm humbled and proud. filipinos have been here in san francisco and especially in the south of market neighborhood and so this award is for them. for the families that work multiple jobs, don't have their children here because they couldn't take all of them here because i've had the immigration laws work and the mothers and fathers who are made parking lot attendants, drivers, securities at the mall and working two, three, four too many jobs and all while putting their kids through college and hoping to achieve this same american dream that we all want. and also, to the recent immigrant, young adults and youth, who are working to support their families as well while paying their way through college. to all the filipinos in the south of market neighborhood who would never get this recognition or acknowledgment. although i maybe the first filipino to receive award the won't be the last and it doesn't mean there are heroes and leaders that have been here and continue to be here whose names you may never know. i am here sim plo simply to rept them and let everyone know we're here. we've been here. you've been here and you matter. i would like to acknowledge and recognize a particular young lady, who i met with she was a youth. when i began my journey working with this immigrant community. she came to the u.s. from the philippines as a young child and has been a part of the west base since she was in the fourth grade. she never let her circumstances growing up in a dangerous neighborhood or any label define her potential. she's our program coordinator for our middle school youth and a college graduate from san francisco state university. yes! where she works her butt off. [applause] to get on the honor roll and be a working student as one of our staff so she's graduating with zero student loans. yes! so although i'm honored to get this award i wanted to dedicate to my wonderful, amazing staff, my inspiration. thank you so much. [applause] [applause] >> karla is self less and a great leader. it gives me great pleasure to introduce our volunteers of the year, not just one but you get four. all members of the same family. and there's just the most fun family ever. the wang family. so amy wang is the volunteer coordinator for the san francisco pathways to citizenship initiative. she has coordinated hundreds of volunteers including her own parents, andy wang and anne lee chen and her sister abby wang and if they have a dog, i'm sure the dog is going to be volunteering too. the wang family is supported the pathways initiative's mission to promote citizenship in san francisco and has volunteered at nearly every single naturalization workshop since it started in 2013. amy is just an amazing person. her family is awesome. amy works at the bay area iiba. international institute of bay area, a non-profit organization that provides immigration legal services to low income immigrant communities. if you have family members that want to volunteer, please see amy after the program. [applause] >> thank you, very much to the immigrant rights commission for this honor. we really appreciate it. as was mentioned earlier, since 2013, the san francisco pathways to citizenship initiative has helped thousands of immigrants inside san francisco and outside of san francisco in their journey to become u.s. citizens. if you are interested in joining us at the next naturalization workshop, please give me a holler or you can reach out to us and we can get you set up. i hope to see you all at the next workshop. [applause] [applause] >> also i'd like to recognize in the house is our former irc commissioner, russ gerbin. the final award is a very, very special award to many of us. this award is special recognition to the friends of the crystal city pilgrimage. the friends of crystal city pilgrimage is a group of 60 japanese-american and japanese-peruvian immigrants. including survivors of the camp in texas who traveled to texas this year to speak out against immigration detention of our border children and families and protested women and children at the south texas family center in dilly the largest immigration detention center in the country today. they carry 25,000 hand voted cranes to the prison in sol tar tee. we're honored these cor courages americans are here tonight and allowing us to honor in turn of recognizing them. please welcome the friends of the christian city pilgrimage. [applause] >> thank you so much for honoring us with this award. it's beautiful to be here with all of you and i'd like to say one thing, strength in numbers. [applause] i also would like to say in japanese, good evening. >> my name is nancy and i was honored to be part of the crystal city pilgrimage this year and i'd like to ask you all a question. why is the fight against jailing children and separation of families a fight for japanese americans too? and i think all of us here, this is part of the committee, believe that because our people, during world war ii, 120,000 why taken from our homes without due process and incarcerated and concentration camps across the country. most of us were citizens. one-third were children. and among our pilgrims, seven were incarcerated and crystal city and it was the first time for many of them to go back to that site. so, after we paid homage to our ancestors and survivors, we got on a bus, wore age 24-88. we were from california, new york, colorado, texas and washington and we got on a bus and drove 40 miles to another prison. we went to the dill' we we took frames and the ones here are from san quinton and what we did was we hung them on the fence to show our solidarity and behalf of the survivors of the camps and the tens of thousands and migrants who are in detention and we will not forget you and we will come back and there's another pilgrimage being planned for november of this year and next year some of us are going to take 125,000 origami cranes to washington d.c. to keep the message going. [applause] because we're in san francisco, i just wanted to introduce you to these people, they met in detention under the age of four. they came back to san francisco. they've gone to school together, been cub scouts together and they went back to the pilgrimage and back to the fence to protest the incarceration of women and children. [applause] >> i just want to say that it was 77 years ago that there was wartime was surreal, discrimination, which resulted in injustice. and now, 77 years later, there's hiss ter why ter a and discrimin the white house. it's discrimination we must stop that. don't let history repeat itself. thank you. [applause] >> thank you. my name is kazumo. i am a japanese peruvian. my family was kidnapped in march of 1944. we were imprisoned at the camp. we were stripped of our civil rights, our human rights. without due process. no representation. the same thing is happening at our borders today and our message is on our t-shirt. stop repeating history. stop repeating history. i wanted to say thank you to the san francisco immigrants. on behalf of the japanese families and japanese american families and thank you for our honor and also again recognizing us and recognizing our slogan. thank you. [applause] thank you. >> i was born in the concentration camp in utah and i was almost five-years-old when i was finally released from crystal city. my family had been incarcerated for five years and our whole effort is to end the discrimination and the imprisonment of asylum seekers especially in south texas where we were. and we're going back in november to do the same thing again but this time with a larger crowd. 300 people. so, we are committed. [applause] >> [applause] >> what an amazing group of leaders. would you please join me in congratulating everyone again. [applause] thank you. >> i know i said i wasn't going to give you the score but it's tied. and it's still in the first quarter. so, send your positive energy to our golden state warriors. thank you to the many people and organizations that make tonight's program possible. amy chan and gillman loy, henry him. check out the exhibit in the middle of the room. our artist, christian and christian is creating incompetenteinteractive art. ray mar foods international, our catering. the office of mayor london n. breed. martha cohen, the san francisco board of supervisors, city administrator, sfgovtv and most of all to our wonderful event coordinators who are shy every year they do this and they hide in the back of the room so melissa chan, jamie richardson and elaine ashore. please come up and receive an award. thank you. [applause] hurry up, because you are standing up between everybody and their reception. come on, melissa. i'm calling them up because every single event that we do, every single year, they do the work and then they hide in the back and they never receive their thank you. since we're thanking everybody for their wonderful, important work we're thanking the three of you for yours. ok. [applause] >> thank you. and also, to our wonderful staff, our interpreters, the entire staff. raise your hands if you are staff. and all those guys in the yellow and blackjack et cetera. black jackets. they are our community embassadors and they make our streets safe for all of us. thank you to them. score is still tied, everyone. please enjoy the reception and thank you very, very much. [applause] and it started with this man right here today. [applause] today we reclaim our space here in the tender loin and raise the rainbow flag. and my deepest appreciation to deborah walker. without her support and leadership, this would have never happened. [applause] and finally, our next speaker for lending her support for this project, for championing the needs of h.i.v.-positive, the transgender, lesbian, gay bisexual communities, please help us welcome the one true queen of san francisco, our mayor, london breed. [applause] >> thank you so much, brian. and what an amazing story. it's great to hear. when i think about, you know, sadly some of the discriminatory practices that existed in our country for so many years, i definitely relate to those challenges and we all know the history of this country and how so many people, the african american community and the discrimination in housing, the lgbt community and discrimination as it relates to housing and that just shows us that we have work to do. because when we come together, when we come together for a common purpose, we can accomplish anything. and it also tells us that names make a difference. i mean, the rainbow flag apartments and the iconic rainbow flag and what it has meant to our lgbt community. when you come to san francisco, and you see this iconic flag that gilbert baker created in 1978, you know you can be safe. you know there is a place for you. and i'm just so proud of san francisco. in fact, last week when we raised the rainbow flag at city hall, it was my first raising of the rainbow flag for lgbt pride month in san francisco as mayor and i have been to those flag raisings many years before. itself was so special. because there were so many people who had pride in the city and so many people who were there who were not lgbt. so many folks from various communities celebrating what we know is important in our city. is to bring people together. to provide opportunities and to make sure in the process, as we deal with many of the city challenges, we don't leave anyone behind. i want to thank bill jones for being here today and thank you so much for, you know, just creating a safe space for people. what you did, you may have thought i'm providing an opportunity. your opportunity has led to not only thousands of people being housed, but other organizations that have changed and shaped the lives of so many people in the lgbt community and it will for generations to come. you started a movement with the rainbow flag apartments and now today the gilbert baker rainbow flag apartments. how amazing is that to do that in san francisco? and now that we're just talking about housing and housing affordability and opportunities, i'm really proud that in this past budget, one of the first things we were able to do in listening to the blgts community and people who came to my office to meet with me, to talk about many of the disparities that existed around housing with our lgbt community, we were able to add to our budget an additional $3 million to help with subsidies and support. $2 million -- [applause] -- $2 million specifically for trans people in san francisco because we know that they are 18% more likely to experience homelessness, more than anyone else in the homeless population. [sirens] we have to be deliberate in how we invest our resources and how we continue to provide opportunities for people to come together. [sirens] because that is what's -- [sirens] having an emergency is all about. [laughter] but the fact is, when we think about pride, yes we can think about our incredible lgbt community. we can think about inclusiveness. but having pride in our city so critical to the success of our city. it's about bringing people from all walks of life together, to celebrate, celebrate an opportunity to make us feel like we belong and we hear and you will hear us and we will be loud and we will be proud. thank you all so much for being here today. [applause] and with that, i'm going to do what mayors do best. i'm going to declare it somebody's day. [laughter] we know that just a few years ago, unfortunately, we lost gilbert baker and we also know that his legacy and the work that he has done in creating this incredible symbol will not only live on in san francisco, it lives on throughout the world. it will live on in the gilbert baker rainbow flag apartments and it will also live on in his estate, established in his memory to do the kinds of amazing things that will continue to advance the rites and love and support of the lgbt community. so with that, i'd like to present this proclamation -- oh, to you. come on up. [laughter] >> hi. thank you so much. >> introduce yourself. >> i'm charlie beal, the manager of the gilbert baker estate. >> and so on behalf of the city and county of san francisco, today we are going to declare it gilbert baker estate day in san francisco. [applause] thank you for your work to continue his legacy. >> thank you. [applause] thank you so much for being here today. congratulationss to the residents who were so fortunate enough to be here and a little secret -- a couple of years -- probably about 15 years ago, during the pride celebration, i had a really great time during a party on the rooftop. [laughter] and i remember going back the next year and there was no party! >> uh-huh. >> reporter: i don't know what happened, but i hope what this means is a chance to celebrate pride, san francisco-style at the gilbert baker rainbow flag apartments in the heart of san francisco! have a wonderful time, everyone. thank you. [applause] >> thank you, mayor. thank you so much, brian. thank you everybody coming here today. again, my name is charlie beal. i'm the manager of the gilbert baker estate. i really am just one of his best friends who, when he died unexpectedly a little over two years ago, we tried to pick up the pieces and had no idea in a way what we were getting ourselves in for. but we found out a lot of things about gilbert. we found out that he had a memoir hidden away on his hard drive. it's now published. and available just this past week. in that book, he writes a lot about san francisco. and i learned so much about him from san francisco. i came here with him many times. i came here -- i was here, the art director in the movie "milk" and we were looking at research and all thesen n banners from the old pictures in the 1970s and i sent pictures to gilbert and i said do you know anything about those and he said, girlfriend, i made those banners. well, come out here and make them again because we have to make them again for the movie. my husband vincent here is also very active in the estate. we came out and made the flag for when we rise and i've held the end of the banner in more marches for gilbert baker than i can count don my -- than i can count on my fingers and toes. the heart of the rainbow flag is here. i'm from new york and new york, you know, stonewall is our heartbeat of the gay movement there, but here it is the rainbow flag. the one thing he wrote about in the book that always gets me choked up because he talks about that time he was out walking with cleave and artie and harvey milk was saying we need a new symbol and he was walking in this area over here and he looked up at the american flag and he thought about the power of the american flags and what he had seen in the bicentennial two years before. and then a while after that, after thinking we need a flag to begin with, he and cleave were out dancing and looked at the diversity of the crowd and he describes in the book about how, in san francisco, you just have everybody of every race, creed, color, type, sexuality, gender and he saw that and the swirling colored lights and he just saw a rainbow and that is how that experience -- that is the genesis of that symbol that we see around the world. and at that moment, he writes very passionately that the drag queens and the young transpeople at stonewall would finally have a symbol of their own. so, he felt like he had fulfilled a purpose and a cause in doing that. it still lives on. we're lucky here in san francisco. we see rainbow flags up and down the street. i just came from new york. stonewall 50. they can't stop putting rainbows up in new york. they're everywhere. my god. it is pretty incredible. we can never forget that if you tried to unfurl a rainbow flag in the middle of red square right now, you'd get arrested. i'm happy that in taiwan, you can get married. but there are so many countries around the world where you can't even love another person openly. and when they do try to proclaim their visibility the way they do it is by hoisting one of these. and when you are in a country and visiting overseas and not quite sure if you really belong and suddenly you see a cafe with the rainbow flag, you know you've found a safe space. brian, i thank you so much for doing this, for creating safe spaces for people with h.i.v., for dedicating to this to gilbert. it means so much to me and so much to the estate. i'd like to thank you and san francisco. thank you so much. [applause] >> our next speaker embodies what it means to be an ally. i'm more of a co-conspirator. i'm like somebody who's down there fighting hard next to you. and learning how to be an ally takes poo em who embody it and show you the way. and our next speaker i think that is really who he is as a person. and so we're really lucky to have him as our supervisor. in distribution six. please welcome matt haney. [applause] >> thank you, brian. thank you, mayor breed. isn't this a wonderful day? this is an extraordinary thing to be celebrating the gilbert baker rainbow apartments here on larkin street in the tender loin. i want to give a special thank you to you, brian. i can tell you that during the budget process, there was nobody who works harder than brian basinger and the q foundation to make sure that everybody who is lgbt have a safe and secure place to call home. thank you, brian. give it up for brian and he leadership. i'm also very excited that we have this flag here in the tender loin. the tender loin is among, along with lower pope, the oldest lgbt neighborhood, not just here in san francisco, but across the country. it is a neighborhood where compton's cafeteria riots, the first ever documented collective uprising of lgbt people in the country took place in 1966 and it is a neighborhood where the compton's transgender cultural district, the nation's firsts officially recognized cultural -- transgender neighborhood is here today. it's a place that, for so many years, during some of the worst times in san francisco when the so-called public decency laws prevented them from being themselves. but tenderloin was an area they were provided respite from prosecution and harassment. the raising of this flag and the rededication of these apartments for gilbert baker, the man responsible for creating this beautiful symbol, reaffirms the importance and contributions ofpt community, to the tenderloin, to the city of san francisco and to the world. the gilbert baker rainbow flag apartments is one of the most important gateways to the tender loin. and from city hall to the comptons district, we envision a place where transgender, lesbian, gay, bisexual, h.i.v.-positive and every stripe of the rainbow lives in a liberated life, free from oppression, free from fear of violence and secure in knowing they're receiving equitable access to shelter, housing, jobs and services that we know that they deserve. one of most shameful things i recently saw is that the trump administration is now saying that this flag cannot be displayed on embassies around the world and when they pushed back, when they resort to the worst of it. when they try to deny people's identity and humanity, that is when we have to celebrate this flag and what it represents, even more. [applause] thank you all for being here. thank you veritas. thank you to mayor breed. to the q foundation. and thank you to everyone who made this possible. >> there is a small group of us who are survivors who have been through it all, from the depths of the aids epidemic, homelessness, all kinds of struggles. and i was thinking about it a couple of week ago. i said, you know, how many people have really risen from that experience and gone on to do wonderful things and to make meaningful contributions to society. really i was looking at who are my peers in that experience. and one of them is up next for us who is a long-time friend and ally of ours from the office of congresswoman nancy pelosi, please welcome gary mccoy. [applause] >> thank you, brian. this is very exciting for me personally to be out here today. i also have friends that lived here that were -- their housing was alsos subsidized and h.i.v. positive and really meant the life to them. on behalf of the congresswoman and speaker of the house nancy pelosi, have a letter i'd like the read from her. friends, we proudly gather today with city officials, community leaders and the q found diagnosis dedicate this historic building as the gilbert baker rainbow flag apartments. referencing the importance to san francisco and the lgbt communities. it is my regret that i could not be with you today. just a few blocks from here, gilbert baker created the now iconic rainbow flag by hand and it was outside of this building where the flag proudly flew. it is my privilege to represent san francisco with its large lgbt community. we're a city that thrives because of its diversity and take great pride in the innumerable contributions that the lgbtq community make to our great city and country. by hanging the rainbow flag once again, we affirm our connection to the acceptance of the lgbtq community. we honor gilbert's memory and legacy by

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