San Francisco District Attorney’s Town Hall

You’ve probably seen hype about this already, but I wanted to make sure folks have it on their radar. Kamala Harris, SF’s District Attorney, has put together a historic town hall meeting for this upcoming Thursday night. It coincides with a conference she is organizing on the use of transgender and gay panic strategies.

I realize that living in, or near, San Francisco, we can sometimes get numb to things like this, but for context let me tell you what happened in Fresno in late 2005. After the Fresno County District Attorney’s office agreed to a 4 year plea bargain for a guy who stabbed a transgender person to death with a pair of scissors, community members in Fresno asked for a meeting. After being threatened with national media coverage, the DA finally agreed to a closed door meeting so long as no one living outside of the county attended. And despite some promises to the group, the DA has yet to deliver anything.

In contrast, the SF DA is organizing a cutting edge legal conference (for which over 200 law enforcement folks from around the country have registered) and backing it up with this town hall. It’s a first-time chance for our elected “top cop” to hear directly from community members about what she and her colleagues can be doing better to protect our communities from hate violence.

It’s now up to us to show up and make this event a huge success so that other law enforcement officers from around the state and the country will be inspired to follow her example. Here are the details:

San Francisco District Attorney’s Town Hall

Kamala Harris to talk to community about Hate Crimes

When:   July 20th from 6:30 – 8pm

Where: LGBT Community Center (1800 Market Street at Octavia)

What:   Historic meeting of San Francisco District Attorney with LGBT community members about Hate Crimes and protecting our communities. The Town Hall will also feature:


Sylvia Guerrero, activist and mother of Gwen Araujo

Robert Haaland, community leader and brand new SF Commissioner

David O’Malley, former Police Chief in Wyoming who oversaw investigation of Matthew Shepard’s murder

Assemblymember Sally Lieber, author of the Gwen Araujo Justice for Victims Act

Free and Open to the public

Hate Crimes: Combating Gay and Transgender Panic Strategies

Dear B.A.R.:

We’re writing in recognition of the hard work of the San Francisco District Attorney’s office in planning the upcoming symposium Hate Crimes: Combating Gay and Transgender Panic Strategies. Building on the work started by the Atlanta DA’s office in 2005, this symposium expands on that effort by adding cutting edge training on transgender panic strategies.

We believe that the symposium, an excellent learning opportunity for criminal justice professionals, is another sign of advancement for transgender civil rights. While the too often justifiable tension that many transgender people feel in regard to law enforcement is not solved by this symposium, the work of SF’s DA Kamala Harris and her staff is a large step in the right direction.

For that reason, we strongly encourage all community members and allies to attend the free town hall meeting that the organizers of the symposium have planned for the evening of July 20th from 6:30 – 8pm at the LGBT Center. It will be a great opportunity to talk about violence against LGBT communities and share thoughts about what law enforcement professionals need to know about us in order to better protect our communities.

Sincerely,

Aidan Dunn
Allison Laureano
Alice B. Toklas LGBT Democratic Club
Amber Gray
Bionka Stevens
Cecilia Chung
Community United Against Violence
Connie Champagne
Gayle Roberts
Jamison Green
JoAnne Keatley
Jordy Jones
Kelly Dugan, Vice President, Harvey Milk LGBT Democratic Club
Martin Rawlings-Fein
Melnenie Eleneke
National Center for Lesbian Rights
Nikki Calma aka Tita Aida
Robert Haaland
SF TEAM
Shannon Minter
Shawna Virago
Tamara Ching
Taylor Morrison
Theresa Sparks
Transgender San Francisco

San Francisco Makes Transgender History, Again!

Media Contacts:
Supervisor Bevan Dufty, San Francisco Board of Supervisors (415) 554-6968
Cecilia Chung, Transgender Law Center (415) 865-0184

San Francisco Poised to Make Transgender History, Again!
Board of Supervisor’s Budget Committee recommends $300,000 in 2006 budget to increase opportunities for transgender employees and entrepreneurs

San Francisco, CA – July 10, 2006 – When the San Francisco Board of Supervisors Budget Committee present their proposal to the full Board tomorrow night it will include an historic $300,000 commitment to turning around high rates of poverty in San Francisco’s transgender communities. Thirteen years after San Francisco outlawed discrimination against transgender employees, the Committee has earmarked funds to improve employment and entrepreneurial opportunities to overcome high rates of unemployment and underemployment among transgender people in the city.

“The Comprehensive Transgender Employment Initiative is a great investment for San Francisco,” said San Francisco Supervisor Bevan Dufty. “Too many well qualified transgender people who want to work or start businesses are frozen out of the market. The Initiative is a vital first step in making sure that this community can fully participate and contribute to the wellbeing of our great city.”

Receiving unanimous support from the Budget Committee, the initiative is important and timely. Joining Supervisor Dufty in voting for funding the Initiative was Committee Chair Chris Daly, Board President Aaron Peskin, and Supervisors Ross Mirkarimi and Sean Elsbernd. “This commitment is overdue,” said Daly. “For too long, transgender people in my district and throughout the city have been isolated from living wage jobs and career opportunities. This initial investment signals an end to that reality and a strong step forward in full inclusion.”

Community members hail the vote and the support of elected officials. “It’s a great time to be living and working in San Francisco,” said Cecilia Chung, Deputy Director of the Transgender Law Center. “This historic vote reinforces the city’s role as a national leader in the transgender equality movement. Just five years after the city began offering health insurance equality for city employees, this initiative will set a new milestone in transgender history by creating full and fair employment and entrepreneurship opportunities for our community.”

Funding for the Initiative will be managed by the City’s Human Services Agency (HSA) which oversees workforce development. HSA Director Trent Rhorer added, “We are excited to be part of a public collaborative developing this much needed effort.” San Francisco’s Airport and the Public Utilities Commission collaboratively contributed $100,000 to the Initiative so that some of the employment training programs will be specifically geared to meet their employment and hiring needs. The remaining commitment comes the for city’s General Fund.

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Transgender Law Center (www.transgenderlawcenter.org) TLC is a civil rights organization advocating for transgender communities through direct legal services, education, community organizing, and policy and media advocacy. Thanks to support from the Women’s Foundation of California, TLC and the San Francisco Bay Guardian recently released Good Jobs Now!, a report on the economic health of San Francisco’s transgender communities. It is available for free at TLC’s website.

Press Release: Transgenders Claim FEMA Sex Change Scandal Fabricated, Fraudulent

For Immediate Release: July 8, 2006
From: The National Transgender Advocacy Coalition (NTAC)
Contact:  NTAC Chair, Vanessa Edwards Foster ntacmedia@aol.com
Contact Phone: 832-483-9901
Website: http://www.ntac.org

Transgenders Claim FEMA Sex Change Scandal Was Fabricated, Fraudulent

Last month, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) testified before a House Homeland Security subcommittee to spotlight $1.4 billion fraudulent waste of Emergency Assistance Funds (EAF) to Hurricane Katrina victims. The unprecedented level of Federal Emergency Management Agency fraud was blared over television newscasts and emblazoned on newspaper headlines: "FEMA funds paid for a sex change."

However, the National Transgender Advocacy Coalition (NTAC) is now publicly calling the media and authorities on this claim, demanding proof that this occurred and calling the press on this claim "fabricated" and "fraudulent." In reviewing both House subcommittee testimony and the GAO report (www.gao.gov/new.items/d06844t.pdf) that uncovered the fraud there was neither reference of a sex change, nor any surgery of any type being paid for by FEMA funds.

"It appears [the sex change] story was prime red meat for conservatives looking to turn attention away from the President, and onto Katrina victims and FEMA," said NTAC President Vanessa Edwards Foster. "It also appears there's no veracity to the story that EAF funds were used for gender reassignment surgery. These press claims are what's fraudulent."

House Homeland Security Investigations subcommittee chair Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX) called the discovered waste "criminal" but never mentioned anything about sex changes. However Rep. Charles Dent (R-PA) did note the sex change claim shortly after the House testimony, commenting, "I don't understand how this could happen."

How the sex change allegation originated remains unclear. The June 14, 2006 story by Larry Margasak of the Associated Press noted a sex change in a laundry list of items scammed from FEMA. While outlets as diverse as Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, ABC News, MSNBC, Bloomberg Report carried the story, the more conservative news outlets such as Wall Street Journal or Fox News made no mention of the sex change accusation.

When questioned about the story, the GAO's Office of Public Affairs stated "there was no reference to that allegation … because we cannot confirm it."

"The press reported on fabricated claims of sex changes paid with FEMA funds, but no media ever mentioned $2,000 paid to a Christian Broadcast Network from EAF payments," Foster of NTAC commented. The GAO report listed $2,000 paid to Colorado-based LeSEA Broadcasting Network.

After anguishing over the initial FEMA news reports, NTAC Vice President Courtney Sharp said she "was shocked to discover that the [GAO] report didn't mention anything about anyone misusing funds to have gender reassignment surgery."

A New Orleans resident who lost nearly everything during Katrina, Sharp said she listened as co-workers and friends disparaged the person who used FEMA funds to obtain a sex change. "[It] was extremely hurtful to realize that someone had embellished the GAO report and was probably using the negative stereotypes about transgender people [for] media attention."

Sharp said she now feels the public was "bamboozled" by the news report.

"There's an inherent media bias in this story," NTAC's Foster continued. "If you have transsexuals having sex changes it's great press - even if it is uncorroborated! But a confirmed report of emergency victims' funds paid to a faith-based broadcaster is deemed not press-worthy." While acknowledging many Americans have no problem with faith-based groups receiving money, she noted that they would likely not be keen on funds intended for needy victims in an emergency being given instead to a broadcast group to spread the gospel.

"I smell a rat behind the fabrication of this news report. It's very Karl Rove," Foster commented.  "It uses an unwitting transgender community to bludgeon Hurricane Katrina victims." She called the uncorroborated claim in the press "despicable."

"Ten months after Hurricane Katrina, residents of the Gulf Coast continue to struggle to rebuild their lives," NTAC's Sharp observed. "The impact has been truly unimaginable. Like the majority of residents, transgender people are responsible, productive, law abiding members of the community and they are also playing important roles in rebuilding the devastated areas.  

"The media attack on the transgender community," Sharp finished, "served as my fifth personal "tidal surge" post-Katrina."

Whether originating from Congress, the press or an administration press operative, NTAC urges the responsible party to own up to, and publicly apologize for unfairly portraying the transgender community, and for deceiving the American public.

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Founded in 1999, NTAC - the National Transgender Advocacy Coalition - is a civil rights organization working to establish and maintain the right of all transgender, intersex, and gender-variant people to live and work without fear of violence or discrimination.