 Hello, my name is Asara Bobot and I will be the host for your evening. This is Zach Friend. He's the supervisor of District 2 and an ally of Queer Youth. Thanks for having me out tonight. Can you let us know a little bit about who you are and what you do as a community leader? Absolutely. So I'm currently the chair of the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors. I was elected in 2012. And I think that the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors has a very important role to ensuring that Queer Youth feel supported throughout Santa Cruz County. We've taken a lot of stands to ensure that's the case, but we want every kid to know that we are here for them. We support them and that we love them. What were influences in your life that were instrumental to your support of Queer Youth? Without a doubt, the biggest influences are my parents. They, from very early on, were taking me to Pride events in San Diego where I grew up and I've always emphasized the fact that everybody's equal regardless of background. And I owe a lot as we are near Mother's Day right now to my mom and my father for everything that they've done in ensuring that. And I think parents have a very important role in making sure people grow up as supporters. How does your involvement in Queer Youth programs affect your work? That's an actually very interesting question. A lot of what we do, a lot of the policies we make are about ensuring equality across and in access for people, equal opportunity and equal access. So I believe that I speak for all the members of the Board of Supervisors. I know that you'll be speaking with other tonight that they really think a lot about when they make public policy, how will it impact people and how can we ensure that things are equal and fair. Why is it important to be an ally and what does being an ally mean to you? Well, I think that it's unfortunate that we need to even have allies. It's a sad reality of the way that many still think in this country about individuals that may not have the same background as them, may not look the same, may not act the same, or may not have the same sexual preference and I don't understand what the purpose of that really is. I think it's to me it seems nonsensical, but I think that people at least within Santa Cruz County should know and kids that are here that regardless of what it is you want to be when you grow up, regardless of who you are, the color of your skin or whatever your sexual orientation or background that we support and encourage all of you to 100% and equally the same. That's wonderful. Lastly, a question we have for you is what do Queer Youth and the community at large do to support your efforts at being a stronger ally? Well, I hear from a lot of members of the Diversity Center. I hear from members of just even events like this are great events to be able to bring us all together and hear about some of the challenges they face, but also some of the opportunities to have this many people come together in an evening to show support, to show that it's really broad-based. It isn't just a very small sect. It's a lot of people that are supportive. And I think that the stories we're going to hear tonight are just inspirational about the things that people are doing to encourage each other, the things that people have overcome and the hope that we've got. And I'm looking forward to that tonight. And I'm also looking forward to hearing more from them as I continue to be an elected official. Thank you very, very much for letting us interview you. Thank you for the opportunity. Hello, we're here with Mary Shekman, the assistant superintendent of the Pajaro Valley Unified School District. Hello, Mary. Hi, I'm Shar. Can you let us know a little bit about who you are and what you do in the community? My title is assistant superintendent in charge of secondary ed. And I oversee all of our secondary schools, our alternative schools. I oversee counseling and have worked in alternative ed in my past. And I teach part-time with San Jose State. So today's event and what we do all year is really important to me. What were influences in your life that were instrumental to your support of queer youth? Well, mostly in being a counselor in my past in secondary schools and being an assistant principal and a principal, I've seen students not do well. I've seen students do well. And there's clearly a pattern that some students get beat on, you might say. Some students don't have the same opportunities. And queer youth have experienced so many difficulties. And so to see in the last, I don't know, 10, 15 years, things get better and even feel a part of it is just an exciting thing. Thank you. I really like that you are noticing that things are getting better within secondary schools and from the bottom where it goes up to colleges and then people go on to lead bigger and better lives. How does your involvement with queer youth affect your work? Well, we have GSAs in our high schools and I've been able to see the expansion into our middle schools where we still experience bullying. And when you have clubs and you have the right kind of professional development on a campus and the right kind of adults that help create the right environment, you have better outcomes. And so that's been part of my work and part of hopefully my influence, both with teachers and with kids and with parents. And I'm really proud. In our district, I was principal at Watsonville High and really the work that was done before me set a wonderful tone that I was able to inherit and some of that work has influenced me as the assistant superintendent at the district level. That's awesome. A fun fact that I went to New Brighton here where we're at and there's a GSA here now which me and actually a couple other friends started a couple years ago when we went here. And now we have the GSA at Soquel High School where I go. Excellent. Yes. I'm glad to hear that. What does being an ally mean to you and how is it important? Well, it's a source of pride. I have all sorts of things I get to do in my job and I was actually nominated a couple years ago. And it's just a source of pride. PV High School in particular has seen some wonderful changes in the last few years and have a very potent GSA. They brought a door onto campus a couple years ago. The rainbow door. That not just helped query you. That influenced the whole school in that it just loosened the place up. Since that time, maybe even three years ago, there's just been more activities there. And it's been a positive outcome for all kids. That's great. The rainbow door is an absolutely wonderful event. It's so fun. People get really into it. It works very well. I think they do it every year. Lastly, what efforts can queer youth make to help you become a stronger ally? Boy, I wish I could be more imaginative and think of it. It's a queer youth and this kind of event esteems so many people in our community. The organization of it yourself as an example of somebody who is a leader at this school and now carrying the torch at Soquel High. I wish I could think of something. Perhaps one thing is simply to keep trying to influence other kids. I still think both middle and high school, the peer-to-peer relationship that can happen outside of a GSA too is something that I can always encourage. That's wonderful. Thank you so much for coming on, letting us interview you. My pleasure. Truly. Hello, we're here with Mary Lou Gehke, the executive director of United Way in Santa Cruz County. Hi, it's good to be with you. Hi. Can you let us know a little bit more about who you are and what you do in the community as a leader? Yes. So our United Way serves all of Santa Cruz County and we have three goals. We want people to be healthy. We want kids to succeed in school and life and that's why we support this event tonight and we also want families to be financially stable. That's great. What were influences that were instrumental in your life that led you to support queer youth? I think just the idea, for many years I worked in San Francisco and we ran a shelter for runaway youth and a lot of those youth were queer youth and just hearing their stories and understanding their struggles and how sometimes they felt they had to run away to be safe and to have opportunity. I felt like that's kind of the extreme and we don't want that for our youth in our county and so that's why this organization is so great. It's wonderful that you run those kinds of programs. How does involvement with queer youth affect your work? I think it really raises awareness about what young people go through today and we work with a variety of youth, both straight and queer but I think just the energy and the excitement and the wisdom really that they bring to our work really informs what we do and how we do it. What is important about being an ally and what does it mean to you? Well, it means supporting our whole community and everybody in it and that's important to me and that's important to United Way because our mission is to have an opportunity for a good life for all. So all means everybody. Everybody? Yeah. What, lastly, what can queer youth in the community do to help you become a stronger ally? By reaching out, by telling the story, by advocating and volunteering with us on some of the issues that we are engaged in would help us. That's great. Thank you. Thank you. This was a lovely interview. Hello, we're here with members from Strange Project, a group from the Diversity Center in Santa Cruz County. Do you like to introduce yourselves? I'm Liz. I'm Maisie. I'm Christine. I'm Adrian. Can you tell me a little bit about who you are and influential times in your life that have been instrumental to your support of queer youth? Well, I mean, I'd say the first time I was exposed to the queer community, I was my barber. He was a transgender girl. People weren't comfortable with it for cutting their hair and the first time I got my haircut, I mean, it was cool. I mean, I was like, it was a new experience. Seventh grade GSA, I just decided to go and it got me involved with the queer community. Last year I attended Kuala at PV and then following year they started a GSA at my school and I started to become very active in it and second semester I became president. And I know that you're vice president of the SoCal High GSA. The Maisie is. Oh, when I transferred to PV High, when I got more involved in GSA's, that's how I got into it. That's great. How does involvement with queer youth and GSA's evolve you and, or, you know, shoot. I choked up, I'm sorry. Okay. How does involvement with queer youth and GSA's affect your school life and your social life? It's helped me a lot. You know, I suffer from anxiety and depression and as soon as I went to the club, I mean, my grades started going up, my social reputation got up, so it was pretty powerful. That's wonderful to hear. Well, it helped me kind of become more well-rounded with different sexual orientations that I didn't necessarily understand and I had realized that I had been using some specific stereotypes, not with bad intentions but just because that's kind of the way that society was around me and then I became a lot more sensitive to things like that and helped people who at my school were being bullied. I gained new knowledge, like Christine said, and I gained a lot of new friends that are super friendly and diverse and so it kind of made me well-rounded too. Oh, it made me feel like I was part of something and now I understand my, like, you know, I'm with my people now and I feel more better now, so. So excellent to hear from all of you that GSA's and queer youth have just helped you become better and happier and more well-rounded people. Sanbert, like, very happy people. You can say we got gayer. Yeah. It became gayer. Why is it important to be an ally and what does being an ally mean to you? It's important to be an ally because, you know, like, you don't really know people's stories, so to say, but an ally is like, you don't stand up for them, you stand with them, you know, like, as a community, so to say, so that's all I really have to say about it. I really liked how you worded that, when you're an ally, you don't stand so much up for people that you stand with people and you make a difference as a group. I agree with what Adrienne said. Also, with personal experiences with me, before I started going to GSA when I had came out, I didn't have very many friends who were LGBT, so it made things a lot easier to me to know that I had people around me who didn't necessarily understand what I was going through, but supported me and loved me no matter what. I agree with Christine. I think it's important to have allies because sometimes you just need people who aren't in the same boat as you, but kind of get it, I guess. I agree with Adrienne and Christine that, you know, we stand with each other and we need allies to get help and all that. That's great. I'm so glad that everyone's an ally here and we're here for a very important cause for a really lovely event that we're all having. Thank you for this interview. This is quite lovely and I will see you guys all inside. Hello, we are here with Mark Stone, an assembly member of the 29th District. Hello, can you tell us a little bit about who you are and what you do as a community leader? Yes, I'm in the state legislature, representing the Monterey Bay. Before that, I was on the board of supervisors here in Santa Cruz County, so I've been a policymaker in Santa Cruz for 15 years. What were influences in your life that were instrumental to your support of queer youth? I think mostly the youth that I've been interacting with for most of my career here and people that I've known throughout my life. The role that I try to do is make sure that the government that we're looking out for those who need us the most, and what I've found is that we work hard for our queer youth and all youth that they work hard and they grow and respond very well. Great. What does your involvement with queer youth affect in your work? Well, in the legislature, there have been laws that have been passed and we continue to work to make sure that our queer youth are safe in their schools and in their communities. I did that at the local level and have been very involved in the queer youth leadership awards for a number of years. And now in the legislature, there have been a number of issues like last year with the transgenders, trying to make sure that people who identify with a gender get to be in the bathrooms or in the sports or in their own life in their own way. So that's what, one of the things that we're trying to do in the state level, little easier to do that around here, but setting good policy for the state so that all kids are safe in all communities. That's wonderful. What does, you're an ally of queer youth and what does that mean to you? Well, it just not something that I ever really worry too much about or think too much about. The queer youth that I've known and the people in our community that I've known have just been so great to work with over the time that when I stand up for kids and stand up for kids who are different, all of us are different in our own way, that that's one of the reasons that I get to do what I do. So it makes me proud to be a part of any organization that has the same values. And for me, it's kind of part of the fabric of who I am and what I do. So coming to an event like Queer Youth Leadership Award too, recharges me in a way. When I go back to Sacramento and work on these issues, being able to see the effects of the policy that we're making and see the youth leaders that stand up and are helping others, then makes it real clear for me that I'm doing the right thing and working well for our community. That's really wonderful that you can see that this influence of the event that we have, and it's a really big deal, it's really fun too. It helps me, yeah, it influences me as well. That's great. Okay, we have one more question for you. And what is it that Queer Youth can do in the community to help you become a stronger ally or help you with your work? Well, they can help me the most by doing what they do best, and that is standing up for other kids and being there for other kids who need them, going through the transitions that kids do when they realize and struggle in their own schools to be able to look to leaders, and that's the Queer Youth leaders here. They provide that leadership, they provide that safety, that help for kids. That makes my world so much easier, knowing that there are others in our community doing that hard work as well. Thank you so much for this nice interview. Thank you. Hello, we're here with Karen Osmondson, a school board member of the Pajaro Valley Unified School District. Hello, it's nice to have you. Thank you. Can you tell me a little bit about who you are and what you do in the community? Yeah, well, I mean, as a school board member, I'm in charge of all the schools, and like I said, we're a very large district. We have 20,000 students, so it's a big job. And I go to school board meetings a couple of days every other week, and I'm on about at least four committees with parents as well. That's great. What were influential times in your life that were instrumental to your support of Queer Youth? Well, I mean, I'm just, you know, as a school board member, you know, I'm for equality for all, obviously, and I would, you know, we have to fight to make sure that gays and queers are not bullied or they're not treated with bigotry or anything like that. We have to make sure of that as a school board member is very important. So you would say your involvement with Queer Youth really affects your work with the school boards and committees? Absolutely. It does affect my activity of the school board. It's a very important part of who I am on the school board. That's great to hear that you like to do. What is important about being an ally and what does it mean to you? Well, I've been, you know, an ally for a long time. I go to the gay pride parades. I'm always in attendance. We had a gay pride parade in Watsonville and I was one of the speakers. And, you know, I have many, many friends who are Queer Youth or just gay adults. So I really care about being an ally. I've been, you know, I, you know, I fight for issues, you know, that are for Queer Youth and gay people on the internet. I've, you know, written my congressman, you know, I've all about issues for Queer Youth and gay people. I think so. Yeah, I've done a lot to try to make sure that they're treated fairly. Sounds like a really important issue and I'm really glad that you like to take action in a lot of it. What can Queer Youth and the community do to help you become a stronger ally and help you with your being an assembly? A school board member. A school board member. I think, you know, just the fact that they, you know, it's really important that they're having this leadership awards. I think it's absolutely fabulous and they've been having it for many, many years and I make sure I try to come every single year. I think last year I couldn't for some reason but I've come a lot of times. I've been on the school board nine years and so I think I've been to the leadership awards almost every year and I think, you know, their leadership is absolutely important in our school district. It's absolutely important to show that they are, you know, that they, that they, I mean, that they aren't either to any other student and they have leadership just as much as anybody else and they are youth of the community to create a stronger and more powerful and caring community. A better place to live, yeah. Better place to live. All right, well, we're gonna wrap it up. Thank you so much for coming on for an interview. It was really lovely chatting with you. Thank you. Thank you. Hi, we're here with Michael Watkins of the Santa Cruz County Superintendent of Schools. Oh, awesome. Hello. Can you tell us a little bit about who you are and what you do in the community? Yes, I'm the County Superintendent of Schools. I've also worked education for 35 years. I work at the same office, the County Office of Education for over 30 years. I've been a Director of Alternative Education, Director of Special Education, now the County Superintendent of Schools. Really trying to support and advocate for the 40,000 students of Santa Cruz County. Wow, that's a lot. That's a lot of students. In the 10 school districts. In the 10 school districts. Yes, yes. Wow. What were influential parts of your life that really led you to be supportive of queer youth? You know, I went into education and I think my whole time of education I've been working with at-risk youth. You know, I started working with educationally handicapped or disadvantaged youth or incarcerated youth. So I've always worked for the underdog and that's what sort of brought me here today. You know, I'm looking for equity and civil rights for all of them. What does your support in queer youth influence in your work? Well, it's important as a County Superintendent of Schools you are an educational leader and I would be remiss in my duties if I didn't fully support queer youth. And I think that I can lead by example so they can go on to school campuses and feel safe and feel supported. That's great. That's wonderful. Thank you. That you do that. What is important about being an ally and what does being an ally mean to you? Well, being an ally means a friend. You know, a friend that you're passionate and you're committed to that friend. And I think being an ally for queer youth is again, supporting them so they can walk on school campuses, feel safe and that's really what I wanna be as an ally. That's great. Lastly, we have one more question for you. Sure, go ahead, sure. What can queer youth in the community do to help you become a stronger ally and help you with your work? That's a very good question. You know, I was thinking about and I think what they can do for me is really let me know. They gotta speak up. I know many of them do what many of them don't. I think they have to understand my door is open as a county superintendent of schools. I need to hear the issues. So if there are issues on school campuses, they need to get to me so they can be addressed. So I think the best way I can be an ally is for the queer youth to come in and address me and let me know what's happening on their campuses. Do you have an email or a phone number that people can reach you by? Absolutely, it's mwotkins at sanacruz.k12.ca.us. Thank you. All right, okay. Thank you. Great interview. Nice meeting you. Nice to meet you. Hello, we're here with Lynn Robinson. Hello Lynn, can you tell us about a little bit who you are and what you do in the community as a leader? Absolutely, this year I'm the mayor in the city of Santa Cruz, which is an absolute honor and a delight. And I've been on the city council now. This is my eighth year. Very involved in the community. My kids were born and raised within the community. In our case, the city of Santa Cruz. They're launched and out in different places in the world. And I'm just really here to celebrate and honor what is happening tonight with the awards. It's wonderful. The awards are such a fun event and they're so important and crucial to showing our community how strong queer youth are. What parts of your life were influential to your support of queer youth? I think really for me, probably more personal life, family, actually school as well. So it really goes back to me as just daily living with people in my own life that have had actually, for the most part, very wonderful experiences in terms of who they are in the community, how they've really been able to use their kind of professional skills but their personal skills and being in the community of either, for my case, both gay and lesbian and seeing folks that just are part of my life. And it just to me makes it feel like this is part of everyday life. And I take that experience into my both business community world and my elected role. And I think that's where it stems from for me. What parts of your support of queer youth really take effect in your work? I think in the city of Santa Cruz in particular, it's such an activated community and not only is it activated in the sense of who's paying attention to government itself but how is us in the role of government and elected paying attention to who's in our community. And that's where I feel like we have a role to play not only with the youth of the community but every sector and every part of the community in terms of you might be at risk youth, you might not be, you might be a youth that's just going sky high somewhere in your education, you might be a youth that's maybe struggling with your identity or just so strong in your identity you've got a role for us to play. And that's where we come in and like, you lead us. Like show us where we can be helpful to you. And I think that's the beauty especially as Santa Cruz city council, we're really diverse but we all have that interest and that passion. And I think you see that year after year no matter who's on the council there's a lot of strong support. And then right this year being the mayor and being on the council for all these years I've been trying to do whatever I can to be supportive as well. So you say that when there's this super powerhouse of queer youth and you're just like, let me help you like, let show me how to help you. Would you, how would you say that queer youth, what can we do to make your work a little bit stronger and help you become a stronger ally? I think just show us, lead us, what is working for you and that we can help accentuate that. Where are the roadblocks? Where are the land mines? What's not working? Especially if it's in roles of the government itself but also even in the educational world because we like to really try to overlap that I think in the community because it matters. Like are you struggling at school? Are you struggling in the work environment? Is it your social environment or are you not struggling at all and you're going just flying high and we can just be kind of gliding with you and taking that and exposing it and kind of, oh, what do I want to say? Just showcasing it in essence too because that's what Santa Cruz does really, really well. And I think we have a role to do that and I'm sure you're getting support and learning that all of us are saying, how can we help? We're here, we're here. How can queer youth get ahold of you and help get help from you and show you fun events like this? Well, this, particularly since I am the mayor, it's pretty easy to get ahold of me and I'll even just give you information about that but I think it's wonderful that anyone would do that because we are a community where you really can access your mayor. We're not hidden away or anything. So in this case, I'm Lynn Robinson, Mayor of Santa Cruz this year and the phone number for the office, the mayor's office is 420-5025 or you can email me at L. Robinson at cityofsantacruz.com. Go to the website of the city of Santa Cruz as well, which I believe is www.santacruz.com, SantaCruzCity.com but just that reach out because there's probably ways I could come to events like this and be supportive and that's what it's all about is just, a lot of people don't realize you've got so much support from, you've just got to do the ask sometimes. All right, thank you so much for letting us interview you and you're a great, great person to come on TV. Absolutely, this is wonderful. It's on my honor to be here and I'm really happy to be invited and this is an incredible event tonight, so congratulations. Thank you, thank you very much. Hi, we're here with Cynthia Julie. Julie. Julie of CASA and she is a queer youth supporter and ally. Hello Cynthia. Hi, how are you this evening? I'm doing excellent. Great. Thank you. How are you? I'm fantastic. I really love coming to this event. All right, it's a really great event. I guess. Can you tell us a little bit more about who you are and who you are in the community? Sure, I've been active in the GLBT community as a volunteer since 1991 when I helped on triangle speakers. Right now I serve as the executive director of CASA which stands for Court Appointed Special Advocates and we work with youth who are in the foster care system. So kind of my interest my whole life has been working with youth and kids and that's one of the reasons I really like their queer youth awards and the recognition it provides us for our youth. What influences in supporting queer youth take effect in your job? Well, at CASA since we work with youth in foster care some of those kids are GLBT identified. So we do a few things. We do cultural competency training. We also include members, adults in the GLBT community become CASA volunteers and to work with them as mentors and advocates as they go through the court system and dependency care. That's great. What were points in your life that were really instrumental to your support of queer youth? I think for me when I was in school in high school and college there was no GLB visibility at all. And for me it took me until 31 to come out to my parents because it wasn't a very friendly time. And I think what I see having worked in schools and with youth quite a bit is providing support and visibility. Just things like knowing who safe people are that they can talk to is really important. So I think I'm doing it because I didn't have it as a youth. That's a really important way of saying that it's to make the world a little bit better of a place as you work through it, you know? Exactly, exactly. What's important about being an ally and what does it mean to you? I think being an ally just means helping the youth in the community, doing everything I can in all the different places I work. So I'm a volunteer at the Community Foundation. I'm on their board of directors and so we try to give grants that would help the GLBT community and institutions. Also just at CASA, making sure that there's visibility and support for queer youth is really important. What can youth in the community do to help you become a stronger ally or help you in your work to create safety with queer youth? I think for us as adults and community leaders, I think the most important thing is for them to stay vocal and to keep yelling and screaming and saying what they need and telling us how we can help them. And then we can and we can offer that support but they need to let us know what they need. That's great. Thank you so very much for letting us interview you and coming on to here. Thank you. Have a great night at the Kuala Lumpur Awards. Okay, thanks. Thank you. Hello, we're here with Sandra Wallace, the board president. Is that what it says? Sorry. That's all right. Okay, I'm just gonna kind of like this. Okay. Hello, we're here with Sandra Wallace, the board president of the SoCal Elementary School Districts. Hello, how are you doing today? I'm doing well, thank you. Are you excited about Kuala? Yes, I am. I am excited about attending and seeing all the entertainment and the awards and yes, very much so. That's awesome. It's a great event, surely is. It is. Can you tell me a little bit about who you are and what you do in the community as a leader? Yes, as you said, I'm a trustee for SoCal Elementary School District and along with my fellow trustees, we do our best to educate all the kids in our district and make sure that they're safe and protected and we set policy and that's basically what we do. We go to a lot of meetings and that's what we do. That's great. What influences in your life have been like instrumental to supporting queer youth? We have friends who were closeted until they were into their late adulthood and it was very difficult for them as students and young people and even young adults and that had a huge impact on my life and so I want to make sure that our kids don't have to go through the same thing. Starting from elementary schools teaching Absolutely. Passion and how to grow up and tolerant and accepting communities, you'd say? Absolutely. Accepting everybody. Accepting everybody. What is important about being an ally and what does it mean to you? We should all be partners in what we do and what that means is that we respect each other and respect each other's rights and our individualism and I think that's very important. It's very, just like you said, what effects of working with queer youth are, take effect in your work? Well, because my work is on the board, the effect for us is to make sure that our students, they feel safe, they feel protected, that we enjoy them as whomever they are and so that's how it affects my work. It's wonderful. What can youth in the community do to reach out and get support from you directly and help you become a stronger ally and help you with your work in changing things for the future? The Diversity Center has done a lot towards in the community by reaching out to service clubs and one of which I belong to and speaking to us and being present and the Safe Schools Project is huge in supporting our students and our staff and so that's really important in my work. That's great. Thank you for letting us interview you and coming on and have a great night at Aquila Awards. Thank you. Thank you very much. You have a good time. Thank you. Hello, I'm here with Don Lane, the vice mayor of Santa Cruz City. How are you today? I'm doing great. It's great to be here. It's really fun. Can you tell us a little bit more about who you are and who you are in the community as a leader? Sure. So as vice mayor of the city of Santa Cruz means I'm a kind of fill in for the mayor of the city of Santa Cruz but primarily what I am is a city council member, just a voting member of the city council member, city council and represent the entire city of Santa Cruz and I also work a lot in the nonprofit community in Santa Cruz. I work on some homeless issues and homeless programs and I work for a charitable foundation. That's great. What were influential parts in your life that were instrumental to your support of queer youth? You know, for me it started a long time ago, I used to own a restaurant way back a long time ago that still exists called the Saturn Cafe within downtown Santa Cruz and back then we were one of the very few queer friendly businesses I think in town and it was probably queer friendly before the term queer friendly was being used but in that space, just hiring people and who are customers where I really got kind of connected to the gay and lesbian community and I've just since then been very involved in a lot of different ways and just continue to support where I can. Great. What would you say your support in queer youth take effect in your work? You know, I think a lot of it has to do with just showing up and speaking up. I think those two things, it's like really being present in events that's really valuing when there are events that recognize queer youth that people in front of the straight community show up and then also when there's times, when there are controversies or needs of support for the queer community that elected officials speak up and I try to do that every chance I can. Thank you. What does being an ally mean to you? How is it important? It just means that kind of similar to what I said, I think it's just being present wherever I can, I think part of it is just being conscious of the issues and really making sure that it's not just an abstract political issue, but it's like an issue that really affects people's lives, right? And that it can't be just like just voting the right way as an elected official but actually kind of really knowing the issue and knowing people who are involved in it and just really being conscious all the time of the impacts that some bigotry has on people. What would you say, how can queer youth in the community contact you and how can things that we say make you a stronger ally or make your work a little easier? I think I try to just get out at community events while I enjoy talking to people just out in events like this and Pride Week, there's a lot of events I show up at there so I love to talk to people at events like that. I'm pretty easy to reach as a city council member and people can call me on the phone and I'm happy to hear from people in any way they contact me. We got a Lynn Robinson's email address and a phone number of the mayor's office. Would you like to contribute your email? Sure, I'd be happy to. My email address is dlane at cityofsantacruz.com and that's how most people get in touch with me so that's a good way to do it. Thank you so much. My pleasure, thank you. Have a good night. All right. Hello, I'm here with the president and superintendent of the Pajaro Valley Unified School District. Would you care to introduce yourselves? Hi, I'm Kim Diserpa and I'm the board president. Dorima Baker, I'm the superintendent. Great. Would you care to introduce who you are and maybe what you do in the community? Should I hold it? My name's Kim Diserpa. I'm a community social worker. I work at Hospice of Santa Cruz County and I'm elected to the trustee area number one for the Pajaro Valley Unified School District. Dorima Baker, so as I mentioned, I am the superintendent. But I've been in the district for quite a while, started out as a teacher there and then was a principal and worked in the district and now I'm the superintendent. What would you say that your support in queer youth take effect in your work? In our work. We are super supportive in our district of queer youth. We have groups at each of one of the comprehensive high schools that support queer youth. We have I think a national coming out day that we do where people walk through the door and we have counselors that are specially trained at all the high schools to support kids. And I would just add to what Kim has mentioned that we also do that same process at some of our middle schools and it's extremely important for us that all students are valued for who they are and that their individual differences are valued and they are in a supportive environment and that the school has a culture that values differences. What is important about being an ally and what does being an ally mean to you? I would say especially when there are situations that a student needs a stronger voice. They need someone to speak for them. That it's important for Kim and I both in our roles and for other administrators and teachers in the district to be that voice. I think it's important to support to create a culture of safety for all kids and I think in our district, starting at the board level and down through the administrative level, we do support and create a culture of safety for all kids on our campuses. What have been influential times in your life where it was really instrumental in creating your support of queer youth when you both became school board members of the Pajaro Valley School District? That's when really? Yeah, I can start. You want me to start? Sure. I have many, many friends that are gay and also family members going way, way back and so in my family, it was always normal and so that is a natural extension of the work that I've chose, social work and social advocacy and anyway, so that's sort of my background. And I would add starting as a teacher it was important in every class that I had that I had a culture in the classroom that was supportive of students and their individual differences and what they needed to be successful so my whole career, my whole life has started out and been focused on that. How would you say that, how would you suggest that youth in the community get a hold of you to help you become stronger allies and help you create differences in your work? As Kim has mentioned, every one of our schools, junior high and middle schools and high schools have an organization so if students I think feel that they need additional support and also a culture that I think is open so that if they need to speak to someone about something that's happening for them there's a culture that's open for that and then we also have student board reps that come and sit on our board and share with the board on every meeting that we have on issues that are happening at the school and bring forward not only the positive things that are happening but if they have concerns they bring those forward as well. Well, there's not much I can add to that except that I think both of us support a culture of safety at our schools and we have many ways to get a hold of us. We have a website, we have our cell phone numbers posted and if anybody has any concerns or wants to come and lobby us they're certainly welcome to do that and we're supportive and open. Absolutely. Thank you. What is the website? It would be the initials of the school district, pvusd.net. All right, thank you so much for coming on and letting us interview you. Great, thank you, have a great night at Kuala. Thank you. Hello, we are here with John Leopold. What is your job title exactly? I'm a Santa Cruz County supervisor. I represent the first district which is Live Oak, Soquel, Santa Cruz Gardens all the way up to the summit. Wow. Can you tell us a little bit about who you are and what you do in the community with your being in charge of all those districts? Well, I've been a county supervisor. This is my sixth year and so as a county supervisor I do a lot of land use decisions. We work on parks issues, law enforcement, healthcare and human services. So on any given day, it's a little bit of everything. But I have a background here in the community. I came to Santa Cruz as a UCSC student. Did community organizing out of college, started a business, was the executive director of the Santa Cruz AIDS Project and worked up at the university for seven and a half years before I became a county supervisor. Wow, that's great. What does being an ally mean to you and how does it important in terms of queer youth and queer in the community? Well, I think it's very important. When in the community, a lot has changed in the 28 years that I've lived in Santa Cruz. Santa Cruz has always been a welcoming community but you have to do a lot of work to make sure that you're standing side by side, a community that some might marginalize. So I try to get out there, walk in pride, work on ballot initiatives that disproportionately affect queer youth. As an AIDS project director, I worked very hard to make sure that we had a wide range of programs to meet the needs of the community. In what point of your life were influential or did queer influence the whole? Queer youth influenced my life? Yes. Yes, well, I would say that one of the things I learned when I was the executive director of the AIDS Project, I found that most people thought that assumed that I was gay and that I had HIV and it really gave me a sense of the way in which the community reacted to gay men which I didn't have a previous experience with. And it made me, it redoubled my efforts to be allies with the lesbian and gay community and to work very hard to make sure that equal opportunity for everyone. And how does your support in queer youth programs influence your work? Well, I think about it as each year we make about $3 million worth of funding decisions for human care agencies and social service agencies so I try to think about what kind of programs we had and how we meet the needs of queer youth. Last year I organized the entire County Board of Supervisors to participate in an It's Gets Better video. Where all five of us could show our support for queer youth and so I'm very proud of that. It's on the front page of the county website. How would you say would be easiest for youth of the community to get ahold of you to help you become a stronger ally and help your work change and for better of queer youth? Well, I'm trying to make myself a very available to the community either through my office at the county building and people could call there at 454-2200. But I also go out to the community quite often. I have regular meetings in different parts of my district and if people went to the county website at www.SantaCruiseCounty.us they could see what the next meetings I meet in Soquel, Live Oak, up at the summit. And I do regular community meetings about issues of importance. Well, thank you for coming on and letting us interview you. I hope you have a really great night at Kuala Awards. I look forward to this every year. So I'm really excited. Thank you. Thank you. Hello, we're here with Craig Broadhurst. What exactly is your job title? I am the principal at New Brighton Middle School. Oh, which we are here today. And you are here at a beautiful PAC and on our campus and it's a beautiful day. It's inside, looks beautiful for the Queer Youth Awards. It's a very beautiful campus. Yeah, I went inside. I was quite impressed with the decorations. I think we need some help when we have some of our events in there too with the decorations. Nothing like you've ever seen before. It's pretty fancy in there. Well, could you talk a little bit about who you are and what you do in the community as a leader? Well, I've been in this community since 1988 and teaching since 1988. Now I'm in administration. I've worked at the middle school as an assistant principal. I've been at elementary schools as a principal and now I have the fortune, the good luck to be back here at New Brighton Middle School as the principal. I used to go here. I remember talking to you. I do. I do and it looks like you're doing really well. Thank you. What were influences in your life that were instrumental to leading you to become supportive of queer youth? I'm not really sure if there's any specific influences. I think I've always had a feeling that people should be treated fairly and equitable. And so somewhere along the lines growing up that was part of my being. And I'm interested in making sure that people are treated fairly and safely, especially in the middle school environment or public education where we see a lot of students and all different kinds of students with different kinds of interests and backgrounds. And I'm just interested in everybody having a fair, being treated fairly. What involvement of queer youth really affects your work and what you do? Well, as a middle school principal, we have to make sure that school is a safe place for everybody because if people don't feel safe, then they're not going to be educated. They're not going to feel, they're not going to be receptive to whatever is going on in the classroom. So it's my job to work towards making everybody feel safe at school. And one example of that is we have a GSA here at New Bright Middle School. Which a couple of friends and I started up when we were in eighth grade, actually. Awesome, high five. Well, we have it and it's still going with Michelle Bell. Was she running it when you were there? Okay. And so Michelle Bell is running the GSA and that's just one avenue that we have for helping make sure that all students feel safe here at the school. I really think that when the GSA happened, it really loosened up the school and exposed a lot of more people to the LGBT community. That was very, very prominent in the year that I was there. I felt like there's a lot of LGBT people in my grade. What is important about being an ally and what does being an ally mean to you? Well, for me, being an ally means that I'm a person that somebody could come to if they're not feeling safe. And being an ally for all students to me is just sort of the essence of being in education. I think most people get into education because they want to help people. And I continue to want to help people. So being an ally means that I'm there for students, parents, families, community members in any way, shape or form. When it comes to New Bright Middle School and outside of life too, I just want to protect people and be an ally and stand up for people and make sure people are treated with dignity and respect. That's what I would hope for. That's great. We have one more question for you and that is what can youth in the community do to help you become a stronger ally and make a difference in your work? I'd like to see youth in our community step up even more than they're doing in terms of educating students, young people who haven't been exposed to different lifestyles. I think that the youth can really have a strong voice in that and educate us more, educate schools, educate school-aged children and adults also. So the more that they're involved in educating, I think the stronger the message will be and the more people they'll affect. So I'd really like to see the youth, I know they're stepping up, but I'd say step it up even more. I think that the transition that kids go through in middle school is really important for building your character and becoming aware of... It's not a political issue, it's a real life thing that people are, it's important to stick up for everyone of all backgrounds. I agree, I agree. Well, thank you for coming on and letting us interview you, it's been a really lovely interview. It's a pleasure to be here and a pleasure to talk to you. It's a pleasure to see you again, for sure. Good to see you. Hello, we're here with Sharon Papo, the Executive Director of the Diversity Center in Santa Cruz County. Can you tell us a little bit about who you are and what you do as the Executive Director in the Diversity Center, which is a very large part of strange in the queer youth in Santa Cruz? Yes, at the Diversity Center, we think of ourselves as the hub of the LGBTQ community. So we are the community center in the county, so people call in when they want something, whether it's a plumber to come in their house or they feel they're being discriminated against and would like some support or resources or they're coming out and feel rejected from their family and would like some support. So we have a library, we have triangle speakers that is in the schools and many community organizations, opening hearts and minds, sharing our stories, we do trainings and then we also have specific programs for youth, strange that we co-run with Encompass Community Services and then we have programs for our elders, our 60 plus program, the Latino community, our Conexiones programs and many other social groups. What were influences in your life that were very instrumental to you being a part of the Diversity Center and supportive of queer youth? Well, when I came out, I had many experiences, experiences of people not accepting me, which were very hard and experiences of amazing adults in my family and in the community that really embraced me and that was a lifeline for me. So now it really feels like a privilege to show up for other people in the community and especially young people and whatever they're going through to be a community resource and a support to them. That's wonderful. What's important about being an ally and what does it being an ally mean to you? I think being an ally is using the privilege that someone has, whether that's around race or class or gender, ableism, whatever it is to show up for another group, to leverage a privilege, to show up, to support another group because ultimately a rising tide lives all ships. So we're all gonna sink or swim together and I think that it's showing up as we can and I think that we're really fortunate in this community that we have so many allies and I think where youth have many fantastic allies, clearly shown by this event today. Yeah, this is a really great event in the community. It's very exciting that it gets to happen here. Yeah. What are ways that youth in the community can get ahold of you and help you become not so much like a stronger ally but also stronger in the work that you do in the Diversity Center? Well, we hope that young people join this strange project. We love the more the merrier and we have our Saturday groups where young people are creating their own programs, whether it's the Dave's Silence event or the Valentine's Day dance or many other fantastic events. Also, there's a Monday afternoon group. It's called Chat with Vic. It's at Encompass Community Services which is really a drop in support group for anybody who needs a little extra support to have a safe place to go. Separately, the Diversity Center has queer camp every year and so that's gonna be coming up and that's really exciting. So that's another really fun way for young people to meet friends and get involved in a really welcoming and safe community. That's wonderful. What is maybe an email or a phone number that people can call to reach you or the Diversity Center? They can call 425-542-2. That's our number or info at diversitycenter.org or for youth issues, strange at diversitycenter.org is a great way to reach us. Thank you so much for coming on and I hope you have a really great night at the Queer Youth Awards. And I just want to give a shout out to all the people that make this incredible event happen. There's so much work that happens behind the scenes. Hours and hours of work and love poured in. There are so many volunteers. Incredible volunteers. So I just want to say to Stuart and the Queer Youth Task Force and all the people that show up of extreme gratitude because this event is a gift to our community. Absolutely. Thank you so much. Thank you. Hello, we're here with Sam Story, the mayor of Capitola. Hello, Sam, how are you? I'm doing very well and thanks for having me here this evening. And I want to welcome the Queer Youth Awards to Capitola once again. We had them here in 2010 and it was my honor as mayor then to welcome everyone and it's really an honor for me to be invited back and doing the welcoming speech. Great. Can you tell us a little bit about who you are and what you do in the community as a leader and the mayor of Capitola? Well, I've been on the Capitola City Council since 2006. This is my second term. And being on the city council, I am a local leader. Of course, we have to make decisions on how to run the city, both small and big decisions. And as mayor, which is on a pointed position, I don't have any particular additional power as mayor, but I get to set the agendas and I get to come to events such as this and represent the city council and the citizens of Capitola. How would you say your involvement of Queer Youth programs affect your work? Well, it has actually been very instrumental and helpful in my work to be involved with the Queer Youth, the Gay-Straight Alliance here, New Brighton Middle School. We want to reach out to them because we deal with many issues that affect youth in Capitola. And we want to reach out to all the youth and get all the various perspectives so that we can make the right decisions. And if we don't hear from everyone's particular perspective, if we don't hear about the issues that the Queer Youth face, issues of harassment and bullying, then we are less effective in dealing with them. And that is part of our job to create a safe and inviting community for all. So that's how we work with the youth that are here at New Brighton. And we invite them to be connected with the city council, come to the meetings, and present their issues that they may have so that it creates awareness and education. That's great. What would you say were influences in your life that were instrumental to becoming supporters of Queer Youth? Well, one, I think it starts one being aware of what they may face in terms of bullying, in terms of discrimination, in terms of the name-calling. And because I have experience from that, in my own youth, as an Asian-American, I grew up in the South. I went to school in Mississippi and in Georgia. And I can assure you, there were no Asian-American clubs. Sometimes I would be the only Asian-American in a school. And being different really can be, you can be called out, you can be called a lot of hurtful names. And so I learned, one, a sense of what it's like to experience that. And I think because of that, I always wanted to assure that other youth did not have to go through that same experience. And particularly because of their sexual preferences, because of who they are as individuals and who they may love. And so I think that that has had a very strong influence on me. And then also growing up, you always meet people who you tend to respect and want to model your life after. And I think some of my biggest role models have been gay, lesbian individuals who were very impressive in terms of their skills and talents and character. And so those have had an influence on me to realize that who you are as a person has, it is not diminished by who you may be attracted to as an individual. And that starts all out in the transition of being a middle schooler and finding the different kinds of people when you really get out of elementary school and then you go on to high school and then lead bigger and better lives and then become part of the community, such as yourself. That's right. I think every, that is a middle school age is the age that all youth are starting to discover them themselves and trying to figure out who they are. And so I think that's equally true of the queer youth as well. What can youth in the community do to contact you and help you become a stronger ally and help you in your work, help you help them? Well, I think you said it right there. First of all, contact me. Contact the other city council members if they see issues that affect them personally because of their orientation or if it's just about community issues. So one, be involved, communicate, be an advocate, speak your mind and also be yourself. And, but I think the important part is to be open and to educate the community, educate the city council members about what they may face and what their vision and values are and share them with us so that we can help you develop the kind of community that's safe for you. What is an email or a phone number that we can reach you at? You can go onto the City of Capitola website and actually all the council members' phone numbers and email addresses are there as well as mine. And my email address is SAM4capitola at ATT.net and that's F-O-R, 4Capitola. So give me an email or call the number that's on the website. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you. Hello, we're here with Ben Galahoufa, the director of the Trans Teen Project. Hello, how are you? I'm doing well, how are you? I'm doing great, are you excited about the Quilo? Yeah, so excited, this is my first time. Oh, really great. Can you tell me a little bit about who you are and what you do in the community? Sure, yeah, so I'm the director of the Trans Teen Project and we were created to support trans youth in Santa Cruz. Not only trans youth, but trans families as well. So create a space for trans youth to find resources, to connect with other youth, to connect hopefully with other trans mentors. Yeah, and be supported online in the community, both. And I'm also a psychotherapist. What were influences in your life that were instrumental to your support in queer youth and trans youth? So many. For so many, I can't even name a few, but it's been a lifelong journey for me to be affiliated with the trans community and working with the trans community. And I started working extensively with families in Colorado. I was a wilderness therapist and took families who were not accepting of their kids, trans kids, out into the wilderness and had them out for three days and worked with them on pronouns, all different kinds of stuff and how to work with how they felt around having a trans kid. Oh wow, that's really interesting. What is important about being an ally and what does being an ally mean to you? Space. Being an ally means creating space for all different types of identities, all different types of experiences and not assuming that I know what's happening for the other person. Yeah. So it's creating an acceptance and creating space for other people to come to you and try to create a better situation of how the person's already dealing with things. And space for them to explore who they are. Yeah, that's great. Absolutely. What can youth and trans youth in the community and queer youth do in the community to help you help them? You have a phone number or an email that people can contact you? We have a website, www.transteamproject.org. Please check that out. And we have an email on that website. It's under the contact us. And it's hard to come out. It's hard to use your voice and speak. The website is very anonymous. So it's a good way for trans kids who don't want to come out to get resources. But if you do, sharing their voices, sharing their experiences, we welcome that always. Great, thank you so much. Sure, absolutely. All right. Hello, this is Jim Hart, the Chief Deputy of the Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Office. How are you today? I'm great. It's great to be here. And thanks for having me. Yeah. Can you tell us a little bit about who you are and what you do in the community? Sure. I'm a Chief Deputy of the Sheriff's Office. I've worked there for 26 years and I run our administration bureau. And I am also a candidate for Santa Cruz County Sheriff. What do your effects and what are your influences in queer youth programs take part in your work? Well, part of the group that works under my direction are our school resource officers. And they're trained to make sure that all students can go to school safely and not be bullied and feel comfortable in school environments. And I really support that. And I think it's really important that we're an ally for all of our youth that are in our school systems. And then I'm also a girls basketball coach of the Scotts Valley High School where I've been coaching girls basketball for the last eight years. And I've supported a number of kids over the years. Why is it important to be an ally? Why do you think it is important to be an ally? What does being an ally mean to you? An ally to me means that I'm gonna be an advocate and I'm gonna help our youth get through some of the challenges that they experienced during their high school years. I have four children of my own and I know those years are tough. And sometimes other children can be mean and I think it's really important that we educate everybody. And let's face it, Santa Cruz County is a great place to live. And I think everybody should really enjoy the experience of going to school and living here. What are ways that youth in the community can reach out to you to help you help them and become a stronger ally? I think just education and tolerance and understanding but I think the education component is really important and get rid of the fear, get rid of basically the fear and just let everybody grow up and enjoy the community and enjoy their experience as they make their way through adolescence and their teen years into adulthood. Great, that was wonderful, excellent. Thank you so much for coming on. Okay, thanks.