A MOTION confirming the executive's appointment of Fred Swanson to the King County gender identity and sexual orientation inclusion task force, representing Gay City.
And our next four items are appointments to the county's gender identity and Sexual Orientation Inclusion Task Force. Sam Porter of Council Staff is here to provide a staff report. Then we'll hear from potential appointees whose partner you please provide a boost. Certainly. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Sam Porter, Council Central Policy Staff. Can you hear me okay? We can read the documents for the next four items. Begin on page 17 of your packet. Proposed motions 2020 10357358359 and three six out would confirm the following people to the Gender Identity and Sexual Orientation Inclusion Task Force. Fred Swanson representing Gay City. Katherine West representing Legal Voice. Dennis Worsham representing Public Health Seattle in King County and Alghabra representing Seattle Counseling Service. These appointments would last through the expiration of the task force, which is 60 days after the reporting provisions outlined in the enabling legislation are completed. This task force was established through machine 15162 in June of 2018 in response to the Washington State Board of Health ruling allowing for a third option for designation on birth certificates to indicate a gender other than male or female. The six primary objectives of the task force are listed on page 17 of your packet and include reviewing the Board of Health ruling and determining changes that the county may need to make in response and consulting with county departments and community groups to assess county administrative processes, including but not limited to forms, questionnaires and interviews that include requests for information relating to gender identity and sexual orientation, and identifying administrative processes that could be modified to increase gender identity and sexual orientation inclusion. Table one on page 18 of your packet shows the current roster of Task Force membership with the organization stated in motion 15162 identified in bold. The group has been meeting in accordance with the initial framework adopted through motion 15603 and as is anticipated to complete their work in the middle of next year. We have three of the four appointees on the call today. I don't see Dennis Worsham. I believe he was unable to join and that concludes my remarks. I absolutely see, Mr. Washington. I think we have a full complement of great, great Americans here. And in fact, I will rotate through the appointees and ask Mr. Washington to introduce himself and tell us speak to his interest in the task force. Good morning, Dennis. All right. Good morning. Good morning, Councilmember. Yeah. Thank you so much. For the opportunity to be considered to. Serve on the gender identity and the Sexual Orientation Inclusion Task Force. You know, I often report to this group in my role in public health and certainly through the cover of Time, you've gotten to know me in in one form or the other. Part of about this, as important to me is as a gay man really came to the service of public health really during the AIDS epidemic. In the crisis is what really drew me to public service to begin with. And as a person who was coming out of coming out at the time in college in the late eighties, early nineties, of course, we were just in one of our most dark times as a community in the number of people who were dying from HIV at that time. As you remember during that time, for those who were around, is that there was just a lot of discrimination, homophobic rhetoric, acts of violence that just really were pretty horrific in hindsight. And but we've really come a long way since the eighties and nineties. And I think in particular, the thing that draws me to this task force is making sure that we're creating the space and environment as a county and as a county government that really allows people to be who they are, that to live fully in their authentic ways, and that we're providing the services and programs that really allow them to thrive. Although as a gay man, I feel like so much has changed since the eighties, the nineties I do see. With colleagues. And friends within the community, really from our trans and non-binary community in particular, where we still really have a lot of work to do as a county and we have a lot of work to do in some of our programs and services with our declaration really as racism, as a public health crisis. I also see the intersectionality being a really an important piece where people who are from our bipoc community, who are also trans or non-binary or have a sexual orientation other than heterosexual, it's oftentimes more difficult for them to be in a space where they feel welcome and safe. And so if there's anything I can do by serving on this task force, both as a gay man and bringing my own lived experience and to the table as well as as really serving in our public health role and as a part of our government services to better serving our public in particular, these are folks, whether it's gender identity or sexual orientation, to improve our services in the county, certainly want to be a part of that and bring my voice that table. And so thank you for considering me. And if there's any questions, I'm happy happy to answer them. Let's go ahead and hear from all of the nominees and then take questions. I would ask Al Jazeera to offer insights and your interest in serving on the task force? Not. Everyone I know get and would love to request closed captioning for accessibility purposes if possible. Also, we'll move forward with describing myself for people who might not be able to see very well. I am wearing a gray button up, short sleeve, platinum blond hair, some black background porcelain and just want to make sure I get that out there for folks who may not be able to see well again. Anyway, I totally echo Dennis and what he said regarding a lot of intersectionality and a lot of the things that are changing and the community, the LGBTQ community, and how this reflects in the inclusivity of policies that the county has. I think it does quite a bit already, and I think there are also a lot of gaps that are pretty evident. Just given the new way that we're navigating queerness and what it means to be gender nonconforming in various spaces. And so my interest to serve on this task force, I think, is to be more inclusive in a lot of policies and to be inclusive and mindful of the way that we take up space, both as part of the LGBTQ community and ally community that we have here, hoping to build a pretty good partnership there. And I'm also very interested in making sure that we have a sustainable approach after the task force ends. I think that's probably one of the one of the most important things to think about, because task forces are important. I think it gives people space to strategize ways to be inclusive and how to be a good ally as well. And I think it's important to think about sustainability and and how the work continue even after the task force ends appearance. Is your question. Happy to answer anything else as well. Thank you so much. Ms.. West, can you tell us about yourself, your interest in the task force? Hello, council members. My name is Catherine West. I am an attorney with legal voice and I use she her pronouns. I will follow Elle's lead by describing myself. I am a white, cisgender woman. I am in my home with a wooden door behind me and a blue and white curtain. I grew up as a working class in a working class family. Although I acknowledge that I have had tremendous privilege as a white person moving through society, I am. I've had the privilege of working on gender equity issues with a legal voice for two years. And most recently, I worked with a coalition of trans and non-binary individuals to draft and move forward legislation in the Washington state legislature that later was named the Gender Affirming Treatment Act. And we were so proud that the legislature passed those protections in in one legislative session. And so now folks who are gender expansive have the same or hopefully better access to health care than they had prior to that legislation and prior to joining Legal Voice, I was a staff member, a staff attorney at Northwest Justice Project, where I represented low income Washingtonians in a variety of civil legal matters, but including name changes in district court, as well as seeking gender affirming health care, either paid for by Medicaid or their private insurance, and a variety of other types of issues that uniquely impact gender expansive people, including school policies, harassment, discrimination. And so it's just such a privilege to be considered for the gender identity and sexual orientation task force, because it's so important that the county and society consider how to hold and include gender expansive people and make sure that they feel welcome and seen and accepted. And sometimes those are small things that need to change or for people to be educated about. And other times they're they're a lot bigger. And so it's nice to be able to think through both the smaller kind of movement building strategies, as well as maybe proposing some, some larger changes. I'm happy to answer any questions at the end. Thank you. Thank you so much. And I was wondering if you could speak to your interest and experience. Thank you so much for joining us. Yeah, thank you so much for the opportunity. So I'm Fred Swanson. I see him pronouns and I'm here representing not only myself but also Gay City, Seattle's LGBTQ Center, where I've been the executive director for 20 years and a week, which is a little overwhelming. But for for those who don't know, the city has been operating as Seattle's LGBTQ center since 2012, and we run the resource and referral line for the City of Seattle and are also part of the King County Connect to Community Referral Network, where we connect LGBTQ people to and, you know, to do the things that they need to live happy and healthy lives and often refer to other organizations like Legal Voice and like Seattle Counseling Services. So we heard from just a minute ago, I'm also a parent, so I was a foster parent for six years and am raising three children and Darian in South King County and have kids in elementary, middle and high school and Dorian. And so I think I also bring the perspective of a parent of two of those kids are are on the LGBTQ spectrum. So not only do I have that perspective myself, but also the perspective of the kids that we're raising. I was particularly, I guess, bothered or alarmed by the recent COVID 19 school report that came out from OSP about the the young people that were most impacted by COVID. And it wasn't surprising. But you know what, what really came out of that report and there's some really great presentations that have been done by you done about this report, but is that LGBTQ young people particularly were we're hit hard and we know that the health disparities experienced by LGBTQ community and community members are severe. And so I think what I want to bring to this task force is a perspective not only as, you know, somebody who runs an organization that is really here to connect queer and trans people to the resources that they need and really looking at how do we achieve health equity by addressing social determinants of health and looking at the barriers that exist between folks and healthy lives. And what are the ways that we can help break those barriers down, but also the perspective of a parent who's really invested. And of course, my own children and other children being able to thrive and looking at ways that school systems can and the county can really help to create environments where young people are able to thrive and be who they are and you and live happy, healthy lives. So I think those are a couple of the reasons that I'm involved and I'm really honored to be a part of this group and to work with, you know, other really smart people and to look at what we can do to address, you know, the beauty of a King County wide task force like this is a really looking at the systems across the county, and that's oftentimes where you can make the most impact as opposed to just in your little corner of the community. So thanks very much for the opportunity. Thank you, Fred. I remember meeting the guy who moved here to become the executive director of the city some 20 years ago. Getting to know him and appreciate your service. Over now, two decades, colleagues are going questions for the nominees before us. I'd entertain one motion to to approve motions 2021 357 358 359 and 367. Mr. Chair. We have before us a pass recommendation promotions 2021, three, 57, 58, 59 and 60 discussion. I want to offer that. On my own behalf, having served 20, 20 years in office and having been an openly gay man for that entire time, but actually not having been out all that long before he first ran for the legislature. I really appreciate. The evolution of what kinds of issues and work we confront. When I first joined the legislature, it was a new privilege. Some would have thought at the time to be able in the membership booklet to list my partner to include the name of my partner. Ten years ago, just over ten years ago when I joined the King County Council was the first time that we were formally recognized as a Council Pride Month and declared June as LGBTQ Pride Month. The kind of work we've been able to do in time really has moved forward very quickly. And today we are appointing members to a gender inclusion and sexual orientation task force with the broad support of all of my colleagues on the County Council, and doing so to further understand and make sure the county is engaged and responsive to people regardless of their gender identity or sexual orientation. So the budget before us today is real and important as each one of the four nominees is spoken to. And I'm profound to me that we are able to do this work with such broad, supportive colleagues and identify and recognize the need to do it for all of the people in King County. Further discussion. Councilmember Dombroski Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you for sharing those personal and heartfelt remarks. You know, I've had a lot of privilege in my life of giving a fairly straightforward and simple existence with respect to my identity. And it's been a learning process for me to really open up and be reflective and be made more aware of issues around one's identity. I was very proud and I'm very proud to date of sponsored the legislation that created this task force in partnership with my colleagues. And it's heartwarming to see the candidates coming forward who want to continue serving and help us as a county government, make sure that our policies and our practices are inclusive of everybody and respect everybody's individual humanity, that we as a government meet folks where they are and respect who they are, and that our policies are cognizant of that and don't just reflect one person's or majorities person's perspective. So I want to thank the candidates today for their willingness to serve. Dennis I don't know how you have time, but thank you for all that you're doing. And Mr. Chair, it's a it's a heartwarming time here today to see these candidates come forward. And I'm very, very hopeful to see their work and then take action as a government on their recommendation. So appreciate you scheduling the hearing today and doing it in such a terrific way. Hello. Thank you. Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts. You as well, Councilmember Dombroski. And for our guests who are here, we all know and see that our members of the LGBTQ plus communities are overrepresented in homelessness and suicide in youth not doing well in schools or at home. And so the work that you all are doing to keep all of our communities safe is is acknowledged and appreciated. I just wanted to say that thank you so much for doing that. People are really struggling out here and you are elevating these issues and making sure that our governments take the proper actions to keep everyone safe and thriving in King County. There's nothing more valuable. And so we all commit to you, to working with you, to listening to you, to make this a safe place for everyone. So I just wanted to express that gratitude and commitment. And remember Belushi. Thank you. I will just echo what my colleagues have said already about our support and the importance of us thinking about the ways in which we engage with and support and serve the community of people that we serve. So that we're being intentional about, you know, meeting our needs and hearing voices. I think in the past, we kind of took for granted that if we did something good, it kind of universally supported everybody. And we've learned a lot since since since I started in this work about how that doesn't actually work. And we have to be more intentional and more focused in how we reach out to people. I do want to thank the nominees for shining a light on the issue of accessibility of our meetings. Thank you for doing that. And I wanted to share that. Although we do not have Zoom captioning, we do have captioning on our KC TV feed and we probably should work that into the beginning of our meetings so that we let people know that that is one way to get more accessibility of our meetings, but always more work to do there. And I just wanted to note and thank you for lifting up that, that important function of government. Further discussion. Madam. I'd ask you to please call the role on all four motions. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Councilmember Banducci. Hi. Councilmember Dombrowski. I. Council councilmember again. Councilmember one Councilmember Lambert, I don't remember a photograph. I don't remember one. I thought. I. Council members. Hello. Hi. Mr. Chair. Ah. Mr. Chair, the vote is 8 hours. Your notes. Council member. Dan, excuse. Me. Thank you. By your. By your vote. We've given a do pass recommendation to merchants 2021, three, 57, 58, 59 and 60. We will expedite these to a full council on Tuesday, and in my objection, place them on the consent agenda. Very well. Thank you so much. I expect that we will confirm in full council your appointments on Tuesday. And please feel free to reach out to us during your work and we look forward to the product of your work. And I'm taking that up as well to deliver for the people of the county. Thank you so much. Today is a briefing on the proposed health housing implementation plan. The ordinance was duly referred to the Regional Policy Committee and the committee of the whole.