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Supervisors hear dozens of accounts of harassment in city shelters; advocates urge LGBT-specific services and stronger accountability
Summary
At a Rules Committee hearing, dozens of LGBT residents and advocates testified that transgender and LGBT people face harassment and inadequate protections inside city shelters; Human Services Agency and other departments acknowledged gaps between written standards and residents' experiences and agreed to follow up.
Supervisor David Campos opened a committee hearing focused on whether San Francisco's shelter system adequately serves lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender residents, saying the city must "be very vigilant" about a high rate of homeless LGBT people and citing studies and anecdotal reports of abuse.
More than two dozen public commenters testified at length. Jason Skerrick, a gay veteran, said he left a shelter after being repeatedly harassed and called a slur; several transgender speakers described staff mockery, lack of privacy and threats of physical assault. Beck, a youth program coordinator at the San Francisco LGBT Community Center, urged creation of an LGBT youth commission and said youth repeatedly report transphobic staff behavior and enforcement practices that risk their safety.…
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