The California Legislative LGBT Caucus will celebrate June 2017 as Pride Month with the adoption of House Resolution 41 during Assembly Floor Session and Senate Resolution 46 during Senate Floor Session  Monday, June 19. As part of the ceremony, the Caucus will honor 10 LGBT individuals and the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus in appreciation of their outstanding accomplishments, leadership and activism to help advance equality for the LGBT community. This summer is the 15 year anniversary of the Caucus’s formation.

HONOREES:

• Mikayla Connell, Police Officer at the San Francisco Police Department
• Robert Gleason, President and Chief Executive Officer of Evans Hotels
• Roma Pauline Guy, Activist and Founder of San Francisco Women’s Building
• Joel Flatow, Chief of West Coast Operations and Artist & Industry Relations for the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA)
• Daniel Jimenez, Activist and Volunteer at the San Joaquin Pride Center
• Ken Jones, Activist and Member of the  BART Police Department Citizen Review Board
• Michaela Mendelsohn, Pollo West Corp & Mi Pollo, Inc.
• Russell Roybal, Deputy Executive Director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force
• Brian Reagan, Manager of Pulse Night Club and survivor of Orlando, FL shooting
• Rick Zbur, Executive Director of Equality California
• Chris Verdugo and Dr. Tim Seelig on behalf of the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus

Originally formed in 2002, the Caucus serves as a forum for the California Legislature to discuss issues that affect LGBT Californians and to further the goal of equality and justice for all residents in the State. Comprising both Senators and Assemblymembers, current Caucus members include: Chair Evan Low, Vice Chair Ricardo Lara, Senators Toni G. Atkins, Cathleen Galgiani, and Scott Wiener, and Assemblymembers Susan Talamantes Eggman, Sabrina Cervantes, and Todd Gloria. The Caucus’s formation made California the first state in the country to recognize an official caucus of openly-LGBT state legislators.