Tom Ammiano (born December 15, 1941) is an American politician, and
LGBT rights activist from
San Francisco, CaliforniaSan Francisco is the fourth most populous city in California and the 12th most populous city in the United States, with a 2008 estimated population of 808,976. It is the eighth most densely populated city in the U.S. and is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the larger San...
. Ammiano is a
DemocratThe Democratic Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. It is the oldest political party in continuous operation in the United States and it is one of the oldest parties in the world. In the U.S...
and a member of the
California State AssemblyThe California State Assembly is the lower house of the California State Legislature. There are 80 members in the Assembly, representing an approximately equal number of constituents, with each district having a population of at least 420,000...
, representing the
13th districtCalifornia's 13th State Assembly District is one of 80 districts in the California State Assembly. It is currently represented by Democrat Tom Ammiano of San Francisco, of which 54.51% is in the district.-2006:-2004:-2002:...
.
Ammiano was born and grew up in
Montclair, New JerseyMontclair is a township in Essex County, New Jersey, United States. It is the 50th largest municipality in New Jersey by population. As of the United States 2000 Census, the township population was 38,977....
. He attended
Seton Hall UniversitySeton Hall University is a private Roman Catholic university in South Orange, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1856 by Archbishop James Roosevelt Bayley, Seton Hall is the oldest diocesan university in the United States. Seton Hall is also the oldest and largest Catholic university in the...
in 1963 and received a
bachelor's degreeA bachelor's degree is usually an academic degree awarded for an undergraduate course or major that generally lasts for four years, but can range from two to six years depending on the region of the world...
in
communication Communication is a process of transferring information from one entity to another. Communication processes are sign-mediated interactions between at least two agents which share a repertoire of signs and semiotic rules. Communication is commonly defined as "the imparting or interchange of...
. He also attended
San Francisco State UniversitySan Francisco State University is a public university located in San Francisco, California...
in 1965 where he received a
master's degreeA master's degree is an academic degree granted to individuals who have undergone study demonstrating a mastery or high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice...
in
special educationSpecial education is the education of students with special needs in a way that addresses the students' individual differences and needs. Ideally, this process involves the individually planned and systematically monitored arrangement of teaching procedures, adapted equipment and materials,...
. He taught English to children in
South VietnamSouth Vietnam refers to a state which governed southern Vietnam until 1975. It received international recognition in 1950 as the State of Vietnam and later as the “Republic of Vietnam” . Its capital was Saigon...
as part of a Quaker program, but left shortly after the Tet Offensive in 1968.
Ammiano is a former public school teacher.
Tom Ammiano (born December 15, 1941) is an American politician, and
LGBT rights activist from
San Francisco, CaliforniaSan Francisco is the fourth most populous city in California and the 12th most populous city in the United States, with a 2008 estimated population of 808,976. It is the eighth most densely populated city in the U.S. and is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the larger San...
. Ammiano is a
DemocratThe Democratic Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. It is the oldest political party in continuous operation in the United States and it is one of the oldest parties in the world. In the U.S...
and a member of the
California State AssemblyThe California State Assembly is the lower house of the California State Legislature. There are 80 members in the Assembly, representing an approximately equal number of constituents, with each district having a population of at least 420,000...
, representing the
13th districtCalifornia's 13th State Assembly District is one of 80 districts in the California State Assembly. It is currently represented by Democrat Tom Ammiano of San Francisco, of which 54.51% is in the district.-2006:-2004:-2002:...
.
Early life
Ammiano was born and grew up in
Montclair, New JerseyMontclair is a township in Essex County, New Jersey, United States. It is the 50th largest municipality in New Jersey by population. As of the United States 2000 Census, the township population was 38,977....
. He attended
Seton Hall UniversitySeton Hall University is a private Roman Catholic university in South Orange, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1856 by Archbishop James Roosevelt Bayley, Seton Hall is the oldest diocesan university in the United States. Seton Hall is also the oldest and largest Catholic university in the...
in 1963 and received a
bachelor's degreeA bachelor's degree is usually an academic degree awarded for an undergraduate course or major that generally lasts for four years, but can range from two to six years depending on the region of the world...
in
communication Communication is a process of transferring information from one entity to another. Communication processes are sign-mediated interactions between at least two agents which share a repertoire of signs and semiotic rules. Communication is commonly defined as "the imparting or interchange of...
. He also attended
San Francisco State UniversitySan Francisco State University is a public university located in San Francisco, California...
in 1965 where he received a
master's degreeA master's degree is an academic degree granted to individuals who have undergone study demonstrating a mastery or high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice...
in
special educationSpecial education is the education of students with special needs in a way that addresses the students' individual differences and needs. Ideally, this process involves the individually planned and systematically monitored arrangement of teaching procedures, adapted equipment and materials,...
. He taught English to children in
South VietnamSouth Vietnam refers to a state which governed southern Vietnam until 1975. It received international recognition in 1950 as the State of Vietnam and later as the “Republic of Vietnam” . Its capital was Saigon...
as part of a Quaker program, but left shortly after the Tet Offensive in 1968.
Briggs Initiative
Ammiano is a former public school teacher. In 1975, he became the first public school teacher in San Francisco to make his sexual orientation a matter of public knowledge. In 1977, Ammiano founded the movement (No on 6) against the Briggs Initiative, started by
John BriggsJohn V. Briggs is a retired California state politician who served in the California State Assembly and the California State Senate. He is perhaps best known for sponsoring Proposition 6 in 1978, also known as the Briggs Initiative, which attempted to remove all gay or lesbian school employees or...
to ban all
gayThe term gay was originally used, until well into the mid-20th century, primarily to refer to feelings of being "carefree", "happy", or "bright and showy"; it had also come to acquire some connotations of "immorality" as early as 1637....
people from teaching in
CaliforniaCalifornia is the most populous state in the United States, and the third largest by area. California is the second most populous sub-national entity in the Americas, behind only São Paulo, Brazil...
, with activists
Hank WilsonHenry "Hank" Wilson was a longtime San Francisco LGBT rights activist and long term AIDS activist and survivor. The Bay Area Reporter noted that for "over more than 30 years, he played a pivotal role in San Francisco's LGBT history." He grew up in Sacramento, and graduated with a B.A...
and
Harvey MilkHarvey Bernard Milk was an American politician and the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in California, as a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors...
. The anti-Briggs movement, supported by people as diverse as
Jimmy CarterJames Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. served as the 39th President of the United States from 1977 to 1981 and was the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, the only U.S. President to have received the Prize after leaving office...
and
Ronald ReaganRonald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States and the 33rd Governor of California .Born in Tampico, Illinois, Reagan moved to Los Angeles, California in the 1930s...
, was successful in defeating the initiative in 1978.
San Francisco Board of Education
In 1980 and 1988, Ammiano ran for the
San Francisco Board of EducationThe San Francisco Board of Education is made of seven Commissioners, elected by voters across the city to serve 4-year terms. It is subject to local, state, and federal laws, and determines policy for all the public schools in the San Francisco Unified School District.- Founding :In October 1849,...
, and was elected in 1990. He was subsequently elected its vice-president in 1991, and then president in 1992.
As president of the Board of Education, Ammiano was successful in his efforts to include a gay and lesbian sensitivity curriculum for all students in the
San Francisco Unified School DistrictThe San Francisco Unified School District is the only public school district in San Francisco, California. It is managed by the San Francisco Board of Education....
. He helped to make San Francisco public schools' sexual education curriculum, which begins diversity and sensitivity training in
kindergartenis a form of education for young children which serves as a transition from home to the commencement of more formal schooling. Children are taught to develop basic skills through creative play and social interaction. In most countries kindergarten is part of the preschool system of early childhood...
, one of the most diverse and inclusive in the United States.
San Francisco Supervisor
Among his accomplishments on the Board of Supervisors is the creation of the San Francisco Health Care Security Ordinance, which was passed by a unanimous vote of the Board of Supervisors and signed by
Mayor"Mayor" is a modern title used in many countries for the highest ranking officer in a municipal government....
Gavin NewsomGavin Christopher Newsom is the current mayor of San Francisco. A Democrat, Newsom was elected mayor in 2003, succeeding Willie Brown and becoming San Francisco's youngest mayor in 100 years...
on August 7, 2006. This makes San Francisco the first city in the nation to provide universal healthcare access. Ammiano is also the main architect of the city's Domestic Partners Ordinance, which provides equal benefits to employees and their unmarried domestic partners. It also requires companies that do business with the City and County of San Francisco to provide the same benefits. Ammiano was the first Supervisor ever to participate in Bike to Work Day.
In 1999, Ammiano came into conflict with some in San Francisco's Catholic community when the Board of Supervisors, at Ammiano's request, granted the
Sisters of Perpetual IndulgenceThe Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence also called Order of Perpetual Indulgence in Australia and elsewhere is a charity, protest, and street performance organization that uses drag and Catholic imagery to call attention to sexual intolerance and satirize issues of gender and morality...
, a charity group of
drag queenA drag queen is a person, usually a man, who dresses, and usually acts, like a woman often for the purpose of entertaining or performing. There are many kinds of drag artists and they vary greatly from professionals who have starred in movies to people who just try it once. Drag queens also vary by...
nuns, a street-closure permit for Castro Street for their 20th anniversary celebration on Easter Sunday.
1999 mayoral campaign
In the San Francisco mayoral race of 1999, Ammiano mounted a successful write-in campaign in the November election, preventing the incumbent Willie Brown from achieving a victory without a run-off.
While Ammiano lost that second election in December, Ammiano's campaign galvanized progressive voters in San Francisco and had a major impact on the composition of the new, more liberal Board of Supervisors the next year. There is a documentary about the 1999 mayoral election titled
See How They Run. Ammiano ran for mayor again in 2003, but did not win enough votes to make that run-off after Supervisor
Matt GonzalezMatthew Edward Gonzalez is a U.S. politician, lawyer, and activist prominent in San Francisco politics. Gonzalez was a member and president of San Francisco County's Board of Supervisors. He was also one of the first Green Party candidates elected to public office in the Bay Area...
entered the race, taking progressive voters from him.
California State AssemblyThe California State Assembly is the lower house of the California State Legislature. There are 80 members in the Assembly, representing an approximately equal number of constituents, with each district having a population of at least 420,000...
In February 2009, Ammiano introduced a bill, titled
Marijuana Control, Regulation, and Education ActCalifornia Assembly Bill 390, ', known as the Marijuana Control, Regulation, and Education Act, is the first bill ever introduced to regulate the sale and use of marijuana in the U.S. state of California. If passed and signed into law, marijuana would be sold and taxed openly to adults age 21 and...
, to the California legislature. If passed, the bill would legalize cannabis in the state. The proposal would regulate marijuana like alcohol, with people over 21 years old allowed to grow, buy, sell and possess cannabis. With the state's severe budget shortfalls the bill has been discussed in light of the revenue generated as well as the savings from decriminalising and prosecuting marijuana-focussed possession crimes.
Personal life
Ammiano was in a 16-year
domestic partnershipA domestic partnership is a legal or personal relationship between two individuals who live together and share a common domestic life but are neither joined by marriage nor a civil union...
with a fellow schoolteacher, Tim Curbo, who died of complications from
AIDSAcquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus ....
in 1994. He has one daughter and is now a grandfather. Aside from his teaching and political careers, Ammiano has been a stand-up comedian since 1980. Ammiano portrayed himself in the 2008 film
MilkMilk is a 2008 American biographical film on the life of gay rights activist and politician Harvey Milk, who was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. Directed by Gus Van Sant and written by Dustin Lance Black, the film stars Sean Penn as Milk and Josh Brolin as Dan White. The film was...
.
He told California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to "kiss my gay ass" when the Republican governor made an appearance at a Democratic fundraiser in an attempt to convince Democrats to allow him to lower in home care giver nurses salaries to minimum wage.
Further reading
- Kevin Fagan and John Wildermuth. "Ammiano's Long Road From Jersey Kid to Mayoral Candidate," San Francisco Chronicle
thumb|right|The Chronicle Building following the [[1906 San Francisco earthquake|1906 earthquake]] and fireSan Francisco Chronicle is Northern California's largest newspaper, and one of the largest in the United States, serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area, but distributed throughout...
, November 13, 1999.
- Erin McCormick. "Ammiano's career as an 'inside outsider,'" San Francisco Examiner, December 7, 1999.
External links