As a physician, public health professional, educator, and musician, I cannot overstate the importance of an organization such as the San Francisco Pride Band. Combing through our archives has underscored my belief in the Band’s positive impact on the lives of its members, on the community of which it is a vital part, and on the larger stage promoting and celebrating what people — regardless of race, creed, or identity — can accomplish. Over residences in six metro areas across three continents, I am hard pressed to describe a group that is more open, warm, or inspiring than this Band.
I joined the Board because I strongly support the Band’s mission to nurture the joy of music in the San Francisco Bay Area community and to be an utterly inclusive forum — especially celebratory of one of the most historically at-risk and persecuted communities in the world. The Band’s history mirrors that of the LGBTQ+ community in the Bay Area and is a history that I have been extremely fortunate to delve into during my tenure on the Board, and love to share with our Band Family, the community we serve, and the greater world.