Tom Ammiano
(? - living) U.S.A.
Comedian, schoolteacher and politician
Tom first went to San Francisco in 1963 and became a special education teacher in the Mission District after teaching English in Vietnam as part of a Quaker volunteer program. In 1975, when the Board of Education voted against including sexual orientation in the district's non-discrimination clause, Tom spoke out on behalf of all gay teachers. Within a year, the Board reversed itself, and San Francisco became one of the first cities in the country to protect gay teachers from discrimination.
In the 80s, as he worked for a better school system and for the rights of many of the city's disenfranchised, he also started a career as a stand-up comic, beginning at the now legendary Valencia Rose.
In 1990, Tom was elected to the school board, garnering the most votes of any candidate. While on the Board, his fellow members selected him as Board President.
Tom was first elected to the Board of Supervisors in 1994 under the old city-wide election system. He was re-elected a Supervisor in 1998 and, as the top vote-getter across the City, became Board President.
He is the main architect of the San Francisco Domestic Partners Ordinance which provides equal benefits for employees of companies that contract with the City and County of San Francisco. He has been the subject of a Newsweek article on gay teachers and has received the Harvey Milk Community Service Award.
In 2000, under the new system of district elections, Tom was elected to serve his district. His new Board colleagues unanimously elected him President of the Board.
During his eight years on the Board, Tom has built an unmatched record of achievement in fighting for education, the environment, sound planning and housing policy, economic justice, public health, and clean government. He has pushed for pulic ownership of utilities and rides MUNI to work. In 2004, his work will continue, from the mayor's desk in San Francisco.
Tom, "The Mother of Gay Comedy," Ammiano has also been a stand up comic since 1980 when he pioneered gay comedy night at the Valencia Rose Cabaret in San Francisco. Tom is also featured in the Oscar-winning documentary, The Life and Times of Harvey Milk.
Tom is the surviving partner of an 19-year domestic partnership and has one 20-year old daughter, who was raised by a lesbian couple.
- 1994 Elected to Board of Supervisors
- 1990 Elected to Board of Education (top vote getter, the first openly gay municipal school board chair in U.S.)
- 1998 Re-elected to Board of Supervisors
- 2000 Re-elected to Board of Supervisors
- Transportation Authority Chair
- Public Utilities and Deregulation Committee Member member, Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District Board (known as the Bridge Board)
- Instructor in Humanities at New College of California
- Instructor in AIDS Peer Education at City College of San Francisco
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