From: MPetrelis@aol.com
Date: Tue, 6 Oct 1998 14:25:08 EDT
Subject: SF health dept.'s gay coord. to hold 1st public meeting


[Dear friends,
The following letter arrived in the mail today.  I share it with you in the
hope you, like me,  will be amused to learn that the coordinator for gay
issues within the SF health department is about to hold his first public
meeting with the gay community.  Why it has taken the coordinator 4 (four!)
years to hold such a meeting is a question I hope will be answered in
November.  One would think that SF, of all the cities in the world, in 1998
would have an established mechanism of public input and collaboration between
the health department's gay coordinator and the community.  
If you wish to reach the gay coordinator, or the director of the SF health
department, please call 415-554-2500.  --mp]


October 1, 1998

Dear Michael,

Thank you for your letter of September 23, 1998, inquiring about Dana Van Gorder's 
plans to hold a community meeting regarding his activities as Coordinator of LGBT 
Health Services.

Dana plans to hold this meeting on Monday, November 23, 1998, at 6:00 p.m. in
Room 300 at 101 Grove Street.  The proposed format for the meeting would be as
follows:

        a description of the duties of the Coordinator's position, including duties in the                                                                 
        Equal Employment Opportunity Office of the Department;
        
        a report on the Coordinator's activities in the past four years followed by 
        questions;

        community input regarding health needs of the Lesbian Gay Bisexual
Transgender Community and Department services, and recommendations for
additional projects for the Coordinator;

        a discussion about follow-up to the meeting.

Dana plans to issue a media advisory to the Bay Times, Frontiers, Bay Area
Reporter and Spectrum announcing the meeting and encouraging the community to
attend.  He also plans to mail a letter to LGBT health providers encouraging
their participation and the participation of their clients.

Thank you for your comments regarding the Coordinator's Annual Reports which I
mailed along with my earlier letter.  We are sorry that these reports do nor
meet with your approval.  We will take your suggestions into account for the
future.

Please contact Dana if you have any additional questions about plans for the
November 23 meeting.

Sincerely,
Mitch Katz, M.D.
Director 
San Francisco Department of Public Health