Jazzie Collins
(1958-2013)
She was a powerful San Francisco black transgender activist who fought for the rights of seniors, people with disabilities, LGBT people, and people of color. She served on San Francisco’s first LGBT Aging Policy Task Force and was active with our very own Senior and Disability Action, and previously Senior Action Network.
- She became a committed activist in 2002 with development issues at the Plaza Hotel on Sixth Street, where she lived at the time.
- Running the food pantry “6th Street Agenda.”
- Planning direct action with the Mission AntiDisplacement Coalition
- Tenant Organizer of the Tenderloin Housing Clinic
- One of the original members of Queers for Economic Equality Now (QUEEN), where she helped organize several protests, including one outside the store run by the Human Rights Campaign in the Castro for their support of the exclusion of transgender from ENDA (Employment Non-Discrimination Act)
- Organizer of the annual Trans March
- Vice Chair of San Francisco’s LGBT Aging Policy Task Force
- Vice Chair of the LGBT Senior Disabled Housing Task Force
- Volunteer and organizer for Senior and Disability Action
- Organizer for the South of Market Community Action Network (SOMCAN)
- Supporter of Healthy San Francisco (requiring all employers to give health care to their employees)
- Member of the Prop L Committee (to raise the minimum wage of San Francisco)
- Helping elect fellow activist Chris Daly as the neighborhood’s district supervisor.
She was involved in so much of the incredible activism happening in the Mission that it is difficult to highlight exactly how much work she did. In 2015, Jazzie’s Place, the first shelter in the country for the adult LGBTQ community, opened in the Mission District. A fitting tribute to a committed and fiery champion.