[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 41 (Tuesday, March 15, 2016)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E309]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  TRIBUTE TO ABBE LAND--28TH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT WOMAN OF THE YEAR

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. ADAM B. SCHIFF

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, March 15, 2016

  Mr. SCHIFF. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in honor of Women's History 
Month. Each year, we pay special tribute to the contributions and 
sacrifices made by our nation's women. It is an honor to pay homage to 
outstanding women who are making a difference in my Congressional 
District. I would like to recognize a remarkable woman, Abbe Land, of 
West Hollywood, California.
   Abbe arrived in California in the late 1970s and has since dedicated 
her life to public service. Drawn into public life by possible 
eviction, she joined the Coalition for Economic Survival, a tenants' 
rights group to build the City of West Hollywood with LGBTQ activists, 
renters, and immigrants. After her appointment to the city's very first 
planning commission, Abbe was elected Councilmember for the City of 
West Hollywood and served for 23 years including serving as Mayor five 
times.
   For much of her time on the council, she served as the sole woman, 
and she was instrumental in the creation of the Women's Advisory Board, 
Disabilities Advisory Board, and the city's domestic violence 
prevention program for same-sex couples. For more than two decades, she 
has influenced policy at the local, state, and federal levels. In 1993, 
she led the effort for West Hollywood to declare itself the nation's 
first ``pro-choice city.'' In 1996, she led her city in enacting an 
important gun control ordinance which paved the way for the state of 
California to ban the sale of certain handguns.
   Abbe is currently the Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer 
of the Trevor Project, a nationally recognized nonprofit providing 
crisis intervention and suicide prevention to LGBTQ youth. Under her 
leadership, the Trevor Project continues to save the lives of youth 
around the country. Prior to the Trevor Project, Abbe served as Co-CEO 
of the Saban Free Clinic, in Los Angeles, where she led the clinic's 
growth from a budget of $6 million to one of $16 million.
   From Abbe's work protecting our environment to fighting for civil 
and reproductive rights, from her support for inclusionary housing to 
her efforts to combat homelessness, the people of the 28th District 
have benefited from her voice and steady leadership. Throughout her 
life's work, Abbe has been an inspiration to all who fight injustice.
   Abbe continues to live in West Hollywood with her husband, artist 
Martin Gantman.
   I ask all Members to join me in honoring an exceptional woman of 
California's 28th Congressional District, Abbe Land, for her 
extraordinary service to the community.

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