Gordon J. Lau (, August 22, 1941 – April 20, 1998) was the first

Chinese American Chinese Americans are Americans of Chinese ancestry. Chinese Americans constitute a subgroup of East Asian Americans which also constitute a subgroup of Asian Americans. Many Chinese Americans have ancestors from mainland China, Hong Kong ...

elected to the

San Francisco Board of Supervisors The San Francisco Board of Supervisors is the board of supervisors, legislative body within the government of San Francisco, government of the San Francisco, City and County of San Francisco in the U.S. state of California. Government and polit ...

San Francisco, California San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

. He was elected to the city board of supervisors under Mayor

George Moscone George Richard Moscone ( ; November 24, 1929 – November 27, 1978) was an American attorney and politician who served as the 37th mayor of San Francisco from January 1976 until his assassination in November 1978. He was known as "The People's ...

in 1977.

Early life

Lau was born in

Honolulu, Hawaii Honolulu ( ; ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, located in the Pacific Ocean. It is the county seat of the Consolidated city-county, consolidated City and County of Honol ...

and moved with his parents to San Francisco when he was 11 years old. He attended elementary school at St. Mary's, graduated from St. Ignatius High School and went on to attend

University of San Francisco The University of San Francisco (USF) is a Private university, private Society of Jesus, Jesuit university in San Francisco, California, United States. Founded in 1855, it has nearly 9,000 students pursuing undergraduate and graduate degrees ...

, earning bachelor's and law degrees.

Career

Much like his colleague

Harvey Milk Harvey Bernard Milk (May 22, 1930 – November 27, 1978) was an American politician and the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in California, as a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. Milk was born and raised i ...

, who had been an important activist for the

LGBT LGBTQ people are individuals who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning. Many variants of the initialism are used; LGBTQIA+ people incorporates intersex, asexual, aromantic, agender, and other individuals. The gro ...

community of San Francisco, Lau was an activist for the city's Asian American community. Lau was initially appointed in 1977 by Moscone to the Board of Supervisors, but won the subsequent election and served until he was defeated in the 1979 election.

Legacy

Gordon J. Lau Elementary School in

Chinatown Chinatown ( zh, t=唐人街) is the catch-all name for an ethnic enclave of Chinese people located outside Greater China, most often in an urban setting. Areas known as "Chinatown" exist throughout the world, including Europe, Asia, Africa, O ...

is named in his honor. Before it was renamed to honor Lau, it was originally known as the Oriental Public School until 1924, and Commodore Stockton Elementary School between 1924 and 1998.

References

External links

* * * * * 1941 births 1998 deaths Politicians from Honolulu California politicians of Chinese descent San Francisco Board of Supervisors members Activists from the San Francisco Bay Area 20th-century California politicians {{SanFrancisco-stub