Responses of Harold Brazil to GLAA 2004 Questionnaire
for D.C. Council Candidates
| Yes/No (+/- 2) |
Substance (+/- 4) |
Record (+/- 3) |
Championship (+/- 1) |
Total (+/- 10) |
| 1 | 3 | 1 ½ | -1 | 4 ½ |
Public Safety
1. Will you support an annual budget for the Office of Citizen Complaint Review big enough to prevent the development of a backlog of citizen allegations of police misconduct?
Yes. I have always been a strong supporter of full funding of OCCR. I worked extremely hard to re-organize and re-open the OCCR and provide it its first full funding source. I support funding OCCR at the level necessary to prevent a backlog of citizen allegations.
2. Will you support funding for mandatory gay male, lesbian, bisexual and transgender sensitivity and diversity training including gay and transgender community representatives as a continuing part of the training for all members of the Metropolitan Police Department and the Fire/EMS Department?
Yes, I support funding for mandatory GLBT sensitivity and diversity training at MPD and Fire/EMS, and I have strongly advocated for this type of training in the past. Discrimination against a person based on sexual orientation should not be tolerated, and the government should take proactive steps to ensure that all types of discrimination are avoided.
Public Health & AIDS
3. Will you lobby your colleagues and Council Chairman Linda Cropp to create a new Committee on Health, split out from the current Committee on Human Services, that will be chaired by someone committed to vigorous oversight of the Department of Health?
The Committee on Human Services has a wide set of agencies under its purview, and those agencies are of immense importance to the well-being of District residents. Unfortunately, these agencies also face many internal deficiencies, which are likely beyond the ability of any one Council committee to address effectively. Therefore, as the Council in the coming months engages in discussions regarding the reorganization of Council Committees, I would consider creating a Committee on Health, split out from the current Committee on Human Services.
4. The rate of HIV infections in DC is the highest in the United States, rivaling levels in sub-Saharan Africa. Problems of rampant corruption, illegal activities, and demoralized staff at the HIV/AIDS Administration (HAA) have been well documented. Yet there has not been an oversight hearing on HAA for more than a year. The previous oversight hearing was five years earlier. If elected or re-elected to the Council, will you ensure that the Council holds an annual performance oversight hearing on HAA?
I fully support holding an annual hearing on the HIV/AIDS Administration, and I will support GLAA's efforts to ensure that such a hearing takes place this year and in future years.
5. Will you ask the D.C. Inspector General for a full audit of the HIV/AIDS Administration and its contractors?
Given the information that has been provided questioning the HIV/AIDS Administration's contracting practices, I would support a request for a full audit of the HIV/AIDS Administration and its contractors.
6. The current HIV epidemiological surveillance system discourages people-especially immigrants-from getting tested by requiring both their partial Social Security Number and their country of origin. This potentially threatens their ability to stay in this country. Will you support and vote for legislation that will eliminate the partial Social Security Number from the unique identifier system?
Yes, I would support legislation to eliminate the partial Social Security Number from the unique identifier system. The Department of Motor Vehicles has successfully implemented procedures to allow elimination of the Social Security Number from driver's licenses; our health care agencies should be able to do the same for the HIV epidemiological surveillance system. It is unfortunate that this action has not been taken already at the agency's own initiative.
7. Only one insurance company operating in D.C. offers domestic partner coverage to small businesses that wish to offer the benefit. Will you vote in favor of legislation requiring insurance carriers to make domestic partner coverage available for small businesses that want to offer this health care benefit to their employees?
Yes. I have continuously supported equal rights for gay and lesbian residents of the District throughout my tenure on the Council, and I would support legislation requiring insurance carriers to make domestic partner coverage available for small businesses. I believe that we must continue to aggressively address the legal and administrative inequalities that still exist in the treatment of same-sex partners.
Human Rights
8. Despite significant improvements made in the operations of the Office of Human Rights (OHR) in the past several years, the OHR FY 2005 budget was not increased to hire additional investigators and other staff so that the case backlog will continue to drop. Will you support maintaining funding levels and aggressive oversight to ensure that the OHR case backlog continues to drop?
I have in the past, and will continue in the future, to support funding levels to reduce the backlog of cases at OHR. Justice delayed is justice denied; the District government must provide OHR adequate resources to ensure that cases are heard in a timely manner.
9. Will you block ceremonial resolutions and otherwise decline to honor individuals or organizations that promote any sort of bigotry, including but not limited to the Salvation Army, Assemblies of God and the Boy Scouts of America?
Although I believe that no public or private organization should discriminate against individuals based on their sexual orientation, groups like the Salvation Army and Boy Scouts provide important services to our residents. At times, it seems appropriate to recognize these accomplishments. However, I believe the District should pressure these organizations to eliminate their discriminatory practices.
Defending Our Families
10. Will you support legal recognition of marriages between partners of the same sex?
I support civil union legislation and believe that this type of legislation is the most likely to be successful in the District's legislative process. I will continue to discuss with the gay and lesbian community the viability of same-sex marriage legislation in the District.
11. Will you support legislation in the District to expand the domestic partner program to include all of the relevant rights and responsibilities of marriage in D.C. law?
Yes, I fully support providing the same rights to both opposite-sex married couples and same-sex partners.
12. Will you support the legislative and/or regulatory changes necessary to ensure that the District recognizes marriages, civil unions, and domestic partnerships established in other jurisdictions?
Yes, I support the District recognizing same-sex marriages or other unions performed in other jurisdictions.
Public Education and Youth
13. Will you oppose both federally and locally funded voucher programs that place students in religious schools and outside the protections of the D.C. Human Rights Act?
If voucher programs are to be implemented in the District, I believe that receipt of the voucher should depend on the school's compliance with the District's anti-discrimination laws, including the Human Rights Act and its protection against discrimination based on sexual orientation.
14. Will you oppose the use of either federal or District taxpayer funds to promote so-called "abstinence-only-until-marriage" sex education that undermines safer-sex programs by discouraging the use of condoms and that tells gay and lesbian students that they must be celibate forever because they may not legally marry?
I oppose abstinence-only programs and would not support their funding in the District.
Modernizing the Criminal Code
15. Will you vote to repeal the use of undefined and unspecified common law crimes and to repeal the laws criminalizing verbal solicitations of legal sexual activity?
Yes, I support repeal of these antiquated criminal offenses.
Record
Your record is part of your rating. Please list any actions that you have taken that may help illustrate your record on behalf of gay men, lesbians, bisexuals, and transgenders.
As a member of the Council, I have:
- Voted for repeal of the District's sodomy law.
- Voted for the District's domestic partnership legislation.
- Pushed for increased police action to end violence against gays and lesbians.
- Co-introduced legislation to recognize same sex-marriages performed in other jurisdictions.
- Voted to repeal the Armstrong amendment (which allows religiously affiliated private educational institutions in the District to discriminate against student clubs that promote equal rights for lesbians and gays).
- Supported gay and lesbian nominees to a variety of District boards and commissions.
- Voted to establish the Office of Human Rights as a cabinet-level agency with direct access to the Mayor.
- Co-introduced legislation in opposition to a constitutional marriage amendment
- Voted in 1992 to establish a needle exchange program in the District, one of the first officially sanctioned programs in the country.
- Introduced legislation to allow the use of Marinol.
- Continually voted for full funding for HIV treatment services
- Co-sponsored legislation to increase the District's health insurance coverage for domestic partners.
- Supported the establishment of the MPD's Gay and Lesbian Liaison Unit.
- Supported the implementation of diversity and sensitivity training programs at MPD and Fire/EMS.
In addition I have been a long-time member of the Gertrude Stein Democratic Club and my office has provided financial assistance to the Service Members Legal Defense Network, Metro Teen AIDS, Sexual Minority Youth Action League, and the Mautner Project.
