Responses of Sam Brooks to GLAA 2004 Questionnaire
for D.C. Council Candidates
| Yes/No (+/- 2) |
Substance (+/- 4) |
Record (+/- 3) |
Championship (+/- 1) |
Total (+/- 10) |
| 2 | 3 ½ | 2 | 0 | 7 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. This issue - in addition to the continuation of diversity training - goes to the very core of creating an environment within MPD that is tolerant and open-minded. Budgets must ensure that a backlog of cases is prevented at OCCR and that citizen complaints continue to be recognized - and acted upon - by Chief Ramsey and MPD.
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. As the Tyra Hunter tragedy taught us, the issue of sensitivity and diversity training is not one that can be taken lightly. I am absolutely supportive of fully funding this training - and creating an environment in which a Tyra Hunter incident never occurs in the District again. We also need to be certain that all members of MPD and the Fire/EMS Department are trained - not just new recruits and lateral transfers, but veteran officers as well.
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?
Yes. As I have mentioned at debates several times over the course of the campaign, the Committee on Human Services covers far too many issues and has oversight over far too many city agencies. With legislative and oversight responsibilities covering 25% of the District's budget, there's no question the committee needs to be restructured. The idea of a Committee on Health is a sound one - and one I will push for as a member of the Council.
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?
Yes. The corruption, mismanagement, and ineffectiveness of HAA is something that needs urgent attention. HAA's $82 million dollar budget clearly needs greater oversight - and the Council needs to take the leadership necessary to make this happen. One oversight hearing every five years is simply unacceptable. I strongly support an annual oversight hearing dedicated exclusively to HAA.
5. Will you ask the D.C. Inspector General for a full audit of the HIV/AIDS Administration and its contractors?
Yes. I believe Council oversight needs to be accompanied by other action from the DC government. An audit by the DC Inspector General is something that could help the city come to greater understanding of the corruption and mismanagement at HAA - and also aid in developing the reforms that need to be implemented.
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. An effective means of epidemiological surveillance is vital to support better HIV prevention, training, and care programs - but this surveillance system needs to be implemented prudently so that people are not discouraged from being tested. I will absolutely support the elimination of the partial Social Security Number from the unique identifier system.
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. It is unacceptable that most small businesses in the District are unable to offer health insurance to domestic partners of their employees because of the lack of insurance companies offering such coverage. Legislation requiring insurance carriers to make domestic partner coverage available for companies with fewer than 50 employees would correct this problem - and I will strongly support such legislation when elected.
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?
Yes. I will fight hard to make sure human rights violations are not tolerated in the District - and that OHR has the funding and tools necessary to make that a reality. I strongly support fully funding OHR so that the complaint backlog continues to drop.
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?
Yes. I understand that every Council resolution has a significant amount of symbolism - and I will fight to block any resolution that promotes any sort of bigotry. The Salvation Army, Assemblies of God, and the Boy Scouts of America certainly have their right to exist, but that doesn't mean they earn the right to be honored by the DC Council.
Defending Our Families
10. Will you support legal recognition of marriages between partners of the same sex?
Absolutely. As long as the GLBT community is denied the right to have their marriages legally recognized, we have not achieved true equality. As I have said publicly and consistently throughout the course of the campaign, I am fully committed to bringing about a day in the District when same-sex couples enjoy all of the rights of marriage. However, I also understand there are practical, strategic decisions to be made with respect to this issue. Congressional interference - potentially instigated by local legislation granting marriage licenses - from homophobic members of Congress could prove to leave the District's GLTB community worse off than it is now. However, we must act on this issue as soon as is strategically prudent, and work towards a day when the GLBT community has true equality 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. There are approximately 212 rights and responsibilities associated with marriage in the District, and, until full marriage equality is achieved, I will work to see that each of those rights is covered under the existing domestic partners law, the Health Care Benefits Expansion Act of 1992.
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. But, as I mentioned previously with regard to the legal recognition of same-sex marriage, we must proceed cautiously with respect to this issue. While I am strongly supportive of the District recognizing marriages, civil unions, and domestic partnerships established in other states and jurisdictions, I know we must wait so that such legislation does not provoke action from Congress that leaves the District's GLBT community worse off than it is now.
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?
Yes. Students in the District receiving public funds must enjoy all of the protections of the DC Human Rights Act - and I will strongly advocate this position as a member of the Council.
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?
Yes. Federal and local dollars should be used for comprehensive sexuality education, not abstinence-only education. According to the CDC and other experts, this is the best way in which we can encourage the delay and reduce the frequency of sexual intercourse, reduce the number of sexual partners, and effectively encourage the practice of safer-sex. Furthermore, abstinence-until-marriage programs, with current marriage laws discriminating against same-sex couples, clearly exclude gay youth by telling them they must remain celibate for life.
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. Modernizing the criminal code is something I will support as a member of the Council. Outdated legal relics must be repealed - as should laws criminalizing the solicitation of legal sexual acts once considered illegal.
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.
The issue of true equality for the GLBT community is something for which I have fought for some time. In 2000, I was proud to work on the presidential campaign of Bill Bradley, whose strong positions on GLBT issues often trumped those of his opponent. In 1998, I worked on the John Edwards for Senate campaign. Edwards defeated the incumbent Lauch Faircloth - a senator whose record on GLBT issues was abysmal, including a deciding vote against the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) in 1996.
During the spring of 2004, I helped lead and organize a group of GLBT activists at the 40th anniversary of the March on Washington; I was the coordinator of the Dupont Circle rally and lead the group to the Lincoln Memorial. I was also an active participant at a recent HRC rally for marriage equality.
I am a member of the Human Rights Campaign and have been a proud participant at events and fundraisers for HRC, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, and PFLAG.
