2004 Questionnaire for D.C. Board of Education Candidates
1. Do you recognize the right of our public school students to organize clubs to promote lesbian and gay civil rights, to combat homophobic violence and prejudice, and to provide socializing opportunities for lesbian and gay youth?
2. Do you recognize the right of students to bring dates of the same sex to school proms and other official public school social functions?
3. Will you oppose efforts to restrict or censor books or other materials in our public school libraries that discuss homosexuality in a positive and supportive manner?
4. Do you support the efforts of Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) to provide gay positive books to DCPS school libraries?
5. Do you favor training programs for professional development of teachers, counselors, and other school system staff, such as those offered by the Sexual Minority Youth Assistance League (SMYAL), to help these professionals to nurture positive identity formation for lesbian and gay students?
6. From time to time, D.C. public school teachers have invited openly gay men and women to speak in their classes and to answer students' questions about homosexuality. Do you support the right of our teachers to continue inviting such speakers?
7. Do you support the condom availability program established in 1992, and operated by the Department of Health, in our public schools?
8. Will you work to implement a comprehensive sex education program in the D.C. Public Schools that teaches that homosexuality is part of the normal range of human sexuality, consistent with existing DCPS policy?
9. 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?
10. The D.C. Human Rights Act prohibits the District from conferring any "benefit" or "advantage" to any group not fully in compliance with the D.C. Human Rights Act. Currently DCPS provides recruiting opportunities, school programs, and direct sponsorship of scout troops despite the finding of the D.C. Human Rights Commission that the Boy Scouts' discriminatory policy against gay people is illegal. Will you work to end the special benefits that the Boy Scouts receive and require that they be treated as any other outside group?
11. Recent federal court rulings and D.C. law recognize that harassment against gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender students is illegal with the school system liable if harassment continues. Do you support the DCPS policy designed to stop harassment and sexual harassment?
12. 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?
Your record is part of your rating. Please list any actions that you have taken that may help illustrate your record on behalf of lesbians and gay men.Your answers should be typed on separate paper rather than on this form. You must sign your name on each answer sheet to indicate your personal commitment to your answers. Please return this questionnaire by Saturday, October 2 to GLAA, P.O. Box 75265, Washington, D.C. 20013. In addition to your signed hard copy, please submit an electronic copy (emailed or on IBM-format diskette, in any major word processor or text format! ) for loading on GLAA's web site.
