Responses of Rae Zapata to GLAA 2006 Questionnaire
for DC Council Candidates
| Yes/No | Substance | Record | Championship | Total |
| 1 | 0.5 | 0 | 0 | 1.5 |
Public Safety
1. Will you support funding for mandatory gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (GLBT) sensitivity and diversity training for all members of the Fire/EMS Department?
Yes I will. As a minority person in the District of Columbia, I understand and appreciate the need for diversity training and sensitivity toward all groups of people. One generally responds to another individual based on a preconceived notion--notwithstanding the accuracy of such a perception. The vast majority of discrimination is as a result of ignorance. Once we take the time to get to know one another, we find that we all have more in common than we do differences.
2. Will you call on the new Mayor to appoint a new Fire/EMS Department Chief who is committed to rooting out the Department’s deeply entrenched homophobia and transphobia?
I will call on the Mayor to root out discrimination regardless of the source! We are all very much alike and we are all different. People are singled out for their differences and aspersions are cast because of that. As an African American woman, growing up in the segregated south, I know the pains of discrimination first hand. As a volunteer in a school for children with special needs, I have seen these children singled out and ridiculed because of differences over which they have no control. Thus, I support and celebrate the differences that we all have and I will insist that the Mayor appoints a person who is committed to rooting out both homophobia and transphobia.
3. Will you support a budget for the Office of Police Complaints large enough to continue to avoid developing a backlog of cases?
I support providing the appropriate resources to handle and prevent any backlog of complaint cases. As an attorney, I am a proponent of due process. Justice delayed is justice denied!! We are all entitled to our proverbial day in court.
4. Will you oppose legislation creating so-called “prostitution-free zones,” which would give the police, who routinely assume that every transgendered person is a prostitute until proven otherwise, virtually unlimited power to harass our transgendered residents?
In all honestly, I would study this issue as I have a number of questions related thereto. Because I am not as familiar with the issue as I would like to be, I cannot answer the question truthfully. I can say, however, I oppose stereotyping and this question smacks of stereotyping!! I am a black woman and there are certain assumptions made about me because of my ethnicity. There was a time when the law supported the assumptions made and the benefit of the doubt was not an option for me or people who look like me. Clearly, I would not support any legislation that would be a throwback to those days where one is judged by something other than the content of one's character.
AIDS and Public Health
5. Do you agree that the drive to make HIV testing routine among District residents should include funding for counseling and referrals to treatment facilities for those testing positive?
Yes
6. Are you committed to continuing and expanding the District’s condom distribution program?
Yes
7. The District is being forced by the federal government to switch from a unique identifier system to a names reporting system for people testing positive for HIV. Will you support legislation to strengthen our medical privacy laws, such as by creating a private right of action for those whose confidentiality is violated by District government employees or contractors?
Yes
Human Rights
8. Will you support a budget for the Office of Human Rights (OHR) large enough to allow it to reduce to 270 days the average gap between the time that a discrimination complaint is filed and the time OHR issues a finding of probable cause?
I will support proper staffing and a comprehensive budget to reduce this 270 timeframe.
9. Will you block ceremonial resolutions and otherwise decline to honor individuals or organizations that promote any sort of bigotry?
I do not and will not support individuals or organizations that espouse or support any form of bigotry, nor will I support such resolutions.
10. Are you committed to publicizing and enforcing the provisions of the D.C. Human Rights Act forbidding discrimination on the basis of gender identity or expression?
Absolutely
Marriage and Family
11. Do you support legal recognition of marriages between partners of the same sex?
No
12. Will you support legislation in the District to continue expanding the existing domestic partnership program to include all relevant rights and responsibilities of marriage in D.C. law?
Yes, to the fullest extent possible under the domestic partnership program.
13. Will you support the legislative and/or regulatory changes necessary to ensure that the District recognizes civil unions, domestic partnerships and similar legal relationships established in other jurisdictions?
Yes
Public Education and Youth
14. Do you oppose both federal and local voucher programs that fund students in religious schools that are beyond the protections of the D.C. Human Rights Act?
Public funds should not be used to offer protection from the D.C. Human Rights Act, and thus I would not support such.
15. Do you oppose the use of either federal or District taxpayer funds to promote “abstinence only until marriage” sex education that undermines safer-sex programs by discouraging the use of condoms and that effectively tells gay and lesbian students that they must remain celibate forever because they may not legally marry?
No
Consumers and Businesses
16. Do you support the relocation of the many gay bars and businesses that were displaced by the new ballpark, even if local NIMBYs and homophobes oppose them?
Due to the building of the new baseball stadium, businesses in the area must be relocated and yes I support assisting with relocation.
17. Will you support legislation to curb the abuses of NIMBYs who are now allowed to file an endless series of baseless complaints to harass or extort bars and restaurants?
I do not support harassment of any kind, but I do support allowing citizens to exercise due process and allowing that to be exercised.
18. Do you oppose the Youth Protection from Obscene Video Games Act (B16-0125), a clone of other laws that have consistently been struck down by the courts on constitutional grounds?
No. While I understand the constitutional issues I feel that we must find a legitimate means to protect our youth from obscene materials and/or games.
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.
