Responses of Robert C. Bobb to GLAA 2006 Questionnaire
for D.C. Board of Education Candidates
| Yes/No | Substance | Record | Championship | Total |
| 2 | 1 | 2.5 | 0.5 | 6 |
1. Do you recognize the right of our public school students to organize clubs to promote gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender civil rights, to combat homophobic and transphobic violence and prejudice, and to provide socializing opportunities for GLBT youth?
Yes.
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?
Yes. I will not tolerate orientation-based discrimination at official public school events.
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?
Yes. I will not stand at all for censorship of materials in public school libraries that discuss homosexuality positively.
4. Do you support the right of non-profit groups to provide DCPS school libraries with gay-positive books which are openly displayed and freely available to all students?
Yes. I would encourage and embrace the efforts of non-profit groups to partner with DCPS to expand and broaden the availability of gay-positive books that are openly made available to all students.
5. Do you support efforts by Metro DC PFLAG (Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays) to work constructively with our local public schools to provide support groups and to help implement anti-harassment policies?
Yes. Just like many non-profits and community groups are working closely with DCPS, I believe that we need to partner with our community and make sure that our students receive the advantage of the best ideas and the best minds that our entire city has to offer.
6. 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 nurture positive identity formation for GLBT students and prevent harassment and bullying in the classroom?
Yes.
7. 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?
Yes.
8. The recent report by the Appleseed Foundation detailed many shortcomings in the District’s condom distribution program, as only 125,000 condoms were distributed in 2005, far below the goal of 600,000. Will you support a reinvigoration of the DCPS condom availability program, operated by the Department of Health?
Yes. I support condom distribution as an important tool for combating sexually transmitted diseases. In 2004, 390,000 condoms were distributed via the condom availability program and in 2005 the number dropped to 125,000. This is change in the wrong direction and I support reinvigorating the program to improve condom availability.
9. 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?
Yes.
10. 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 effectively tells lesbian and gay male students that they must be celibate forever because they may not legally marry?
Yes. I reject the notion that “abstinence only until marriage” should be the only sex education message taught in the District. There are certainly times where an abstinence message can be useful, but it must be presented as part of a broad array of options for young people that reflects the reality that they may choose to engage in sexual activity.
11. Do you support the full implementation of the DCPS Sexual Harassment and Harassment Policy, which protects public school students from physical and verbal abuse based on their actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity (DCMR Title 5, Education: 2503.2.g-h)?
Yes.
12. Will you oppose both federally and locally funded voucher programs that fund students in religious schools that are beyond the protections of the D.C. Human Rights Act?
Yes. I believe that programs receiving public resources should adhere to the protections of the D.C. Human Rights Act.
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.
October 5, 2006
Barrett L. Brick, President
Gay and Lesbian Activists Alliance
P.O. Box 75265
Washington, D.C. 20013
Dear Mr. Brick,
I am pleased to submit my responses to the questionnaire presented by the Gay and Lesbian Activists Alliance as part of your consideration of my candidacy for President of the D.C. Board of Education.
If elected to be School Board President, I will be responsive and supportive of issues that are important to the GLBT community, consistent with my record as a city manager in large urban cities over the past 30 years.
To provide just a few examples, I have actively recruited, hired and promoted members of the GLBT community in senior positions with my office and the government throughout my career. In the 1970s, in Kalamazoo, Michigan, I changed the personnel polices to include non-discrimination requirements that included the GLBT community before these changes were mandated by law. In Richmond, Virginia, I reformed the Human Rights Commission to be more sensitive to issues raised by the GLBT community. And more recently, here in the District of Columbia, I worked actively with Mayor Anthony Williams in support of wholesale reform of the District’s HIV/AIDS administration by challenging the administration to convene a nationally recognized panel of experts to participate in the Mayor’s Blue Ribbon Task Force on HIV/AIDS.
These actions have been sustained by my fundamental and deep belief in the equality and rights of all people that extends to the entire GLBT community, which I have carried out in my personal life as well. As far back as the 1960s, my first housemate in Hartford, Connecticut was a member of the GLBT community.
Thank you for your consideration of my candidacy. If you have any additional questions, please contact me at bobb@robertbobb.org or by phone at (202) 667-BOBB.
Sincerely,
Robert Bobb
