Responses of Laurent Ross to GLAA 2006 Questionnaire
for D.C. Board of Education Candidates
| Yes/No | Substance | Record | Championship | Total |
| 2 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 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. I think all public officials should not only recognize the right to form such clubs but also actively encourage the formation of any group that combats prejudice and violence. Wilson High School’s Gay-Straight Alliance is a positive example of a club that has helped GLBT students have a safe and supportive environment in their school.
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 support any policies that make all students feel more comfortable, safe, and supported in their school environment.
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 am against censorship of any age-appropriate materials in our schools libraries. The condition of most of our public school libraries is appalling. We can never be in the position of rejecting age-appropriate books for our public school collections. It is also important for our libraries to have books that deal with homosexuality in a positive manner just as it is important to have books that deal with African-American, Latino, and Asian-American culture. We are all part of America. Our students need to learn about tolerance and acceptance. Censorship of any age-appropriate books is the worse example we can set for our children in learning about tolerance.
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. DCPS libraries need all the books we can get. It is ludicrous to turn down age-appropriate books that are being donated to our libraries. As I noted above, it is important that our children be encouraged to be tolerant and accepting of all Americans.
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. Frankly, I find it hard to believe that any local public school would not welcome the opportunity to have support groups help it implement anti-harassment policies. Harassment and sexual harassment is prohibited by DCPS policy. Of course, administrators, teachers, and students must be made aware of these policies and taught how to make them become real within each school community. Innovative ways to reach out to the school community on these issues should be welcomed by everyone. I would frown upon any administrator that would reject such an opportunity.
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. I strongly support any professional development for our teachers. Professional development that would help teachers and other school staff deal appropriately with GLBT students and help GLBT students feel safer and more comfortable within their school community.
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. I support any efforts to provide our children with more information on the world about us, especially efforts that may assist in creating a better learning environment for students who face prejudice and harassment in the school community.
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?
I will support a reinvigoration of the DCPS condom availability program, but I would like to see DCPS take over its own health care needs. I believe it is important for school nurses to be ultimately responsible to the Superintendent of Schools, not the Health Department. However, I do not mean to rule out working in close cooperation with the Health Department. Condom distribution has been shown to be a sound public health measure that helps reduce the spread of sexually transmitted diseases and the number of unwanted pregnancies. We must develop a strong policy that allows all of our public high school students to have access to condoms without restriction. At the same time, we must ensure that our human sexuality programs at all levels of schools encourage our students to think about the consequences of sexual activity and teach them the facts about sexual activity and how negative consequences can be best prevented.
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. However, I would remove the phrase “consistent with DCPS policy”. I think that in and of itself, it is important to have a comprehensive sex education program that teaches homosexuality as part of a normal range of human sexuality, because homosexuality is part of the normal range of human sexuality.
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 do not have a problem with any sexuality education program that promotes abstinence as long as it includes a full explanation of how our youth can prevent sexually-transmitted diseases and unwanted pregnancies. However, abstinence should not be linked to marriage, but to the emotional maturity and the general life situation (e.g., economic condition) of the young person, especially since our society, wrongly in my opinion, does not allow gays and lesbians to legally marry.
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. These polices, if properly enforces, will make our schools a better learning environment not only for our GLBT students, but all students.
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 oppose voucher programs period, halt, and stop. The District’s voucher program was imposed on us by the Republican U.S. Congress and is an assault on home rule. D.C. residents are overwhelmingly against vouchers, voting by 89% to 11% in 1981 to reject them after an outside group gamed our referendum process to introduce the subject on the ballot. It was a big disappointment for me to see the current School Board President sign on to the voucher program after her initial attack on it. There is no conclusive evidence that vouchers improve the achievement of students who use them to attend private schools. Nor is there evidence to suggest that vouchers improve public schools by creating a competitive marketplace for students. Vouchers undermine accountability for public funds. Private schools have almost complete autonomy to run their schools the way they want to. This absence of accountability leads to rampant fraud, waste, and abuse in voucher programs. Finally, vouchers do not give parents real educational choice. Many private schools limit enrollment and maintain exclusive admissions policies. Unlike public schools, private schools can, and do, discriminate in admissions on the basis of a number of things, including gender and sexuality.
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 you can tell from my responses to your questionnaire, I believe in full equality for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender members of our society. In fact, I was the only candidate running for the City Council at Large seat in the 2004 elections who fully supported the right of all members of the GLBT community to marry the person of their choice, regardless of gender, and who openly stood up to George Bush’s election-year homophobia.
