Responses of Martin Levine to GLAA 2007 Questionnaire
for D.C. Board of Education Candidates
| Yes/No | Substance | Record | Championship | Total |
| 2 | 2.5 | 1.5 | 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. These are matters of civil rights.
All students should be encouraged to form and support groups that promote tolerance and understanding among all students, regardless of differences in gender, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, physical abilities, or other characteristics. Student groups that actively combat prejudicial behavior and violence directed against any students should be encouraged. The same opportunities should be available for GLBT youth to socialize as are available to all other students.
I understand and have been actively involved in supporting civil rights since my youth in Washington. I attended diverse DC public schools at the time that they were becoming racially integrated in the 1950s and 1960s. I saw first-hand the corrosive effect of intolerance. That led me to work with the DC Urban League chapter on exposing and combating discrimination in employment. As a high school student I joined Dr. Martin Luther King in the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.
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. All social functions should be open to couples or individuals, regardless of sexual orientation.
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.
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. All materials that promote understanding and tolerance of differences should be encouraged in DCPS libraries.
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?
I would support efforts by all outside groups to assist DCPS in combating harassment against any group of students.
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 would actively support training for all school staff to understand issues that GLBT students face, and to prevent harassment and bullying of any students.
For more than twelve years I served in senior management positions at Fannie Mae in Washington, helping to build their community partnerships directed at expanding affordable housing opportunities for underserved communities, including communities of color. All of our programs were open to all individuals and household groups, regardless of gender or sexual orientation.
While at Fannie Mae I supported an initiative that made the company one of the first major employers in Washington to include same-sex partners as eligible beneficiaries of employee benefit programs, such as health care. I also supported the formation of a Gay and Lesbian Employee Support Group, including providing time for gay and lesbian employees who reported to me to attend meetings, and encouraging all employees to attend the group’s sessions aimed at expanding awareness of workforce diversity and tolerance.
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. Teachers should be permitted and encouraged to invite a wide range of speakers into their classrooms, including those who can straightforwardly answer students’ questions regarding sexual orientation.
8. The recent report by the Appleseed Center 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?
The Department of Health and DCPS should be encouraged to undertake a range of approaches to encourage and make possible safe sexual behavior, including making condoms readily available to sexually active youth.
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?
I would oppose any sex education curriculum that discourages the use of condoms or other safe-sex techniques. All sex education must reflect differences among youth in sexual orientation, and must be relevant to all students.
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. No student should be subject to physical or verbal abuse for any reason, including sexual orientation.
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?
The human rights of all students must be protected in whatever setting they receive their schooling.
Please provide the URL for your campaign website, if you have one. We will include it on our candidate links page.
Levine2007.com
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.
Membership in Groups Promoting Rights of Lesbians and Gays
Member, DC Democratic State Committee, 2004-2005
