Responses of Robin Hammond Marlin to GLAA 2008 Questionnaire
for DC Council Candidates
| Yes/No | Substance | Record | Championship | Total |
| 1.5 | 0 | 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 Metropolitan Police Department and the Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department?
Yes, I will support funding for mandatory GLBT sensitivity and diversity training for all member of the MPD and the FEMS.
2. Will you support a budget for the Office of Police Complaints large enough to continue to avoid developing a backlog of cases?
Yes, I will support a budget for the Office of Police complaints…….
3. Given MPD's controversial Neighborhood Safety Zone initiative (which set up checkpoints and barricades in the Trinidad neighborhood) and Safe Homes initiative (to knock on doors and ask to conduct warrantless gun searches), will you support efforts to rein in police officials who respond to legitimate crime concerns with short-term fixes and public relations gestures that infringe upon Fourth Amendment and other constitutionally protected civil liberties?
How a neighborhood is policed is dependant on the type of criminal activity plaguing the neighborhood, and. how successful MPD initiatives will be dependant on strategies implemented in conjunction with residents involvement and approval of those strategies in efforts to combat the crime in their neighborhood/community.
4. Given that the Department of Corrections continues to violate the D.C. Human Rights Act by using genitalia as a basis for gender identification rather than an individual’s gender identity or expression, will you support the Council directly adopting a rulemaking to make it unmistakably clear that DOC must stop discriminating against transgender inmates and detainees?
I do not support any forms of discrimination. DOC must have policies and measurers in place to support the D.C. Human Rights Act. I contend that all individuals regardless of their sexual orientation are due protection, safety, privacy, and respect while being detained.
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, I agree the drive to make HIV testing routine for District residents should include funding for counseling and for referrals.
6. Are you committed to continuing and expanding the District’s condom distribution program to include water-based lubricant and improved tracking of their distribution to specified locations?
Yes, as a Former Public Health Advisor, and advocate of educating the public on community health issues, I support making available access to public health testing and measures relative to preventing communicable disease transmission. While tracking statistically, it is important that confidentially is maintained wherever possible.
7. The District has been 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, I will support legislation to strengthen medical privacy laws.
HUMAN RIGHTS
8. Will you support a budget for the Office of Human Rights large enough to allow it to keep the discrimination complaint backlog at or below 70 cases and keep at or below 210 days the average time it takes after the filing of a complaint to issue a finding of probable cause?
Yes, I will support the Office of Human Rights having a budget that will allow for decreasing complaint backlogs and shortening the average days it takes to find probable cause after the complaint has been filed.
9. Will you block ceremonial resolutions and otherwise decline to honor individuals or organizations that promote any sort of bigotry?
Yes, I am vehemently against any organization that or persons who engages or hints to actions of bigotry. I would not participate in ceremonial resolutions nor in ceremonies knowing that this behavior has occurred..
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?
Yes, I will commit to enforcing the provisions of the D. C. Human Rights Ac as forbidding discrimination basis on gender identity or expression.
11. Do you agree that the Director of the Office of Human Rights should be required to have professional training and experience in civil rights law enforcement?
Yes, I agree civil rights laws enforcement training should be extended to the Director of the Office of Human Rights as well as to the staff who have the responsibility of interacting with citizens on issues brought before them relative to the functions of this agency.
MARRIAGE AND FAMILY
12. Do you support legal recognition of marriages between partners of the same sex?
I think everyone has the right to marry whomever they choose.
13. Will you support the legislative and/or regulatory changes necessary to ensure that the District recognizes marriages legally established in other jurisdictions?
Until the District of Columbia adopts this law, I will respect the laws in other jurisdictions and legal decisions or opinions rendered through their court system.
14. Do you agree that private contractors doing business with the District should be required to provide domestic partner benefits including health insurance?
If the business recognizes the union of the individuals, then Yes, I believe domestic partner health benefits should be awarded. Further, in the event of death, I would agree that a partner should be given full recognition and rights to over-see death arrangements and then receive all benefits. It would be inhumane for the partner not to be given this respect in recognizing the domestic partner union
PUBLIC EDUCATION AND YOUTH
15. 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?
I oppose any District and Federal funds being distributed beyond the protections of and in opposition of the Human Rights Act.
16. Will 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?
I am not aware of the Federal or/and the District government intending to use tax payer monies at this time to promote and discourage the use the of condoms. Certainly, there should be sex education provided to promote safer –sex; hopefully proper condom use will be part of that training initiative. Abstinence is a choice, therefore legislators have to be mindful when funding programs that will have to provide the necessary tools that will allow students to become informed and to be able to make informed decisions before deciding to engage in sexual activity.
CONSUMERS AND BUSINESSES
17. Do you support the right of adults in the District to choose adult-oriented entertainment for themselves, and the right of appropriately licensed and zoned businesses to provide it?
Yes, as long as the adult orientated entertainment is for themselves within the confines of their viewing and entertainment and Yes, as long as the business is appropriately zoned and is operating in a respectful and lawful way within the location perimeters that the business is permitted to operate.
18. Will you support legislation to curb abuses by NIMBYs who are now allowed to file an endless series of baseless complaints to harass or extort bars and restaurants?
Within the legislation you are proposing, I would have to have the word “abuses”…. quantified and defined and the statement “baseless”…. would have to be determined before I could support legislation to curb complaints against bars and restaurants. There has to be a balance and I am very open to discussion on this topic.
19. What are your thoughts regarding GLAA’s proposal, as explained in Agenda: 2008, to mitigate the problems associated with prostitution by legalizing, regulating, zoning and taxing it?
I am reserving the right to discuss the GLAA proposal further when elected. Having this opportunity will afford me the opportunity to discuss personally your concerns with the appropriate member of GLAA. I am looking forward to working with GLAA and it Agenda 2008..
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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.
