Responses of David Schwartzman to GLAA 2008 Questionnaire
for DC Council Candidates
| Yes/No | Substance | Record | Championship | Total |
| 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 6 |
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, This training is long overdue. Note that recent racist and homophobic harassment against firefighters and trainees is documented in the Fire and EMS Department (see abolishracism.blogspot.com; as a DC Statehood Green, I have spoken out several times at ERASE rallies on this issue). A recent incident involving the EMS and a black transgendered person should also be noted.
2. Will you support a budget for the Office of Police Complaints large enough to continue to avoid developing a backlog of cases?
Yes, full funding is mandatory.
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?
Yes. I testified on this issue at Councilmember Mendelson’s hearing on June 18, 2008, on behalf of the DC Statehood Green Party. A selection: “The City Council likewise should be held accountable for not acting to investigate and take appropriate action to insure full respect of civil rights and liberties of our residents. Is the unconstitutional implementation of police checkpoints in Trinidad neighborhood a surprise given the history of police violations of civil rights and liberties? I think not. Two recent examples of abuse of police powers: Former Police Chief Ramsey ordered illegal mass arrests and lockdown of hundreds of anti-corporate globalization protesters and even bystanders who happened to be in Pershing Park, in September 2002. …The pattern of numerous police killings of District youth in recent years is much more serious, most recently resulting in the death of a 14 year, DeOnté Rawlings, in September, 2007, by an off duty policeman. District policy in such cases has simply consisted of internal review by the Police Department. Rather, such killings and allegations of police brutality should be investigated by a fully independent Civilian Review Board accountable to the public.” (From: http://www.dcstatehoodgreen.org//testimony/testimony.php?annc_id=265§ion_id=1)
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?
Yes. I note the recent article, Trans rule change raises concerns, Local activists say new jail proposal weakens rights act, LOU CHIBBARO JR, The Washington Blade, July 25, 2008 http://www.washblade.com/2008/7-25/news/localnews/12993.cfm I will vigorously support Council action on this issue.
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, no routine testing should be done without provision for full services noted. I will work for full funding of these services and substance abuse treatment. We can generate the needed revenue with tax fairness; reduce the tax rate for the working class majority, raise it for DC millionaires, i.e., making our regressive District tax structure progressive. Obama’s pledge to cancel Bush’s tax cuts for the wealthy for federal payments should be an example for the Council and Mayor. Further, I support decriminalization of marijuana and of course the implementation of Initiative 59 for medical marijuana passed by DC voters but blocked by Congress. This and the damaging long standing Congressional prohibition on use of municipal funds for needle exchange, finally removed by the Democratic Congress majority, demonstrate that only DC Statehood can guarantee effective and timely public health policies. The Green Party of the United States and the DC Statehood Green Party vigorously support DC Statehood, unlike the Democratic and Republican Parties.
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, and the District is behind other jurisdictions in this regard. This was my response to the DC Women’s Agenda: “Free or low cost contraceptive services, including counseling, should be provided in all District health care facilities. Further, this service should be widely advertised in public places, such as Metro, and on radio and TV. Free condoms should be widely distributed in public high schools, with instruction on their proper use. Education in safe and responsible sex emphasizing gender equality and respect for the diversity of sexual preference should be mandatory in public schools and other facilities.”
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, another example why we need DC Statehood. A vote in the House alone will not free us from federal interference into the administration of public health policy.
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, full funding and staffing for the Office of Human Rights is needed to implement this objective. Good laws are necessary but not sufficient unless timely implementation is possible.
9. Will you block ceremonial resolutions and otherwise decline to honor individuals or organizations that promote any sort of bigotry?
Yes, and this issue illustrates the need for the separation of church and state.
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, see answer to question 1 and 4.
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, staffing should not be based on patronage, nor should this Office simply promote a symbolic agenda. Full professionalism is necessary.
MARRIAGE AND FAMILY
12. Do you support legal recognition of marriages between partners of the same sex?
Yes, marriage laws should make no distinctions based on the sex of the partners and should treat different-sex and same-sex marriages equally.
13. Will you support the legislative and/or regulatory changes necessary to ensure that the District recognizes marriages legally established in other jurisdictions?
Yes. Massachusetts has recently enacted this provision.
14. Do you agree that private contractors doing business with the District should be required to provide domestic partner benefits including health insurance?
Yes, but we ultimately we need single-payer health care guaranteeing coverage for all, so that any burden on small businesses will be removed.
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?
Yes, our national Green Party and the DC Statehood Green Party have organized against vouchers and other attempts to privatize public education, including the recent closure of over 20 neighborhood schools (e.g., http://www.dcstatehoodgreen.org/testimony/testimony.php?annc_id=233§ion_id=1).
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?
Yes. See also answer to question 6.
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, and I also support full rights for workers in these businesses, as well as sex workers, for job protection, benefits protection against harassment, and the right to organize into trade unions. Workers in adult businesses deserve all the same rights and protections that all other working people deserve.
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?
Yes, I will support legislation that would require such disputes to be mediated and resolved. Specific case must be examined on their own merits.
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?
Yes, this is an approach like the decriminalization of drug use. An end to the drug war is long overdue! Further, we need to integrate this approach with firm protection against the international and domestic sex trade network.
Please provide the URL for your campaign website, if you have one. We will include it on our candidate links page.
My campaign URL: http://www.statehood4dc.com/schwartzman
David Schwartzman
dschwartzman@gmail.com
At-Large Council Candidate
DC Statehood Green Party
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.
My own Record on behalf of GLBT people.
I have participated in the struggle against homophobia starting as a graduate student at Brown University in the 1960s and early 1970s. In the mid 1980s I attended national gay rights demonstrations at the Mall, the Millennium/HRC March in 2000 and numerous actions since. I supported Initiative 59 and participated in several DC ACT-UP events including the funeral march for Steve Michael to the White House. I am proud of my national Green and DC Statehood Green Party’s vigorous support for human rights for GLBT people. I am a longstanding member and active participant of the Fair Budget Coalition. For over a decade I have testified at DC City Council hearings for full funding of social services including substance abuse treatment and for a progressive restructuring of DC taxes and other measures to make this possible (for my recent testimony go to: http://www.dcstatehoodgreen.org/testimony).
