2010 Questionnaire for D.C. Mayor Candidates
MARRIAGE AND FAMILY
1. Will you oppose any effort to hold an initiative in the District that would take away the civil marriage rights now enjoyed by same-sex couples, and publicly campaign for marriage equality in the event such an initiative is held?
2. If the District’s civil marriage equality is taken away either directly by an act of Congress or by a ballot measure, will you support immediate re-passage of civil marriage equality?
3. Do you agree that private contractors doing business with the District should be required to provide equal benefits including health insurance to same-sex partners?
4. Will you veto legislation containing either a “conscience clause” that would allow anyone to claim a Human Rights Act exemption at will, as was proposed by Councilmember Yvette Alexander during consideration of the marriage equality bill last year; or a “business necessity” exemption that would allow taxpayer-funded charities run by religious groups to discriminate against married same-sex couples, as was proposed by the Archdiocese of Washington?
PUBLIC HEALTH
5. Will you submit budgets sufficient to ensure that the drive to make HIV testing routine among District residents includes counseling and treatment referrals for those testing positive?
6. Are you committed to continuing and expanding the District’s condom distribution program to include water-based lubricant and tracking of their distribution to specified locations?
7. Will you support legislation giving the directors of the Office of GLBT Affairs and the Office of African Affairs the authority to issue competitive grants as other minority constituent offices have, that will be open to organizations serving the populations within the offices’ purview?
8. Describe steps you will take to improve performance at the HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis, STD, and TB Administration (HAHSTA), including in HIV prevention, HIV/AIDS surveillance, and mental health services.
PUBLIC SAFETY AND THE JUDICIARY
9. Will you submit budgets that include funding for mandatory lesbian, gay bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) sensitivity and diversity training for all members of the Metropolitan Police Department and the Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department?
10. Will you include representatives of the LGBT community in the search process when you appoint a new Police Chief and a new Fire/EMS Chief?
11. Will you submit budgets for the Office of Police Complaints large enough to avoid developing a backlog of cases?
12. Will you rein in police officials who respond to legitimate crime concerns with unsustainable, media-centric quick fixes that infringe constitutionally protected civil liberties? And will you do so without waiting for courts to overturn them, as the U.S. Court of Appeals did to the Neighborhood Safety Zone initiative in 2009?
13. Are you committed to maintaining the award-winning Gay and Lesbian Liaison Unit with both a citywide scope and a dedicated and well-trained central core unit with a full-time sergeant?
14. Will you insist on greater comprehensiveness and objectivity in the Metropolitan Police Department’s gathering and analysis of crime statistics, including transgender-related hate crime data?
15. Do you support making the D.C. Attorney General an elected position?
HUMAN RIGHTS
16. Will you submit budgets for the Office of Human Rights large enough to allow it to keep the backlog at below 70 aged cases; keep below 210 days the average time it takes to issue a probable cause finding; and expand education, prevention, and language access efforts?
17. Will you refuse to issue proclamations and otherwise decline to honor individuals or organizations that promote any sort of bigotry? How will you ensure that such honors are not mistakenly issued through administrative error?
18. Are you committed to including a transgender representative on the D.C. Commission on Human Rights?
19. Will you include representatives of the LGBT community in the search process when you appoint a new Director of the Office of Human Rights?
20. Will you appoint a Director of the Office of Human Rights with professional training and experience in civil rights law enforcement?
PUBLIC EDUCATION AND YOUTH
21. Will 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?
22. Will you support improved services and treatment for gay and transgender homeless youth, including transitional housing?
23. 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 excluding more comprehensive information?
CONSUMERS AND BUSINESSES
24. 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?
25. 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?
26. What are your thoughts regarding GLAA’s proposal, explained in Agenda: 2010, to mitigate the problems associated with prostitution by legalizing and regulating it? What will you do to provide alternatives to survival sex for at-risk populations like homeless youth and transgenders?
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.Your answers should be typed on separate paper rather than on this form. You must sign your name on each answer sheet to indicate your personal commitment to your answers.
Please return your signed questionnaire responses by Tuesday, August 17 to GLAA, P.O. Box 75265, Washington, D.C. 20013.
In addition to sending your signed hard copy, please email a copy (in any major word processor or text format) for loading on GLAA’s website (www.glaa.org) to equal@glaa.org. Thank you.
