GLAA writes to DC Corporation Counsel
Mr. John M. Ferren
Corporation Counsel for the District of Columbia
441 4th Street, NW, Suite 1060
Washington, D.C. 20001
Dear Mr. Ferren:
I am writing to see if you would be agreeable to a meeting with myself and other representatives of the Gay and Lesbian Activists Alliance of Washington (GLAA) to discuss a range of public safety and other legal matters affecting our community.
Our community has had a somewhat checkered relationship with the office of the Corporation Counsel in recent years. Relations hit a low point when one of your predecessors twice filed scurrilously homophobic briefs with the Superior Court in connection with a case asserting the right of same-sex couples to be legally wed in the District of Columbia. Your predecessor not only imitated Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell by quoting Biblical passages to justify legal discrimination against lesbians and gay men, he also told the court that the District government was exempt from its own anti-discrimination laws! More recently, though, your immediate predecessor performed a great public service by overturning the Department of Human Rights and Minority Business Development's original finding that the local chapter of the Boy Scouts is a distinctly private organization entitled to an exemption from our Human Rights Law.
In recent months we have been focusing on trying to restore sound relations with our Metropolitan Police Department. Many officers appear to be out of control, often in the name of "zero tolerance." They have foolishly cooperated in overzealous actions by inspectors from the Department of Consumer & Regulatory Affairs in targeting gay businesses for sheer harassment. We are also concerned by delays in resuming the Department's training in community relations for both new cadets and veterans, in which openly lesbian and gay speakers had participated for many years. We are also pushing for legislation to establish an effective system of independent civilian review of public complaints about police conduct.
Our Vice President, Mindy Daniels, speaks very highly of you and has urged us to pursue a meeting to discuss these and related issues with you.
If that is agreeable, please call us on (202)667-5139 and leave a message. Someone from GLAA — probably myself, Ms. Daniels, or our Secretary, Craig Howell — will contact your office soon thereafter to get the arrangements in order. Thank you for your consideration. We look forward to seeing you.
Sincerely,
Richard J. Rosendall
President
Gay and Lesbian Activists Alliance of Washington
cc: The Honorable Jack Evans
Gay Men & Lesbians Opposing Violence
The Washington Blade
The InTowner