Gays Participate in Mayor-Elect Williams' Transition Effort

Led by co-chairs Carlene Cheatam and Philip Pannell, a diverse coalition of local activists organized the gay and lesbian subcommittee of the action team on special constituencies for incoming Mayor Anthony Williams' transition effort.

Based on a checklist prepared by outgoing GLAA president Rick Rosendall covering issues such as public safety, AIDS and public health, human rights, regulatory abuse, public education and youth, and District self-determination, the group on December 7 drafted a list of proposed mayoral actions including the following:

• Establish the Office of Human Rights as a separate, fully funded and staffed agency to eliminate the caseload backlog.
• Urge the Superintendent of D.C. Public Schools to develop counseling services within the school system for all children, especially GLBT and other children at increased risk for suicide, abuse, assault, and violence; and to issue a clear and strong policy against homophobic harassment in DC Public Schools.
• Order the submission of a section 1115 waiver to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for the expansion of Medicaid to HIV-infected, non AIDS-diagnosed District residents.
• Convene an HIV/AIDS 2000 Task Force and public summit in the District of Columbia within the first 100 days of the new administration.
• Convene an expert task force to analyze the current ADAP programs and make recommendations to improve access, enrollment, and utilization particularly of protease inhibitors and new FDA-approved drugs.
• Initiate an HIV tracking system using unique identifiers with comprehensive confidentiality protections, as an alternative to the names reporting being promulgated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
• Ensure prompt implementation of the new Civilian Complaint Review Board.
• Include same-sex domestic violence and sexual assault in the GLBT portion of community relations and diversity training for police officers, fire fighters, and emergency medical services (EMS) personnel.
• Establish a liaison to represent gay-related concerns to the Executive Office of the Mayor and all District agencies.

A drafting group finalized the priority issues on December 10, and the report was turned in to the transition team on December 15. All of this work had to be done in less than two weeks' time. Thanks must go to co-chairs Carlene Cheatam and Philip Pannell, as well as to Dr. Patricia Hawkins of Whitman-Walker Clinic, Loyal Snyder of Gertrude Stein Democratic Club, and Charlotte Young. Other groups represented at the December 7 meeting were the DC Coalition, Capital Area Log Cabin, Transgenders Against Discrimination, National Minority Aids Council, Inner Light Unity Fellowship Church, C.L.O.A.V.E., the Lambda Center, Lesbian Wellness Network, and the Mayor's Committee on Asian/Pacific Affairs, in addition to several individual activists.

Members of the subcommittee also agreed to ask the new Mayor to order the DC Corporation Counsel not to appeal the recent court ruling in the wrongful death lawsuit against the City by the mother of late transgendered citizen Tyra Hunter. The jury in that case awarded Margie Hunter $2.9 million in its decision on December 11.