Responses of Antonio Williams to GLAA 2006 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 Fire/EMS Department?
As your city councilman I will fund the necessary training so that our Fire/EMS department can properly serve all of the city’s residents.
2. Will you call on the new Mayor to appoint a new Fire/EMS Department Chief who is committed to rooting out the Department’s deeply entrenched homophobia and transphobia?
As your city councilman I will fight to ensure that the Fire/EMS Department has a Chief who will not tolerate any form of discrimination whether it is based on sex, race, or class.
3. Will you support a budget for the Office of Police Complaints large enough to continue to avoid developing a backlog of cases?
As your city councilman I will adequately fund the Office of Police Complaints. In addition, in my first 100 days in office I will conduct a detailed examination of the Office of Police Complaints to provide for increased responsibility and accountability.
4. Will you oppose legislation creating so-called “prostitution-free zones,” which would give the police, who routinely assume that every transgendered person is a prostitute until proven otherwise, virtually unlimited power to harass our transgendered residents?
I believe that prostitution has no place in our city, or our society. However, I also believe that creating “prostitution-free zones” is not the answer. Such zones would decrease police oversight, open the door to violations of constitutional rights, and would push at risk communities further into the shadows making public health and safety work funded by the DC government difficult and ineffective.
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. As your councilman I would tear down the artificial walls that exist between the District’s health and human services programs in order to create one program that can seamlessly move an individual from one stage of treatment to the next.
6. Are you committed to continuing and expanding the District’s condom distribution program?
Yes. We must enable folks to make the safest choice.
7. The District is being 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?
I believe that all DC residents should enjoy the utmost protection of their personal health information and that there is no greater way to strengthen privacy laws than to give the public a private right of action to redress privacy violations.
Human Rights
8. Will you support a budget for the Office of Human Rights (OHR) large enough to allow it to reduce to 270 days the average gap between the time that a discrimination complaint is filed and the time OHR issues a finding of probable cause?
As your city councilman I will adequately fund the Office of Human Rights.
9. Will you block ceremonial resolutions and otherwise decline to honor individuals or organizations that promote any sort of bigotry?
Bigotry of any kind should not, and must not be tolerated.
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 would a vocal advocate of the DC Human Rights Act and will work tirelessly to end discrimination in the District of Columbia base on sex, race, color, or religion.
Marriage and Family
11. Do you support legal recognition of marriages between partners of the same sex?
As a religious matter (I am an Episcopalian) I believe that marriage is between a man and a women. However as a legal matter, marriage constitutes over 1,000 different rights, benefits and obligations. For example, husbands and wives can’t be forced to testify against one another, have certain tax benefits, and visitation rights. As your DC City Councilmen I would amend all 1,000 laws are affected by marriage to include domestic partners. I would also support the creation of a system for states to recognize the ‘domestic partner’ status granted by any state and for businesses in District to offer benefits for married people to domestic partners.
12. Will you support legislation in the District to continue expanding the existing domestic partnership program to include all relevant rights and responsibilities of marriage in D.C. law?
Yes, I believe we all must be equal before the state.
13. Will you support the legislative and/or regulatory changes necessary to ensure that the District recognizes civil unions, domestic partnerships and similar legal relationships established in other jurisdictions?
Yes. I strongly support the recognition of civil unions and other legally established relationships and would ensure their recognition in the District.
Public Education and Youth
14. 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?
No. I am a supporter of both the federal and local voucher programs. I firmly believe that parents should have the option to send their children to the best school available to them.
15. Do 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. At its heart, sex education is a public health issue and at every step the city must focus on teaching our children how to make the safest possible choice.
Consumers and Businesses
16. Do you support the relocation of the many gay bars and businesses that were displaced by the new ballpark, even if local NIMBYs and homophobes oppose them?
I am a strong supporter of small and local businesses and will support any effort to provide assistance to small businesses negatively affected by city mandated development.
17. Will you support legislation to curb the abuses of NIMBYs who are now allowed to file an endless series of baseless complaints to harass or extort bars and restaurants?
Yes. As your city councilman I will establish a system in which complaints against businesses by communities can be brought, heard, and acted on in a final manner so that businesses can get on with serving their customers and residents can move on with their lives.
18. Do you oppose the Youth Protection from Obscene Video Games Act (B16-0125), a clone of other laws that have consistently been struck down by the courts on constitutional grounds?
According to the Attorney General of the District of Columbia, as currently drafted, it is unlikely that the Video Games Bill could withstand a constitutional challenge. As your councilman I would not support any bill that violates our constitution.
Record
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.