Responses of Chad Williams to GLAA 2006 Questionnaire
for DC Council Candidates
| Yes/No | Substance | Record | Championship | Total |
| 2 | 2 | 1.5 | 0 | 5.5 |
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?
Yes. I also will assure that the training curriculum meets the core recommendations of the GLAA. In addition I will support language that orders Fire/EMS to develop and implement a training program specifically aimed at teaching all Fire/EMS staffers how to deal with members of the District’s GLBT community. The training program I envision shall be given to all new recruits and will be part of a mandatory refresher training requirement every 2 years. I will verify these actions occur by consistently maintaining a vigilant watch through my oversight authority.
I will schedule quarterly meetings with member organizations and interest groups of the gay, lesbian and transgender communities to monitor the effectiveness and accomplishments of the training program. I will assure that this legislation is introduced during the period of my first council period meetings on the Judiciary committee if assigned or identify a member of that committee who GLAA and I can work with to assure this training program is implemented.
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?
Yes. I find it shameful that the current Fire Chief continues to tolerate an environment that finds it acceptable to treating members of the transgender community with contempt and hostility. In my investigation I have discovered that Chief Thompson has not punished those responsible for the gay, lesbian and transgender derogatory comments of fire officials on a web-posting, even though their identities are known and their postings were made using government technological resources. This is unacceptable. The Chief, in addition, has taken no action to block the web site.
Chief Thompson with this incident and his inability to manage and operate and effective Fire/EMS system that continues to place in danger the possible extend health of individuals in critical condition, under the care of EMS workers, should be terminated immediately.
3. Will you support a budget for the Office of Police Complaints large enough to continue to avoid developing a backlog of cases?
Yes. Recently I was involved in an incident where a police officer, witnessed by my neighbors and his fellow officers clearly abused his power with treats, taunts and physical abuse. This unfortunate situation personally exposed me to the backlog of Police Complaints waiting for investigation and resolution. It is quite disturbing to wait so long for your name to clear while facing an allegation from an untruth police report. It puts innocent citizens in a legal quagmire; particularly in my community where officers can easily abuse their power with no fear because of the education level of alleged individuals and public perception to get tough on crime with a certain demographic population.
It is imperative for the government to provided confidence to its citizens that their complaints of police misbehavior are investigated, resolved, guilty officers held accountable and court actions as a result of police misbehavior and false reports are corrected. No citizen should have to wait months to receive comfort that bad cops are off the streets and that their next encounter with D.C.’s finest will be professional.
I will assure that this office receives appropriate funding during my first budget cycle on the council.
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?
Yes. However at the same time we as elected officials must change the phobia and discriminatory minds of our business communities so that many transgenders will not have to resort to prostitution to maintain their economic stability.
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. The District of Columbia’s HIV rate is the highest in the country, in fact the world. If we do not provide the funding necessary to counsel and support treatment we will soon face an epidemic. This problem is particular of serious interest to me as it currently affects the African-American woman community greatly. HIV is being passed to African-American woman in the District of Columbia at an alarming rate.
This transmission of HIV in the African-American community is helped by the discriminatory and bigotry practices of certain churches, ministers and their members. African-American men who are gay involve themselves in bisexual relationships to hide from being gay to church members and ministers. The discriminatory and bigotry practices that these ministers practice in an effort to fear individuals from a gay life style, actual furthers the spread of HIV in the District. There actions based on hate, not love, actually are counter productive to everyone’s goals of hindering the spread of HIV.
Programs administered by “US Helping US” that is located in Ward 1 will receive my strongest available support for city direct funding and the use of my office and political influence to raise funds for operational programs. I also will actively participate as a volunteer in programs administered by “US Helping US.”
“US Helping US” is an organization created by Dr. Simmons for the specific purpose of hindering the spread of HIV and providing counseling to those infected in the African-American community. Mr. Graham was opposed to the creation of this organization and its offices being built in Ward 1 where a high percentage of gay African-American men and transgenders now reside.
6. Are you committed to continuing and expanding the District’s condom distribution program?
Yes. I would advocate and legislate for a continuance and expansion of the city’s program that would especially distribute or make available condoms in bars and nightclubs. The night time entertainment life in the District is growing. It is reasonable to expect that many patrons of our night life engage in risky sexual behavior particularly college students. The city should assure its available resources and capabilities to reduce the spread of HIV during these periods of sexual vulnerability.
The city should coordinate with organizational volunteers or pay small stipends to teams of people to walk along the entertainment corridors and be stationed at the city’s most popular night clubs. Although there actions are illegal the city should assure woman and men engaged in call and prostitution services have means to obtain free condoms with out harassment from city law enforcement officials.
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?
Yes. This added protection for individuals testing positive for HIV gives better assurances that District employees and or contractors will not reveal their names or distribute a list of their names to the media or community. These employees and contractors should be held under the same medical privacy laws as medical practitioners in trusted with personal confidential medical information. This action not only protects the HIV positive citizen but as well the District Government.
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?
Yes. I, however, would like to see a budget support structure that will reduce the time a discrimination complaint is filed and finding of probable cause to between 90 - 180 days. I will assure that this office receives appropriate funding during my first budget cycle on the council.
9. Will you block ceremonial resolutions and otherwise decline to honor individuals or organizations that promote any sort of bigotry?
Yes. Individuals or organizations that promote bigotry, racisms or discrimination of any means should not be honored by our government or receive appointments to commissions, boards or task forces.
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 also with my term on the council will actively monitor the enforcement of this act and routinely propose amendments to strengthen the Act where appropriate.
Marriage and Family
11. Do you support legal recognition of marriages between partners of the same sex?
Yes. I support the legal recognition, rights and responsibilities and civil equality of individuals of the same sex who want to enter into a legal sharing binding partnership that opposite sex partners enjoy while being married under the law.
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. Although I am not currently proficient in the tactical strategies for Gay, Lesbian and Transgender organizations agenda in the District to achieve these goals I offer my commitment to follow their lead and be strategically supportive with them to meet their goals with this issue.
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.
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?
Yes. To allow religious organizations to teach bigotry with the use of federal or local tax dollars is unacceptable in a society in which we should teach tolerance and understanding of different lifestyles. The use of tax payer dollars that are not regulated to prevent teachings and acts of bigotry from occurring is unacceptable in my point of view.
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?
I believe this question makes a few baseless assumptions. I will attempt to separate those assumptions and answer the question in parts.
- I do not oppose federal or District taxpayer funds that promote abstinence only until marriage.
- I do support federal, District or non-profit organizations’ programs that encourage safe sex practices by the use of condoms or other methods.
- I do not support programs that educate gay and lesbian students to remain celibate forever because they may not legally marry.
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?
Yes. I believe that every business owner has the right to freely operate his licensed business in the appropriate zoned area in the District of Columbia. If a business is required to relocated as a result of city eminent domain actions I believe the city should require itself to find appropriate alternative locations in the exact or similar zoned area of the city. This is an issue that should unify the Gay, Lesbian and Transgender adult entertainment communities with the African-American adult entertainment communities. These communities are facing similar challenges with their displacement by the new ballpark.
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. I strongly support legislation to curb these abuses. In Ward 1 these tactics have been used frequently on restaurant and entertainment establishments owned or patronized by African-Americans and Latinos. This is an issue that should unify the Gay, Lesbian and Transgender communities with African-American and Latino communities. We all should actively fight NIMBYs that is perpetuated by a select few.
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?
Yes.
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.
My record taken that illustrates my record on behalf of gay men, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender.
- As a special consultant to HUD I was assigned to work with the Mayor’s Office of Housing in the City and County of San Francisco. The City of San Francisco has one of the highest percentages of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender populations in the country. My assignment required me over a period of a year to work with this community to address affordable housing availability and discrimination issues in the Mission District of the City.
- Recently some Afro-American ministers have stated, would could be acknowledged, as bigotry statements. In a meet in greet with gay neighbors in Columbia Heights I openly stated my displeasure with these statements.
- Last month my next door neighborhood, Mr. Michael Hand, was rejected from acceptance in the WMATA Police Department because of his discharged from the military for being gay. I wrote a letter to the WMATA Board of Directors and Interim President to express my displeasure with this turn of events. I have yet to receive a response. Mr. Graham is a member of WMATA Board of Directors. My neighbor and I have yet to receive a response even though he is our council representative who is openly gay.
- For a year as the Executive Director of North Capitol Neighborhood Development Corporation I served under the fiduciary direction of Mr. Peter Easley. Mr. Easley is Chair of the Board of Directors of North Capitol Neighborhood Development. He is an openly gay man.
- I will post my answers to this questionnaire on all Ward 1 Yahoo! List Groups.