Gay and Lesbian Activists Alliance of Washington, DC
P.O. Box 75265, Washington, DC 20013
202-667-5139
March 28, 2007
Revised April 10 and April 21, 2007
NEWS RELEASEContact: Rick Rosendall, Political Vice President
202-667-5139
Brown, Washington, Rice, Levine, and Rahman
Top GLAA Ratings for May 1 Special Elections
Ward 4 candidate Michael A. Brown, Ward 7 candidates Emily Y. Washington and Johnnie Scott Rice, and District II Board of Education candidates Martin Levine and Mai Abdul Rahman earned the top ratings for the May 1 special elections from the Gay & Lesbian Activists Alliance of Washington (GLAA) at its March 27 and April 10 meetings. Most candidate ratings were done on March 27, but a late-received questionnaire from School Board candidate Joe Carrillo was evaluated on April 10, and additional information on the records of Council candidates Graylan Scott Hagler, Emily Washington, and Yvette Alexander brought them additional record points at the April 10 re-ratings meeting.GLAA Vice President Richard J. Rosendall explained that the highest rating, +8 (on a scale from -10 to +10), was awarded to Brown in recognition of both his outstanding responses to GLAA’s candidate questionnaire and a solid record of support for the District’s GLBT community. Brown served for several years on the Board of Directors for the Whitman-Walker Clinic and actively lobbied the leadership of the October 2005 Millions More March to include an openly gay speaker.
The 7.5 rating earned by Washington in the Ward 7 race reflected the strong and knowledgeable answers she provided on her questionnaire, along with her pro-gay record which included adopting a gay youth three decades ago and defending a gay teacher falsely accused of an inappropriate relationship with a student. The +6 rating earned by Rice reflected her strong questionnaire answers. Washington and Rice, along with Brown, were the only candidates to receive the maximum number of points GLAA allows for questionnaire responses. District II (covering Wards 3 and 4) School Board candidate Levine also received a +6, partially because of his support of pro-gay initiatives while in a senior management position with Fannie Mae. Fellow candidate Rahman was close behind Levine with a +5.5 rating, mostly due to a solid questionnaire.
Ward 4 candidate Hagler, a United Church of Christ pastor known for his gay-welcoming ministry and advocacy, earned an additional half point for record on April 10 after GLAA learned at the April 9 Gertrude Stein Democratic Club meeting that in 2005 he had thrown Millions More Movement organizers out of his church, in which they were meeting, after they made homophobic statements. Ward 7 candidate Alexander earned 1 point for record on April 10 after GLAA learned that she had worked to gain seats on the D.C. Democratic State Committee for the Stein Club.
Rosendall expressed satisfaction that most candidates agree with GLAA on a wide range of issues, such as adequate budgets for the Office of Human Rights and the Office of Police Complaints, the reinvigoration of the city’s condom distribution program, expansion of the District’s domestic partners program, and opposition to vouchers for religious schools that discriminate against GLBT students, teachers and staff. GLAA sent all candidates a copy of its comprehensive platform Agenda: 2007, explaining its positions in detail on a host of local issues directly affecting the District’s GLBT community. Although candidates sometimes waffled, outright disagreement with GLAA was rare, and only Ward 4 candidate James Clark (whose racist views were quoted in the April 19 District Extra section of The Washington Post) earned a negative rating in this election cycle.
“It is gratifying that candidates have studied our policy paper and are following gay-related news,” said Rosendall. “Several candidates commented on Pepco’s recent announcement that it is instituting domestic partner benefits, a development which occurred after we sent out our questionnaire and which rendered one of our questions moot.”
GLAA has been rating candidates in elections for Mayor, Council, and Board of Education since its founding in April 1971. Ratings on a scale from -10 to +10 are based on candidates’ written answers to GLAA’s questionnaire and on their record of support for the District’s GLBT community. Ratings should not be interpreted as endorsements. GLAA will be celebrating its 36th anniversary with a fundraising reception on Thursday, April 19 at the Washington Plaza Hotel on Thomas Circle.
The complete text of every candidate’s questionnaire replies, along with a breakdown of how each rating was derived, is available on GLAA’s web site, at: www.glaa.org.
GLAA Ratings for May 1, 2007 General Election
To see the full text of a candidate's questionnaire responses, click on his or her name below.
Ward 4 DC Councilmember
Ward 7 DC Councilmember
District II Board of Education
Note: Ratings marked with an asterisk (*) indicate a candidate who did not return a questionnaire
and was therefore rated solely on his or her known record on GLAA’s issues.
Breakdown of available ratings points
| Questionnaire: yes/no | +/- 2 points |
| Questionnaire: substantive grasp of issues | +/- 4 points |
| Record: | +/- 3 points |
| Championship: taking the lead on an issue of concern to gay men and lesbians | +/- 1 point |
| Total available: | +/- 10 points |
Click here to view a detailed breakdown of all candidates' ratings points.
The Gay and Lesbian Activists Alliance of Washington, DC is a local, all-volunteer, non-partisan, non-profit political organization, founded in 1971 to advance the equal rights of gay men and lesbians in Washington, DC. We are the nation’s oldest continuously active gay and lesbian civil rights organization.