Marion Barry responds to GLAA 2008 D.C. Council questionnaire

Responses of Marion Barry to GLAA 2008 Questionnaire
for DC Council Candidates

GLAA 2008 Rating for Marion Barry (Possible range: +/- 10 points total)
Yes/No Substance Record Championship Total
1.5 0 2 0 3.5

PUBLIC SAFETY

1. Will you support funding for mandatory gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (GLBT) sensitivity and diversity training for all members of the Metropolitan Police Department and the Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department?

Absolutely.

2. Will you support a budget for the Office of Police Complaints large enough to continue to avoid developing a backlog of cases?

Yes.

3. Given MPD's controversial Neighborhood Safety Zone initiative (which set up checkpoints and barricades in the Trinidad neighborhood) and Safe Homes initiative (to knock on doors and ask to conduct warrantless gun searches), will you support efforts to rein in police officials who respond to legitimate crime concerns with short-term fixes and public relations gestures that infringe upon Fourth Amendment and other constitutionally protected civil liberties?

The Mayor has taken an approach to violence reduction and homicides that are too narrow in focus and too law enforcement oriented. When I was the Mayor at the height of the crack epidemic I tried similar approaches. Most of it was ineffective and failed. The Mayor should learn from other cities what works and what doesn’t work. And no other city presently uses check points and barricades as the solution. Those who tried it abandoned it.

We need a comprehensive approach, more jobs and recreation facilities and re-entry programs.

4. Given that the Department of Corrections continues to violate the D.C. Human Rights Act by using genitalia as a basis for gender identification rather than an individual’s gender identity or expression, will you support the Council directly adopting a rulemaking to make it unmistakably clear that DOC must stop discriminating against transgender inmates and detainees?

Yes.

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.

6. Are you committed to continuing and expanding the District’s condom distribution program to include water-based lubricant and improved tracking of their distribution to specified locations?

Yes.

7. The District has been 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.

HUMAN RIGHTS

8. Will you support a budget for the Office of Human Rights large enough to allow it to keep the discrimination complaint backlog at or below 70 cases and keep at or below 210 days the average time it takes after the filing of a complaint to issue a finding of probable cause?

Yes.

9. Will you block ceremonial resolutions and otherwise decline to honor individuals or organizations that promote any sort of bigotry?

Yes.

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.

11. Do you agree that the Director of the Office of Human Rights should be required to have professional training and experience in civil rights law enforcement?

Yes.

MARRIAGE AND FAMILY

12. Do you support legal recognition of marriages between partners of the same sex?

No. I support civil unions and domestic partnerships.

13. Will you support the legislative and/or regulatory changes necessary to ensure that the District recognizes marriages legally established in other jurisdictions?

Yes.

14. Do you agree that private contractors doing business with the District should be required to provide domestic partner benefits including health insurance?

Yes.

PUBLIC EDUCATION AND YOUTH

15. 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?

All institutions should come under the DC Human Rights Act.

16. Will 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 support abstinence, but more importantly I support choice.

CONSUMERS AND BUSINESSES

17. Do you support the right of adults in the District to choose adult-oriented entertainment for themselves, and the right of appropriately licensed and zoned businesses to provide it?

Yes.

18. Will you support legislation to curb abuses by NIMBYs who are now allowed to file an endless series of baseless complaints to harass or extort bars and restaurants?

Yes.

19. What are your thoughts regarding GLAA’s proposal, as explained in Agenda: 2008, to mitigate the problems associated with prostitution by legalizing, regulating, zoning and taxing it?

I am opposed to legalizing prostitution. However, the enforcement should not be high priority.

Please provide the URL for your campaign website, if you have one. We will include it on our candidate links page.

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.

I have a long history of support for gay men, lesbians, bisexuals and transgenders. It was stopping the school system from firing gay teachers, strong support of the human rights law, strong support of domestic partnerships, and strong support for Gay Pride Day when it was not popular to do so. Finally, the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community was an intrical part of my 1978 Mayoral campaign. I appointed a Gay/Lesbian to my cabinet when I was Mayor.

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