Responses of Dee Hunter to GLAA 2008 Questionnaire
for DC Council Candidates
| Yes/No | Substance | Record | Championship | Total |
| 2 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 0 | 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?
Yes. Our officers work hard every day, and this training would only serve to build trust between the force and residents. Selective or voluntary training in this area is not acceptable, because uniformity of respect for our citizenry is the mandate.
2. Will you support a budget for the Office of Police Complaints large enough to continue to avoid developing a backlog of cases?
Yes. A fully effective, and fair, OPM improves the force by improving respect for the force.
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?
Yes. We must re-balance our crime-fighting initiatives with a solid foundation under constitutionally protected civil liberties.
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. Our correctional system must be operated in full accordance with the D.C. Human Rights Act.
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. Testing is important, but what happens after testing can be just as important. Whether testing positive or negative, residents should be directed to counseling and treatment that: a) addresses the junctures and factors that may have led the individual to question their status; b) informs them of how to protect both themselves and future partners; and, c) particularly in the event of a positive test result, provides a first-stop source of referrals regarding the combination of physical and mental health care that are required to maintain a successful treatment regimen.
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. It is baffling to me that condom distribution has decreased--in many instances to the point of invisibility--over recent years, concurrent with the entrenchment of HIV/AIDS in various communities. At the dawn of this public health crisis, the LGBT community taught America great lessons of innovation and action, in the face of great tragedy, by establishing a myriad of services and prevention efforts. The District of Columbia government must take a page from that remarkable history, and return to a proactive prevention landscape. As a former aide to the Council Committee on Health under Sandy Allen and David Catania I understand the importance of utilizing best practices and would work to gather the best and most creative HIV Prevention strategies worldwide, for implementation here in DC.
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. Violations of medical privacy are of greater concern than ever, from vulnerable software and email systems to mishandling of files online.
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. The District of Columbia’s Human Rights Act is only as good as its enforcement.
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. As a practicing attorney, I understand the need for a strong connection between constitutional case law and the work of the Office of Human Rights. Often, elements of decisions that are not--on their face--seen as relevant to lgbt matters are, in fact, of vital importance.
MARRIAGE AND FAMILY
12. Do you support legal recognition of marriages between partners of the same sex?
Yes. I fully support gay marriage.
13. Will you support the legislative and/or regulatory changes necessary to ensure that the District recognizes marriages legally established in other jurisdictions?
Yes. DC should recognize gay marriages performed in any other jurisdiction, in the US and worldwide.
14. Do you agree that private contractors doing business with the District should be required to provide domestic partner benefits including health insurance?
Yes. DC already places conditions on its contracts. DP benefits, including health insurance, should be among them.
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?
Yes. I oppose vouchers for institutions that will not agree to abide by 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?
Yes. Our youth should be fully educated and equipped to make the best decisions possible regarding their bodies and health. A congressional study from just last year (2007) showed that middle-school students subjected to “Abstinence Only” programs were, in fact, just as likely to engage in sexual relations as their peers who did not participate in such programs. Furthermore, connecting such programs with the notion of marriage marginalize those for whom marriage is not yet a legal option.
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. I also, however, support the system(s) whereby community input is included in decisions regarding proposed businesses.
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. While I strongly support the role of valid community input, I would support adjustments to the process which would protect an establishment against repeated and/or unwarranted complaints. While residents deserve the right to anonymously report serious concerns, perhaps a code-based system of some manner could be explored, to address baseless, tortuous or harassing complaints.
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 first, and foremost, concerned with the human rights and human dignity aspects of this question. I would establish a task force to bring the voices of these workers together with those who have departed such work, and also along with GLAA and other interested parties, to explore the lives, challenges and dangers of such work. Whatever approach would enhance human dignity and self worth, I would support.
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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.