Lavender Greens Endorsement Questionaire
Answered by
1.The Green Party of the US
and the Mpls 5th Dist Green Party
platforms state "We support the rights of
gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people in
housing, jobs, civil marriage and
benefits, child custody and in all
areas of life, the right to be treated
equally with all other people." Do you support and affirm this statement of
our platforms?
Yes.
2.Do you support domestic partnership benefits for all unmarried public employees who demonstrate an interdependent relationship with a domestic partner?
Yes.
3.Do you support requiring contractors with our public entities of a certain size to provide domestic partnership benefits to their employees?
Yes.
4.Do you support requiring contractors with our public entities to protect all their employees from discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity by including such language in their nondiscrimination policies?
Yes.
5.Do you support cessation of any preferential treatment or contractual agreements extended by our public entities to the Boy Scouts of America until they repeal their ban on the participation of glbt people?
Yes.
6.Do you support the expansion of health benefits for public employees to include gender identity/expression related health care expenses and therapy, including for those transitioning genders?
Yes.
7.Do you support extending the preferences for veterans that our public entities control(hiring preferences, etc.) to those who demonstrate that they would qualify if they had not been dismissed due to their professed sexual orientation?
Yes.
8.Will you work to end the police practice of entrapment of gay & bisexual men? (this question city council and park board candidates)
Yes.
9.Do you support resources for sexual minority students, staff and parents in our public schools such as Out 4 Good in Minneapolis Public Schools? (school board candidates}
Yes.
10.Do you oppose military recruitment and training in public schools?(school board candidates)
Yes.
Three Essay Questions
1.Glbt people come in all colors, races, and ethnicities. In light of this, how will you help our community to see color and celebrate it? What do you see as priorities concerning communities of color?
I think a lot of racism and
homophobia come from lack of familiarity
with the complexities of living in harmony
and diversity. Our society and the media teach
us all that we should look like
If we can honestly embrace
our own susceptibility to the mass media,
then we can take the journey to re-program
ourselves with joy. We cannot judge ourselves
for our prejudices and let them go at the same
time, we must be patient with ourselves and that helps us embrace and accept others.
In my experience, being gay, lesbian, bi-sexual or transgender
often stimulates compassion for how it feels
to be "other". At the same time, sexual preference difference often makes one a minority even
in one
Again, I think patience is key. So much to unlearn!
Yet, when the unlearning
starts the rewards are so freeing.
In terms of my own experience, I taught in
The best I can offer is my own experience. Lack
of sensitivity can be unlearned.
For example, I once did not understand
the importance of same sex marriage, thinking
marriage was simply a legal formality. Having lots of
dialog opened my eyes to injustices suffered
by lifelong partners who had no rights to be with
their loved ones during hospital stays for illness,
etc.
The same is true for understanding the enormity of
being from a culture outside of the
mainstream. The "melting
pot" metaphor I was taught in grade school
has given way to a better image of a
"stew". We can all help by
continuing to embrace new images.
playing boy, and I know I learned as much as I taught.
This was thirty years ago. I am
still learning.
> 2.Glbt people come in
all genders. In light of > this,
> what will you do to help our community
recognize > gender diversity?
How will you work to end sexism > and
> assure a community that honors, respects,
and > enables > the dreams of women, men, and transgendered
people?
I do believe that most disrespect, and bad behaviors come from ignorance. Most people still seem very fearful of what they are unfamiliar with (see rantings of why I think this is true under previous question). I think we need to start teaching our kids that it is "cool" to celebrate differences.
I remember the first time I went to the Gay Nineties and began dancing with people of a variety of
sexualities. I thought it was cool, but this was true because I was with
a wonderful friend who made me feel comfortable.
Shortly after this
there was a controversy in Minneapolis
Public Schools about inclusion of a
> >
3.Glbt people are of all class backgrounds and >
incomes. How will you work to support all people
I am disappointed that
our city
I would like to see
more supervised activities in the parks,
and some creative ways to bring neighborhoods
together so that we can have even more of
a mix than we do now in these programs. I would like to introduce cooperative games, in addition to
the competitive team sports we now
promote. I think this is the best
way to teach children of different classes,
colors, genders, whatever, to apprectiate each other
Many of the park
workers I got to know at