Wednesday, August 23, 2006

Goulet takes top rating in GLAA Poll

Ward 3 Candidate Eric Goulet was rated highest in the Gay and Lesbian Activists Alliance of Washington, DC 2006 Candidate ratings. Goulet is the only non-councilmember to receive the full 3 possible record points or have a rating above 8. His +8.5 rating is unusually good for a non-incumbent.

Mary Cheh earned +7.5. She supports all of our issues. She has a strong record of support for gay and human rights. She took up the effort to add sexual orientation to the George Washington University’s non-discrimination policy in 1990. She serves on the board of the ACLU/National Capitol Area; and worked closely with Kathy Patterson in defending the rights of the 400 protesters and passers-by illegally arrested in Pershing Park in 2002.

Erik Gaull earned a +7.5. He supports all of our issues. He turned in a strong questionnaire and has been supportive of numerous gay groups.

Sam Brooks earned +7. He has a strong questionnaire, supporting all of our issues, and a good record on gay issues.

Paul Strauss earned a +7. He has a strong questionnaire.

Bill Rice earned a +6. He supports with all of our issues. His questionnaire is fairly good. And he has a record of support on our issues.

Jonathan Rees earned a -3. He refused to respond to GLAA’s questionnaire. During the campaign he has equated homosexuality with pedophilia, lobbied Congress to restrict home rule, and promoted a D.C. voter initiative to prohibit same-sex civil marriage.

Candidates are rated on a scale of -10 to +10, based on their answers to GLAA's questionnaire and their record on behalf of the gay and lesbian community. The questionnaires address a variety of issues including same-sex marriage, sensitivity training for firefighters, opposition to legislation which violates the civil rights of transgender people, support of legislation to strengthen the HIV privacy protections, and increased funding for the Office of Human Rights. The GLAA agenda, questionnaire, and complete candidate responses are available online at www.glaa.org.

Most candidates expressed support for same-sex marriage. Those that did not had other disagreements and/or no record and earned predictably low scores. Most candidates also voiced strong support for increased funding of the Office of Human Rights and publicizing the newly enacted prohibitions on discrimination against transgender people.

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