Some of these questions are designed to probe committment to equality. Some are seeking public policy committments. Some seek change to existing policy or maintainance of existing policy in the city.
At request of other listmembers I'm forwarding these questions from the questionaire for others to consider. Hopefully they'll spur discussion of some issues after the election regardless of which candidates are elected. Thanks, David Strand co-Chair MN Lavender Greens Loring Park -------------------------------------------- The Green Party national platform states that "we support equal rights for gay,lesbian, bisexual, and transgender 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 this statement? ----------------------------------------------------- The Green Party national platform also "supports the rights of individuals to self determination in regards to one own's gender identity" Do you support this statement? ----------------------------------------------------- Do you support expansion of city contracts covered by the equal benefits ordinance in Minneapolis requiring contractors with the city of a certain size or larger to provide domestic partner or designated beneficary benefits to their employees? ------------------------------------------------------ Designated beneficiary benefits allow each employee to name one other adult to be covered through their employee health plan. This promotes equity for all employees regardless of marital, partnership status, household or familial form, etc. An employee may name their spouse, domestic partner, a parent, an adult child, a life long adult friend, an adult housemate, etc. Designated beneficiary benefits provide increased parity of compensation, and aim to support all employees' significant relationships and interdependencies whether that relationship be marriage, domestic partnership, or long term friendship. According to the 2000 census, 71% of Minneapolis households are headed by unmarried adults. The majority of city residents would not have their consequential relationships supported by the benefits plan currently offerred to public employees by the city. Do you support lobbying the state to enable the city to provide designated beneficiary benefits to it's employees offerring more equity for all employees than domestic partnship benefits alone could? ------------------------------------------------------ Ameriprise Financial and other large and small area private employers find it cost effective to cover gender reassignment surgery and other gender identity related healthcare for employees under their healthcare plans. Do you support the city covering gender identity related healthcare expenses for it's employees including gender reassignment surgery? ----------------------------------------------------- A vastly disproportionate number of the metro area's homeless youth and young adults are gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, intersex, queer identified or questioning including a disproportionate number in Minneapolis. A significant number of the institutions which house the homeless on government contracts in our community are known to have policies unfriendly to glbtiq families and individuals. What do you envision doing to support homeless people and homeless youth and independent living for independent minors in the city of Minneapolis? ------------------------------------------------------ Clare Housing, which operates housing facilities for HIV-positive people in Minnesota, recently received a grant from the Department of Housing and Urban Development to construct Clare Apartments, a 32-unit facility in northeast Minneapolis. The apartments opened on September 1. The agency received more than 100 applicants for the apartments, which are earmarked for low-income, disabled HIV-positive people and their families. This highlights the shortage of housing in the city for this population. Will you support efforts to bring more housing to the city to meet this populations needs? ------------------------------------------------------ Medical marijuana is an issue of interest to many in the glbtiq communites including persons with AIDS/HIV, cancer, and other disorders where medical use of marijuana has been found to be helpful. Do you support compassionate use policy and would you support the city seeking out ways to allow compassionate use in such cases? ---------------------------------------------------- What past experiences, personal/and or professional, do you believe qualify you to well serve the interests of the glbtiq communities as part of the community at large in the office you seek? ----------------------------------------------------- The independence of going to into business for oneself is often a way glbtiq individuals have overcome constraints of discirmination in the workplace where even today gay men on average make a third less than their heterosexual counterparts with the same level of education and work experience(national figure) and transgender people face incredibly high unemployment. Women in general often leave the constraints of a larger employer for small business ownership upon hitting the so-called "glass ceiling" and women whose gender expression is nonconforming often face additional discrimination in the workplace. Therefore, support for small businesses, particularly for people of color, women, and glbtiq people, is often a way of moving beyond the constraints on their worklives and careers imposed by discrimination. Various minority communities, including the glbtiq community, also have unique needs that are underserved by larger businesses in the community giving small businesses particular importance in minority communities quality of life. Small businesses also spend more of their dollars in the local community generating more wealth in the local community and often help provide for a more sustainable economic base. How do you foresee the city supporting small business enterprise and how do you foresee the city supporting women, minority and glbtiq owned businesses? How can the city support the flourishing of businesses serving minority community needs that otherwise would go unserved? --------------------------------------------------- The Greens are a pro-choice party when it comes to reproductive choice. This is often seen as support of abortion rights and the right to birth control. For glbtiq parents, individuals or couples, this often is not only a struggle for the right to terminate or prevent unwanted pregnenacies but also the right to access equal to that of other potential parents to reproductive technologies when a pregnancy is desired. Do you support equal access under public employee health plans for glbtiq parents to reproductive technologies such as sperm banks and assisted reproduction technologies covered for other potential parents under the healthcare plan? --------------------------------------------------- Police abuse and misconduct against glbtiq individuals continues to be an issue locally and nationwide. A recent report from Amnesty International details not only accounts of such abuse and misconduct but also many things that police departments around the country are doing to reduce their incidence. The amnesty report can be found at http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGAMR511222005 Locally, it is quite common for park police and city police to lecture people about their presumed sexual orientation, gender identity, preferred sexual activities or "lifestyle" while giving tickets or enforcing laws such as park closing ordinances, traffic tickets, parking tickets, etc. As eleswhere, transpeople, particularly young transpeople of color, are reportedly frequent victims of police abuse. Do you support establishing a volunteer committee to look at police/glbtiq community relations specifically and make reccomendations as to how such relations can be improved? ----------------------------------------------------- Do you support training of police officers in respecting those they ticket or detain and otherwise interact with while on duty by refraining from unwanted editiorial comment on percieved or actual sexual orientation or gender identity or presumption of sexual activity someone prefers or practices? --------------------------------------------------- Do you support training police officers on how to properly search a transgender person respectfully just as they recieve training on how to proceed with searches of individuals of the "opposite" sex? ----------------------------------------------------- Do you support repeal of the park board's restroom ordinance that has lead to harrassment of transgender people by park police and staff and parallels the ordinance repealed by the city council last year? ----------------------------------------------------- Many public health issues of particular importance to the glbtiq community and in turn Minneapolis at large have historically beeen overlooked by the Federal, State, and even County governments. The Minneapolis Department of Health and Human Services has often played a vital role in bringing together community resources to address public health crises of particular improtance to the glbtiq community often providing the first line of governmental response to community concerns. This often entails holding public meetings or hearings to bring concerned community interests together to address a local public health problem. Whereas many programs in our community addressing public health issues related to HIV/AIDS, sexual minority youth needs, and needs of glbtiq seniors recieved initial support out of the city's dept. of health and human services, do you favor continuation and strengthening of the department and it's ability to be the first responder to local public healthcare concerns as well as a resource for forming city public health policy? ------------------------------------------------------ Minnesota has some of the strongest state level protections from discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity,characteristics or expression anywhere in the country. However, the state law is one of the only nondiscrimination laws in the country that does not apply to youth serving organizations. Do you favor establishing or maintaining as Minneapolis city/park board/public school policy a requirement that any preferential or contractual relationships by the city/park board/public school with youth serving organizations have nondiscrimination policies including sexual orientation and gender identity for employment, volunteers and youth served? __________________________________ Yahoo! FareChase: Search multiple travel sites in one click. http://farechase.yahoo.com REMINDERS: 1. Be civil! Please read the NEW RULES at http://www.e-democracy.org/rules. If you think a member is in violation, contact the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. 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