David Englin, Virginia State Delegate

Thanks to an ever-growing group of committed volunteers, Team Englin enjoyed another successful Volunteer Night yesterday evening while David and Shayna met voters at a precinct party hosted by some of David’s supporters.

Erika and Bruce Falk opened their Alexandria home to families in the George Washington Middle School and Maury precincts, and Tania Blagrove and Eric Graves joined the Falks in hosting the event. David shared his strong progressive

message and his long-term vision for building a Democratic majority in the General Assembly.

“Our campaign is about empowering people and fighting for a progressive future,” said David. “We are committed to doing the hard work necessary to build the Democratic grassroots and — person-by-person, precinct-by-precinct — winning back a Democratic majority in Richmond.”

“It’s wonderful to see so many children here,” said David. “It’s their future we’re fighting for. My son, Caleb, is in Kindergarten. When he graduates from T.C. Williams High School, I want him to graduate into a Democratic Virginia.”

Meanwhile, back at Campaign Central, volunteers from Fairfax, Arlington, and Alexandria spent the evening making phone calls, stuffing envelopes, entering data, and doing the nuts and bolts work necessary to turn that vision into a reality .

Even while David was a military officer stationed at the Pentagon, David, Shayna, and Caleb marched in the DC Pride Parade — Caleb’s first parade — to show their support for their GLBT friends and neighbors.

Tomorrow, the Virginia Partisans Gay & Lesbian Democratic Club hosts a candidates forum at the Minnie Howard School in Alexandria. In anticipation of that event, David is proud to release the following responses to the Virginia Partisans Endorsement Questionnaire:

VIRGINIA PARTISANS ENDORSEMENT QUESTIONNAIRE

Candidate Name: David Englin

Office Sought: Delegate, 45th District

Previous Elected or Appointed Office:
Founding Board Member, Democratic Service Coalition
Appointed to Alexandria Affordable Housing Advisory Committee
Commissioned Officer, United States Air Force
Appointed to United States Air Force Academy

Are you openly gay or lesbian? No.

If elected, would you sign a pledge to not discriminate in hiring, in this office, on the basis of sexual orientation? Absolutely — in this office, or in any other office or position. In fact, I will make that pledge right now. I’m proud to say that my campaign team already includes a number of openly gay or lesbian supporters who know that I consider their day-to-day fight against bigotry and for equal rights to be my own fight as well.

Would you support efforts, in this office, to ban discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in employment and housing? I will not merely support efforts to ban all discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation — including in employment and housing — but I will also help lead those efforts. As a straight, married man with a young son and a military background, I believe I can be a particularly effective public advocate for nondiscrimination policies.

Would you oppose any efforts to amend the United States and Virginia Constitution to ban same-sex unions? I would, I will, and I do oppose any such efforts to write bigotry into the U.S. or Virginia constitutions. Moreover, I hope we can work together to move society forward so that some day we can repeal the so-called Defense of Marriage Act and portions of the Virginia code prohibiting same-sex marriage.

Would you support adding “sexual orientation” to the list of categories for hate crimes protection? Yes. As a Jew, I have personally felt the sting of hate, and I believe we must send a clear message as a society that targeting members of certain groups for attack and persecution is an offense to our most basic values.

Would you vote to protect women’s reproductive rights? Without a doubt. I will fight any and all attempts to restrict a woman’s fundamental right to reproductive freedom, and I will fight for policies that ensure access to reproductive health care, contraception, and accurate sex education. Even beyond that, I will fight for policies that ensure access to pre-natal and post-natal care for women of all income levels, and for policies that lend a hand to young families, so that income and economic status are not barriers to reproductive freedom.

Would you support Family Life Education and guidance programs in public schools that offer age-appropriate, nonjudgmental information on sexuality, tolerance, homosexuality, and sexually transmitted diseases? Absolutely. As parents, Shayna and I feel a deep responsibility to make sure our son, Caleb, grows up with the information he needs to understand and accept himself and others and to grow into a strong, safe, healthy, loving adult. Programs that offer age-appropriate, nonjudgmental information on sexuality, tolerance, homosexuality, and sexually transmitted diseases are an important part of that effort for all of our children.

Have you attended events for, joined, or otherwise expressed support for the Virginia Partisans Gay & Lesbian Democratic Club, Equality Virginia (formerly Virginians for Justice), the Northern Virginia AIDS Ministry, or other Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender or AIDS groups? Certainly. Shayna and I are members of Equality Virginia and the Human Rights Campaign, and, over the years, we have attended events for and given money to a number of other GLBT and AIDS organizations, including Gender PAC, Food & Friends, Whitman Walker Clinic, and the Alexandria Gay and Lesbian Community Association. The first parade our son, Caleb, ever marched in was the D.C. Pride Parade, where I carried him on my back as part of the Food & Friends contingent.

How have you advocated for same sex equal rights in the community at-large in the past (i.e. have you publicly spoken out for policies at your place of business, testified before government bodies adopted written policies for your employees, marched for lesbian and gay rights, etc.)? As an Air Force officer stationed at the Pentagon, I advocated both publicly in articles and talks and privately among my military peers for the end of the military’s ban on lesbian, gay and bisexual personnel. When I was still in the service, a group of Charlottesville high school students interviewed me for a Memorial Day film they were producing of people who were inside the Pentagon on 9/11, and I used the opportunity to argue for marriage equality — in uniform, on tape. I worked hard through small acts of leadership each day to change the culture of the military by making it clear that I would not tolerate the use of anti-gay epithets in my presence, whether they came from peers, junior personnel, or more senior officers. As a freelance writer and blogger activist, I have written about and lobbied Congress and the General Assembly on a number of GLBT rights issues. As a member of the Alexandria Democratic Committee, I recently spoke out publicly to strengthen the committee’s stand on marriage equality. I have always considered the day-to-day fight against bigotry and for equal rights to be my own fight as well.

In what ways have you worked to include gays, lesbians and other minority groups in the community life of your city/county? Have you hired/appointed openly gay staff, etc.? As a member of a religious minority, I have always been especially sensitive to how easy it can be for the majority to forget, ignore, or disregard the views or concerns of various minority groups, and that background has informed all of my endeavors. For example, at the Pentagon, I managed a program reaching out to the parents of deployed service members. When I realized that a number of those parents didn’t speak English, I conceived the Air Force’s “E Pluribus Unum” program to reach out to parents in 100 different languages. Moreover, I served alongside openly gay and lesbian Department of Defense civilian employees, and I made a point to solicit their expertise and engage them as valued members of the team. I’m proud to say that my campaign team includes a number of openly gay or lesbian supporters, as well as people from various ethnic, religious, and socioeconomic backgrounds, all of whom strengthen and enrich us with their various perspectives. Shayna and I boast a wide and diverse circle of friends, and we’re proud to be raising our son in an environment where he has positive relationships with people of all backgrounds.

Is there anything else we should know about your candidacy? This race is about the future of Northern Virginia. I have spent my life fighting for what I believe in, even when it meant putting my safety, my career, or my reputation on the line. I’m not stopping now. George Washington, a great Northern Virginian, wrote a famous letter to the Jews of Newport, Rhode Island, extolling his vision of a government “which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance.” At the dawn of our Nation, great Virginians expressed a profound vision of freedom, justice, and equality that was a world apart from the reality of the day. I believe that each generation has moved us a little closer to realizing that vision, and I ask you join my campaign to add your energy to the men and women of our time who are moving us forward in the direction of our ideals.