Metro DC PFLAG Board of Education Candidate Questionnaires and Responses, 2018-2024

Since 2018, the Metro DC Chapter of PFLAG has sent questionnaires to all candidates for the Montgomery County Board of Education.  These responses helped to educate candidates, to find out which candidates were LGBTQ+ allies, and to identify which candidates did not support the advances we had achieved. 

2024

At Large and District 2 and 4 (links to all in these posts)

https://davidfishback.blogspot.com/2024/03/metro-dc-pflag-montgomery-county_19.html or https://pflagdc.org/advocate/metro-dc-pflag-blog/metro-dc-pflag-montgomery-county-maryland-board-of-education-candidate-questionnaires-2024

2022

At Large

https://davidfishback.blogspot.com/2022/05/metro-dc-pflag-montgomery-county-at.html

District 1

https://davidfishback.blogspot.com/2022/05/metro-dc-pflag-montgomery-county_55.html

District 3

https://davidfishback.blogspot.com/2022/05/metro-dc-pflag-montgomery-county_7.html

 

District 5

https://davidfishback.blogspot.com/2022/05/metro-dc-pflag-montgomery-county.html

2020

At-Large

https://davidfishback.blogspot.com/2020/03/metro-dc-pflag-montgomery-county-at_22.html 

District 2 and 4

https://davidfishback.blogspot.com/2020/03/metro-dc-pflag-montgomery-county.html

 

2018

At-Large

https://davidfishback.blogspot.com/2018/05/metro-dc-pflag-montgomery-county-at.html

Districts 1, 3, and 5

https://davidfishback.blogspot.com/2018/05/metro-dc-pflag-montgomery-county.html

 

Congressman Nadler is right about the dangers of the Anti-Semitism Awareness Act of 2023

Warning: The House passage yesterday of the Anti-Semitism Awareness Act of 2023, a bill codifying the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance “working definition” of antisemitism, notwithstanding its name, is very dangerous, as Congressman Jerry Nadler explained on the floor of the House yesterday. I strongly urge that people read Congressman Nadler's statement.

We would be far better off with HB 7910, the Countering Anti-Semitism Act. I suspect the MAGA Republican Speaker would not let HB 7910 come to a vote. The Senate version of HB 7910 was endorsed by Rabbi Jonah Pesner, Executive Director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism.

In 2022, there was a controversy in Montgomery County (Maryland) over the County Council’s proposed resolution to adopt the IHRA definition of anti-semitism. After considerable discussion, Paragraphs 11 and 12 were added to the Montgomery County resolution that passed. They did not go far enough, in my view, but they did ameliorate some of the dangers I and others warned about:

11. The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s Working Definition is intended to be a non-legally binding statement of guidance and educational tool to help combat antisemitism in Montgomery County, Maryland. Nothing in this resolution should be construed to limit anyone’s right to free speech or political debate, which are protected under the First Amendment.

12. Modern forms of antisemitism can manifest through anti-Zionism when denying the Jewish right to existence and self-determination or employing an antisemitic trope. However, criticism of Israeli government policies or actions does not constitute antisemitism.

But, as Congressman Nadler correctly notes, HB 6090 would bar consideration of such perspectives.