Candidate name: Adam Medrano Council District: 2 Please complete questionnaire below. You must send a completed electronic copy to Political@StonewallDemocratsOfDallas.org or mail a completed copy to P.O. Box 192305 Dallas, TX 75219 by Monday, March 2nd.

1. Your background and the LGBT community Please share any experience that illustrates your understanding and interest of the needs of LGBT Dallas residents.

I chair the Citys LGBT Task Force. Working with the Task Force the city council passed a Resolution supporting equal rights for employees of the City of Dallas, citizens within the City of Dallas and visitors to the City of Dallas to address disparate treatment, if any ,of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) persons. Coming up on a year that the resolution was passes, I am proud to list the accomplishments made by the task force towards equality.

The City hired a diversity officer in May 2014 Modified Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA)

o Revised the Citys Family Medical Leave Ordinance in May 2014 Modified the definition of FMLA to include designated care recipient

o Revisions to the Administrative Directive 3-72 Revisions to reflect the inclusion of care of a Designated Care Recipient: to the list of

eligible reasons to utilize FML. o Allows LGBT members who have partners, with whom they reside, to care for their partner

designed care recipient if that individual has a serious health condition and meets all the requirements of the Act.

Transgender Health Benefits o Humans Resources Updated the Summary Plan Description (SPD)to Pay for Transgender

Services: Psychotherapy for gender identity issues Added Hormone Replacement of the desired gender Laboratory testing to monitor the safety of the continuous hormone therapy.

Human Rights Campaign (HRC) Municipal Equality Index (MEI) Score 2014 o The HRC municipal index rates municipalities of varying sizes drawn from every state in the

nation. There are 291 Cities with a total population of over 77 million. o In 2013, on a 100 point scale, the City of Dallas scored 81 points. o On 2014 index the City of Dallas scored 91 points. With 91 points, Dallas is now a Human Rights

Campaign All-Star! Proposition 4 Charter Amendment Nondiscrimination protections for LGBT city employees

o The City of Dallas voters supported adding both sexual orientation and gender identity and expression to the City Charter amendment prohibiting discrimination against City employees based on Gender identity and sexual orientation.

Civil and Police and Fire employees Pension Benefits were expanded to cover same sex partners.

Stonewall Democrats of Dallas seek to inform members of the LGBT and Democratic Party community of candidate's political background. Our organizations by-laws require us only to consider candidates with Democratic Primary voter history or or affirms their party affiliation via an oath of allegiance to the Democratic Party. Do you qualify or would you be prepared to sign an oath of allegiance form from the Dallas County Democratic Party? YES and YES

2. Creating an inclusive community Cities compete for residents, tax payers, conventions and new businesses/economic development. As a member of the Dallas City Council, how would you insure that Dallas can compete effectively with other cities in the area of LGBT inclusion?

The taskforce has begun to work with the GLBT chamber to improve in these areas. The Dallas CVB has developed Diversity and Inclusion Policies and added a Vice President for Diversity

and Inclusion

Would you recruit and consider qualified LGBT constituents for your commission and board appointments? Yes, I currently have LGBT constituents serving as my appointees to boards and commissions.

Will you support the Dallas City Council's resolution for marriage equality and also a statewide ban on LGBT employment discrimination? Yes, absolutely. I have supported both through the passing of the Citys equality resolution, which requires the City to place equality issues in its legislative lobbying agenda.

Mayor Rawlings has refused to join the nationwide effort of mayors of 300 cities and 32 states to become a member of Mayors for the Freedom to Marry. This effort is chaired by Mayors of Boston, New York City, Houston and Los Angeles. Would you actively lobby and take action to encourage Mayor Rawlings to join this effort? (Please see http://www.freedomtomarry.org/pages/mayors-for-the-freedom-to-marry)

I have and will continue to work with the Mayor to understand the importance of joining this effort.

3. The City of Dallas as a LGBT inclusive employer

The private sector has seen a large increase in policies and benefits for LGBT employees, how should the City of Dallas remain competitive to attract and retain top LGBT talent?

Working with the Task Force we were able to update policy language in both the City Nondiscrimination ordinance and City Charter to add gender identity and gender expression to both. Also I advocated for the recent expansion of same sex married couple benefits in both the Civilian and Police and Fire Pension.

Do you support comprehensive transgender inclusive health benefits and as a council member work with the City Manager to implement such benefits?

Yes, and I was a strong advocate for the expansion of transgender health benefits which included: Psychotherapy for gender identity issues Added Hormone Replacement of the desired gender Laboratory testing to monitor the safety of the continuous hormone therapy.

I will continue to advocate until we have full inclusion of benefits up to and including gender affirming surgeries.

4. Current Events The Governor and several state legislators intend to push legislation through to curtail the current scope of governance of home rule cities like Dallas. This could remove local control over matters such as drilling within city limits, LGBT protections, etc. Do you favor or oppose this, and what do you plan to do in response? I oppose this and will personally lobby in Austin for their defeat. What are your thoughts on the current campaign finance rules for Dallas elections which set donation amount limits on people newly seeking office but essentially place no donation amount limits on incumbents via unrestricted officeholder accounts which may be used for campaign purposes? I was 1 of 5 Council Members to sign a memo to bring this before the full council. I was the second on the motion made by Council Member Greyson that closed the loop hole to only allow $100.00 of office holder funds to be used towards campaign purposes. The proposed Trinity Parkway toll road continues to make headlines. Do you see the Trinity Parkway as an essential roadway project to alleviate projected road congestion around our downtown core, or are there other solutions that Dallas should be focused on? I dont support the Trinity Toll Road. The following projects listed in the bullets below will assist in alleviating traffic congestion around the downtown corridor.

Complete project Pegasus. (Horseshoe project, Canyon and lower Stemmons) Tear down elevated freeway between East Dallas and Fair Park Tear down I-345

Given that tax revenue for the City of Dallas should rise this year without a tax rate increase, what are the top priorities to which these additional funds should be directed citywide and within your district? These funds should be directed to our parks, streets, libraries, animal services, poverty initiatives, infrastructure maintenance, and street lighting in our entertainment districts (Deep Ellum, Cedar Springs, and Henderson Ave.) to improve the quality of life for all of our citizens. I, Adam Medrano, am seeking an endorsement from the Stonewall Democrats of Dallas for the 2015 Dallas City Council elections. Signed Adam Medrano Date_3/2/2015