Aproduct of D.C., Fenty's long-time political ambitions bore fruit in2001 when he unseated Charlene Drew Jarvis to represent Ward 4, wherehe lives in Crestwood with his wife and twin sons. Moving fromupstart to incumbent, he won a second term in 2004.

Inthis exclusive interview, Fenty talks about his experience with thegay and lesbian community, what he hopes to accomplish if electedmayor, and how he believes overcoming divisions is a key to the citymoving forward.

I grew up in Mt. Pleasant. It was a great D.C.neighborhood then and a great one now. Lots of kids. I went to thelocal elementary school, so I knew everybody in the neighborhood.

Probably when my parents opened their store [Fleet Feet, in AdamsMorgan] in 1984. I was about 13 or 14. The D.C. Frontrunners [a gayrunning group] were around, and without any question I knew of them,and I ran with a lot of the guys and gals. The family business hasbeen in Adams Morgan for 21 years. They've always been very active,and there's always been an interaction with the community.

Over the past few months, you have been to many, many gay andlesbian community events, and you seem to be courting the gaycommunity pretty heavily in your campaign. How big a part doesfocusing on the gay community play in your campaign?

No question about it, we think that a mayor who connects with theGLBT community is a huge priority and it has to be on our agenda on adaily basis. But I've tried to keep that philosophy and approachsince day one as an elected official -- working with the community tomake sure people feel welcome and that their views are beingrepresented. And, of course, since I'm a mayoral candidate we try tobe at every event, GLBT and otherwise. I want to be a good electedofficial.

You have a big geographic ward that encompasses a diverse range ofneighborhoods. Particularly with the changes in neighborhoods such asColumbia Heights and the opening of the Metro in that area, are youseeing growth in the gay and lesbian community throughout your ward?

I want to ask you about gentrification, because that's an issuefor people getting priced out of their neighborhoods. The gaycommunity has sometimes gotten drawn into that because a lot of gayand lesbian couples buy houses in ''up and coming'' neighborhoods andfix them up. Has that caused conflicts in terms of trying to managedifferent issues in those particular neighborhoods?

That's a good question, but I would say no -- and prettyunequivocally. I haven't heard of any conflict between the GLBTcommunity and the straight community as a result of gentrification.That being said, obviously the second biggest crisis in the cityafter fixing the schools is affordable housing. So it's an issue nomatter what member of the community you are, no matter what race youare. At this point even people with professional degrees are having ahard time finding housing. So the more the city can do for that,whether it's strong rent control laws or inclusionary zoning, we'regoing to be able to make this a diverse city in the future. You cantake the neighborhood where I moved, Crestwood: The houses have goneup [in price] about four or five times since we moved in in late1997. I think there's probably a whole group of people who have movedin, from all different backgrounds and demographics -- and that'sprobably true for the people who moved out.

The No. 1 reason is to help the city achieve its potential. The cityhas come a long way, but we have a long way to go. It's time to havesomeone who's going to roll up his sleeves, work 24 hours a day, holdpeople accountable, and come in with a sense of urgency. Given thefoundation that's been built, we can really take the city to the nextlevel with excellent schools, excellent community policing, makingsure that we're bringing everybody into the renaissance of the city.The reason I like public policy in the first place is because it isreally public service. That's the part of it I come back to everytime. I like being able to help people.

One of the things in the news right now is that the city has begunexercising its eminent domain over the baseball stadium areaproperties in Southeast. In terms of the businesses that are beingdisplaced, what should the city be doing?

The law sets up requirements for relocation and for businessassistance. But I think that's the minimum we should do. As a son ofa small business owner, it's pretty unimaginable to have somebodycome in and not only take your property but to take your business aswell. It's an unimaginable thing for us to be asking these businessesto do, so I think we need to be bending overbackwards to tryto find them a location, try to assist them..., and for any daythey're that closed we make up the profits.

How should the city handle the zoning restrictions that restrictwhere some of those businesses -- in particular those with nudedancing licenses -- may relocate?

Currently, the only place you can move a nude business license is inthe downtown core, which is fine if you can find a place, but it'sgoing to be extremely difficult. One, because most of downtown isspoken for, and two, because the rent the business would have to paywould be a lot more than they're paying right now. The stage weshould be in [is] finding a new location somewhere in the city wherethe businesses can relocate. I think there are some. I don't want tosay specifically where, because that's up to the community process,but I'm committed to making sure as someone running for mayor that itwould be somewhere in the city and that we would work with the GLBTcommunity to make sure that it's a location that's accessible andwelcoming.

Some property owners in that area, in both the gay and non-gaybusinesses, have talked about the appraisal of their property andwhat the city is planning to pay them. Do you feel that the city isapproaching that fairly? Should the city be paying more for thoseproperties?

I think the city will pay more. I do. I think that there is probablysome negotiating strategy [on the part of the city], because they areobviously undervalued and I don't think we have even taken intoaccount the [value of the] actual businesses. We've just taken intoaccount the property values. So we've got a long way to go. I justhope that strategy doesn't backfire because the negotiations have tobe done quickly. In the end, we need to pay fair market value, notonly for the property but for the business.

Very simply, these statements are reprehensible. You cannot go aroundsaying that women cannot make more than men and if they do they'remore susceptible to being lesbians and that lesbianism is bad. I donot think anybody should make statements like that about any group ofdistrict residents. It's very divisive, obviously. In the end, I'mnot sure what purpose it served because it ends up further dividingus. We've got a lot of other hurdles to make this city great. I thinkthat creating pockets of division is not helpful. I think that's apart of the district's past. We want to move forward now.

I do hope that there can be some meeting of the minds. There arealways opportunities to educate people and to come together. I thinkthat cooler heads should prevail and we should try to bring peopletogether as much as possible. It would be for the best interest ofthe city in the long run.

I believe in God and Jesus Christ, but I did not grow up going tochurch every Sunday. I went to Catholic school for two years, mostlybecause it was a small school. I'm personally religious and I takereligion very seriously, [but] I haven't had a long-term relationshipwith any specific church.

One ongoing issue is gay marriage. Whoever is mayor for the nextfew years is going to have to deal with it multiple times fromvarious angles. What's your personal opinion on gay and lesbianmarriage? Is it something you support?

Absolutely, I do. Without any question I support laws that wouldsanction gay marriages and civil unions, domestic partnerships,whatever you want to call it. I think the only people who think likeI do but want to slow things down are people who fear retributionfrom Congress. I don't know where that debate is going to go. Iunderstand that some members of the GLBT community are fearful ofretribution by Congress. Whether we should be fearful or not is onething, but there is no question that Congress will do something [if alaw passes].

Absolutely. We are American citizens. Congress has no place gettinginto any law that we pass. I think we should do it in this case and Ithink we should do it in other cases like the commuter tax, whereCongress tries to prevent us from passing laws that have nothing todo with them.

I believe that for democracy, and for rights in general, there has tobe confrontation. We have a group of American citizens right nowcalled the United States Congress, who are preventing us from havingthe same rights that they have and everyone else who lives in thiscountry has. We have to be upset about it and I think this is apopular view, too. People talk about a lot of things, but when theytalk about voting rights in the city and getting Congress off ourbacks, they are in favor of more confrontation.

In the D.C. gay and lesbian community, a lot of the politicalcalculus that's been done on whether to pursue gay marriage locallycomes down to the possibility of political punishment from Congress.Do you consider that a real threat, in terms of negative consequencessuch as loss of funding that the city needs for certain things?

I think Congress would certainly try to do something short-term.Whether it's the majority of Congress or just a few members, I reallydon't know right now. I think that whatever the district decides, weshould stand our ground. If Congress does do something, I think itwould expose the national hypocrisy. But the one thing I said that Ithink is very important is that I've listened to the debates in thelocal GLBT community. I understand that people do not want us to gofar out on a limb either to prove a point or to be confrontationaland then for it to upset their lives.

Marriage is a union of two people who love each other and want toacknowledge, legally or symbolically, that union to the greatercommunity. One of the reasons that I have no reservations on thisissue is that I know that in the past prohibiting people from gettingmarried has been a way to discriminate against people unnecessarilyand unfairly. In the 1960s in Virginia, people of different racescouldn't marry. So it's an additional way -- and one very importantway -- for the majority to discriminate against minorities.

I want to ask you about HIV/AIDS in the district. There have beensome changes in leadership at the D.C. HIV/AIDS Administration,following much criticism of the agency's management and its ongoingproblems working with community-based organizations that providecritical services. How do you think things are moving on that frontnow?

It's a good thing we're getting rid of people who aren't getting thejob done. [New HAA director Marsha Martin] has only been on it fortwo months, so it's a little soon to know from a managementperspective how she is doing. I would say that this city has a longway to go, but I have a lot of confidence in the councilmembers whoare on the [Council's health committee] and the chair of thecommittee to try and hold the executive accountable.

The city has been working with Whitman-Walker Clinic to helpstabilize its finances. Some other HIV/AIDS organizations --African-American community groups, youth groups, and others -- havebeen like, ''Hey, we're having financial problems, too. Why isn't thecity stepping in to help us?'' If you were mayor, how would youapproach that situation?

The short answer is that you want to approach that situationthoroughly. Whitman-Walker needs more funds and these groupsobviously need more funds. We are not currently funding ourprevention and intervention the way we should. I think establishingmore local grants is the short answer. Try and make sure that we haveorganizations that are working in some of the areas where there isnot a lot of discussion about HIV/AIDS, such as in the high schools.The discussion is not allowed in high schools and it should be, giventhe demographics and people who are contracting the disease.

I know that the school system is a big part of your campaign. Howdo you see the gay and lesbian community interacting with schools? Doyou feel the school system is a place where gay and lesbian youth canfeel safe and accepted right now, or are there things that should bedone for that?

I think I have a record of unequivocal support and advocacy for theGLBT community since I've been on the City Council. We have a numberof people who are working with us throughout the city, staunchmembers and staunch supporters of the active participants andprogressive values that I think are important to the GLBT community.The issues are important for the community itself, but [also]tangential issues such as being pro-choice, fighting for affordablehousing, good health care, good education. I have a record of doingall of those things. The reason a lot of people are supporting us --and I am certainly humbled and appreciative of their support -- isthat they are ready for the city to move forward. If we can build onwhat we've accomplished over the past seven years with some newideas, new energy and new vision, we're going to maximize thepotential of the city.

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