Travis Lerol
Election Information:
Party:
Libertarian
District:
31
Office:
State House
Contact Information:
https://travislerol.com
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100076340973264
Survey Responses:
S = Support
O = Oppose
NR = No Response
O = Oppose
NR = No Response
|
Life
|
S | O | NR |
|---|---|---|---|
1.Prohibiting Abortion: Prohibiting abortion except when necessary to save the mother's life. |
X | ||
2.Taxpayer Funded Abortion: Allowing taxpayer dollars to fund organizations that provide abortion. |
X | ||
3.Physician-Assisted Suicide: Allowing voluntary physician-assisted suicide for terminally ill patients. |
X |
|
First Amendment
|
S | O | NR |
|---|---|---|---|
4.Conscience Rights for Creative Professionals: Allowing creative professionals (photographer, baker, wedding vendor) to decline to participate in events or create messages that violate their moral or religious beliefs. |
X | ||
5.Conscience Rights for Faith-Based Organizations: Exempting faith-based organizations from regulations that cause them to violate their sincerely held religious beliefs. |
X | ||
6.Free Speech on Campus: Prohibiting speech zones or speech codes that restrict where students can discuss controversial or unpopular issues on college campuses. |
X | ||
7.Donor Privacy: Protecting confidential donor information so individuals are able to privately support charities of their choice without fear of being doxed. |
X |
Candidate's Comments:
As a Libertarian, protecting freedom is paramount. Religious freedom is constitutionally guaranteed, and no law should infringe upon religion. The same, of course, is true for freedom of speech. Anyone is free to get a cake with any message they choose, but nobody should be forced to participate in any message. College campuses should be free speech friendly, particularly if government funds are used. The same Constitutional limitations on government power that apply everywhere else must also apply in the field of education. If students or staff wish to hold events that are private in nature, they should do so at private expense. Charities should, of course, not be burdened with regulation. I will caveat this by saying that charities that primarily act in a political fashion do run into campaign finance transparency issues. Charities should be used for actual charity work, not as a cutout to enable a political machine. This is an issue with significant nuance, since legitimate charities also have political concerns in need of protection.
|
Family
|
S | O | NR |
|---|---|---|---|
8.Women's Sports: Preventing biological males who identify as female from competing in women's sports. |
X | ||
9.Gender Identity Counseling: Allowing parents to obtain professional counseling for children struggling with gender identity issues to help them reach their desired outcome. |
X | ||
10(a).Protected Class for Sexual Orientation: Adding “sexual orientation” as a protected class alongside race, religion, sex, age, and disability in nondiscrimination law. |
X | ||
10(b).Protected Class for Gender Identity: Adding “gender identity” as a protected class alongside race, religion, sex, age, and disability in nondiscrimination law. |
X |
Candidate's Comments:
There is no need to add these two categories, since they are already part of Title VII. Further, I have concerns that nondiscrimination laws are sometimes used in a fashion that becomes discriminatory. I oppose all government discrimination by any means, and believe the best way to ensure this is to remove the government from a deciding role wherever possible. The above questions do not entirely capture the details of this issue. Private organizations may organize competitions however they wish, and should do so without public funding. Government should not be in the business of redefining sports or tradition. If change happens, it should be organically, from the private action of individuals. Ideally, government would get out of the business of managing sports and funding stadiums altogether. Likewise, parents are welcome to seek counselling for their children. However, I oppose making this a public tax burden. I also oppose the imposition of permanent biological changes to children without medical need. Once adulthood is reached, individuals are free to decide if they wish to pursue surgery or other options, but children, especially young children, are not capable of providing informed consent. We have a duty to protect children until they can reach adulthood and decide for themselves.
|
Education and Public Safety
|
S | O | NR |
|---|---|---|---|
11.School Choice: Allowing the use of tax credits, vouchers, and education savings accounts to cover the cost of children attending the school of their parents' choice, including private schools. |
X | ||
12.Parental Rights for Opt-Out: Giving parents the ability to opt their children out of school materials and lessons to which the parents object. |
X | ||
13.Critical Race Theory: Allowing schools to teach children that America's laws, policies, and society perpetuate systemic racism and that people are either oppressors or oppressed, or privileged or marginalized, based on their skin color. |
X | ||
14.Parental Rights for Transparency in Education: Giving parents access to the curriculum and materials their children are learning in school and allowing them to decide whether or not their children should be exposed to certain ideas. |
X |
Candidate's Comments:
I am strongly in favor of school choice, and I note that the most libertarian state, New Hampshire, has adopted backpack funding, with state money funding the student, not the systems, not just for private schooling, but for homeschooling as well. This has been very successful, with NH ranking as one of the best states in the US for educational outcomes, immense amounts of money saved, and teachers enjoying a higher average wage at private schools than they did at public. I do not oppose the teaching of historical wrongs, and in fact believe that an accurate description of the past, flaws and all, is essential. However, the color of someone's skin cannot tell you their history, their moral worth, or their station in life. Teaching this would simply be racism, which I of course oppose. Public money should never be used for such a purpose. Transparency is essential, not just for parents, but for the public at large. If your taxes are being used to provide an education, you have a right to know what that education is. I am in favor of requiring that all public school curriculum and materials be made available online for public review. Transparency and choice will allow greater parental involvement and superior outcomes.
|
Health and Welfare
|
S | O | NR |
|---|---|---|---|
15.Medical Rights of Conscience: Allowing health care workers and providers the freedom to practice medicine in accordance with their personal beliefs and conscience. |
X | ||
16.Parental Rights for Healthcare Disclosure: Requiring schools to disclose to parents if the school is providing counseling or medical services to a child who desires to undergo “gender transition.” |
X | ||
17.Parental Rights for Mental Health Disclosure: Directing schools to inform parents of any mental, physical, or emotional health information and treatment that a child is receiving at school. |
X |
Candidate's Comments:
I favor approaching abortion from a perspective of prevention, rather than bans. Bans alone are often simply broken, and do not resolve the root issues. Jordan Peterson has estimated that as many as 80% of abortions are chosen for economic reasons, and lower taxes and a lesser regulatory burden might prove effective in reducing the demand for abortion. One possibility would be extending the existing tax deduction for a dependent to a pregnant mother. After all, surely an unborn child would qualify as dependent. On the subject of euthanasia, I must emphasize that the strongest safeguards are necessary to ensure that informed consent is required in every circumstance, and that every other option is exhausted first. I have no wish to extend the suffering of people who cannot be saved, but neither do I wish it to be advocated in place of other solutions.