Equally Speaking
The following is a transcript of HRC’s morning news webcast "Equally Speaking." To view the current videos visit the main Equally Speaking page.
Good morning, and thanks for tuning in to Equally Speaking, your morning dose of GLBT news from the Human Rights Campaign for Tuesday, July 15th. I’m Candace Gingrich.
And I’m Brad Mayer. First up, news from the U.S. Census Bureau.
The U.S. Census Bureau announced its plans to edit the 2010 census responses of gay and lesbian couples who marry legally in California, Massachusetts or any other state. The bureau followed the same procedure for the 2000 census, and it does not plan to change even though gay and lesbian couples can now marry in California and Massachusetts. Critics say this decision will misrepresent the records of gay and lesbian married couples and degrade the quality of the government's demographic data.
Bishop Gene Robinson of New Hampshire, the first openly gay U.S. Episcopal bishop, was barred from a once-a-decade Anglican meeting so that he wouldn't become a focus of the global event. Instead, Robinson will join GLBT members of the Anglican Church next week after the conference holds its opening worship to hold a separate service nearby. While in England this past weekend, Robinson also joined Sir Ian McKellen at a London literary festival for the British premiere of "For the Bible Tells Me So."
UNITE HERE, a coalition of labor leaders and supporters of marriage equality in California, announced a full-scale boycott of the Manchester Grand Hyatt and other Manchester-owned properties because their owner, Douglas Manchester, has donated one hundred and twenty five thousand dollars to a ballot initiative to deny marriage to gay and lesbian couples in California. Protect Marriage dot com is the beneficiary of Manchester’s donation and UNITE HERE aims to inform Californian’s about the businessman’s equality-denying contributions.
Keith Gross, a gay candidate for the Georgia House of Representatives, has been removed from the fall ballot because of his failure to meet the two-year minimum residency requirement to run for state office. Gross would have been the first openly gay man to serve in the Georgia house if elected. The state's Democratic Party spokesperson said that the Gross campaign is considering an appeal.
The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation has praised ABC, ranking the network highest among all broadcast networks where gay and lesbian characters are portrayed. FX tops the cable networks monitored. GLAAD is pushing NBC, who received a failing grade from the group, to include more gay characters.
A court in Sicily has ordered the transport ministry to pay a man one hundred thousand euros in damages for forcing him to repeat his driving test because he is gay. The knowledge of the man’s sexual orientation had been relayed from doctors of the ministry of defence, to whom the man had disclosed the information during a medical examination for military service. The court had determined the man’s constitutional rights had been breached.
That’s the news from us today. Thanks for tuning in to Equally Speaking.
Have a great day, and we’ll see you back here again tomorrow morning.