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 Friday, October 12th. I’m John Lake.
And I’m Sarah Birnie. First up, a follow-up to yesterday’s National Coming Out Day.
HRC celebrated yesterday’s National Coming Out Day with a video project celebrating the lives of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people and their coming out experiences. If you haven’t submitted your own video yet, go to
http://www.hrc.org/comingout and learn how you can add your voice to the growing chorus answering the question, "what inspires you to live openly and honestly?"
Yesterday was also a special day for Daniel Anders of Philadelphia – but he says the timing with coming out day is coincidental. Anders took the oath of office as the first gay man to serve as a judge in the city of brotherly love. Family Court Judge Ann Butchart became the first openly lesbian judge in the city with her election in 2005.
Two top Democrats in Maryland have signaled their support for civil unions in the past few days. Governor Martin O’Malley as well as House Speaker Michael Busch say they support civil unions in the aftermath of a disappointing state supreme court decision on marriage. Equality Maryland says civil unions are separate and unequal and wonder if lawmakers say they want same-sex couples to have all of the same rights, then why don’t they pass a marriage bill?
An update on the Okeechobee GSA controversy we’ve been following… the school board moved this week to restrict any quote, "sex-based clubs." This is despite a pending court case brought by the ACLU on behalf students wanting to create a safe space for GLBT students. School officials say they are trying to ban clubs that interfere with their abstinence-only-until-marriage education policy.
In military news, recruiters are increasingly granting waivers to convicted criminals to allow them into the military, while still denying openly gay and lesbian people their opportunity to serve. Last year fifteen percent of recruits got waivers for their criminal history and that number is now up to eighteen percent.
Finally, the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission says the Bush Administration has given funds for AIDS prevention to a group in Uganda that has also lead anti-gay rallies. Violence against GLBT people has been on the rise in the country where homosexuality is illegal and the human rights group wants the administration to pledge not to fund any homophobic groups.
That’s the news from us this week. Thanks for tuning in to Equally Speaking.
Enjoy your weekend and we’ll see you back here again on Monday morning.