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 Wednesday, April 2nd. I'm John Greene.
And I'm Heidi Williams. First up, news from Europe.
The European Court of Justice has ruled that if a company offers pension benefits to the married partners of workers, it must also offer the same benefits to same-sex partners. The case involved a 65-year-old German man who was turned down when he applied for spousal benefits from the company his deceased partner had worked for. The court ruled that this was discrimination.
An Arizona state review panel is being advised to let state employees and retirees provide health insurance coverage for domestic partners and partners' dependents. Analyses by an attorney and an economist for the Governor's Regulatory Review Council recommend approval of rule changes proposed by the Department of Administration with support from Governor Janet Napolitano. The review council will consider the proposed rule changes this week.
Last month, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was forced to intervene with Defense Secretary Robert Gates in order to get Democratic Rep. Tammy Baldwin's domestic partner on a military flight for a congressional fact-finding trip to Europe. Thanks to Speaker Pelosi's intervention, Congresswoman Baldwin was able to bring her spouse on the trip. The Pentagon, on the other hand, still remains unclear on its policies towards gays and lesbians.
A New York appeals court has decided that a gay man who married his spouse in Canada is entitled to spousal health insurance benefits. The plaintiff had requested that his retirement health benefits be extended to his same-sex spouse, but the school district refused. In 2006, Lambda Legal filed a lawsuit on the man's behalf, arguing that New York law requires government entities to respect valid marriages performed out-of-state, including Canada.
A gay man was dropped from his partner's employer-provided health insurance plan following the couple's move from New Jersey to Idaho. In New Jersey, the two were able to register as domestic partners, but Idaho does not formally recognize same-sex couples. Konica Minolta dropped Robert Ryan from the policy when they found the couple had moved to Idaho, where they couldn't register as domestic partners.
Opponents of domestic partnerships want Oregon voters to repeal a 2007 law establishing legal rights for gay and lesbian couples. A group of anti-gay current and former state legislators has filed Initiative Petition 146 with the Secretary of State. It seeks to repeal House Bill 2007, the Family Fairness Act, which became law Jan. 1. The petition requires nearly 83,000 signatures to qualify for the November ballot.
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.