Equally Speaking
Equally Speaking
Monday, July 23, 2007
We’ll start out HRC's daily webcast with a roundup up state news.
First to Ohio. An anti-gay group that hoped to put Cincinnati’s non-discrimination ordinance up to a public vote is now mired in an election fraud case. Two women who had worked for the group Equal Rights, Not Special Rights have pleaded guilty to election fraud, having falsified names on a petition to put the GLBT-inclusive law up to repeal. At a hearing last week the judge in the case also implied that the leader of the group, state Representative Tom Brinkman, might also be involved.
Turning to Oregon, an anti-gay group there is trying to overturn recently passed statewide domestic partnership and non-discrimination legislation. The Associated Press reports that the group Defense of Family and Marriage Again needs to collect just over 55,000 signatures before September 26 to put the question to voters in 2008. If the group is successful, implementation of the laws scheduled for January 1 could be delayed.
In New Jersey, Governor John Corzine is asking UPS to reconsider their denial of civil union recognition we told you about last week. On Friday he wrote to the company asking them to offer health insurance benefits to couples that have entered into a civil union, just as they do to couples that are married. UPS says union contracts preclude them from offering the benefits.
In international news, the island nation of Samoa is hosting the South Pacific Games next month and for the occasion they had published rules that forbid athletes from engaging in same-sex sexual activities. This week, the governing committee reversed the rule, saying it was never meant to be published, and they issued an apology.
Ireland’s Supreme Court ruled this week in favor of a sperm donor in a dispute with two lesbian women raising the child together. The women had wanted to move out of the country with their son, but the donor petitioned to keep the boy in Ireland. The court ruled that the women could not leave with their son for more than six weeks at a time.
Finally, tune in tonight to "The Agenda with Joe Solmonese," HRC's hit show on XM Satellite Radio. Joe will be talking to two women involved in a new documentary, God and Gays, as well as discussing a case of a women denied a tax deduction for her gender-reassignment surgery. More information is available at www.hrc.org/theagenda.