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 LGBT news from the Human Rights Campaign for Thursday, July 2nd. I’m Sultan Shakir.
And I’m Candace Gingrich. First up, news from the White House.
The Obama administration will not appeal a $500,000 ruling in favor of a transgender Library of Congress employee who lost her job while transitioning. The deadline for the Department of Justice to appeal the decision was Tuesday. Diane Schroer had been offered the job as an analyst based on her extensive national security credentials, but it was rescinded when Schroer told a library official she would begin work as a woman. The American Civil Liberties Union filed the lawsuit on Schroer’s behalf in 2005.
U.S. Representative Patrick Murphy, a veteran of the Iraq War, will join HRC and Servicemembers United to announce the launch of a national tour urging the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell at a National Press Club press conference next Wednesday. He will be joined by several gay, lesbian and straight veterans, including HRC public policy advocate Jarrod Chlapowski.
In related news, following Lieutenant Dan Choi’s military board hearing on Tuesday, the panel recommended that he be discharged from the Army National Guard for violating the ban on openly gay service members. Choi held a news conference after the hearing, saying he was disappointed but not deterred and that he refused to lie about his sexuality in order to keep his job in the military.
According to the New Orleans Times-Picayune, two Louisiana men filed a federal lawsuit in April against the state’s ban on marriage for same-sex couples. The couple, Kristoffer Bonilla and John Thomas Wray, said they were turned away from the marriage license office solely because they were two men. Bonilla said he had drafted a version of the lawsuit before they applied for the marriage license, already expecting that their request would be denied. Louisiana voters defined marriage as a union between a man and a woman in 2004.
The chief of police in Fort Worth, Texas, told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram that local forces were not responsible for the injury of one man during the Sunday morning raid of a gay bar. He said that the man was in custody of state agents from the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission when he was hurt. The man, 26-year-old Chad Gibson, is currently hospitalized for a severe head injury sustained during his arrest.
A fundraiser hosted by lesbian couple Shari Barman and Jane Stratton was disrupted when police officers arrived at their house in response to a noise complaint, spraying several guests with pepper spray and arresting the host. Barman was arrested for suspected battery on a peace officer as well as resisting, delaying and obstructing a peace officer because she would not give him her birth date so he could register the complaint. The fundraiser was described by attendees as a quiet home reception for a California Congressional candidate, who claimed the noise complaint was fabricated by a neighbor.
That’s the news from us this week – thanks for tuning in.
Have a great Fourth of July weekend and we’ll see you back here again Monday morning.