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 Monday, June 23rd. I’m Michael Cole.
And I’m Betsy Pursell. First up, news from New Jersey.
A recent study, released by the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law, examines the potential economic gains that same-sex couples' weddings would bring to New Jersey. The New Jersey wedding industry will receive a substantial $248 million boost in direct spending by gay and lesbian couples over the next three years, the study said. This economic lift will also likely generate over 800 new jobs in the state the study found. The decision by the California Supreme Court to extend marriage to gay and lesbian couples adds to the argument that allowing gays and lesbians to marry is not only a matter of equal rights but also is good business.
New Jersey congressman Steve Rothman announced last week that he supports the legalization of marriage for gay and lesbian couples. Rothman's change in position is motivated by his recent re-marriage and the subsequent addition to his family of three new stepchildren, including a lesbian stepdaughter. Rotham has joined fifty one other representatives in Congress’ LGBT Equality Caucus.
Despite a growing body of evidence showing it is not only ineffective but also discriminatory toward GLBT youth, a renewal of the Bush administration's abstinence-only-until-marriage program for schools appears likely in Congress. The House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies has voted to continue funding the Community-Based Abstinence Education program. A study mandated by Congress last year found that students who participated in sexual abstinence programs were just as likely to have sex within a few years as those who did not. The federal government now spends about $176 million annually on abstinence-until-marriage education.
The Reverend Jane Spahr plans to preside over a wedding ceremony for a lesbian couple Friday afternoon in front of the Marin County courthouse in San Rafael. One of the brides, a lawyer who represented Spahr when she faced misconduct charges for performing weddings in 2004 and 2005, picked the location over a local Presbyterian church. Two weeks before the California Supreme Court legalized marriage for gay and lesbian couples, the highest court of the Presbyterian Church concluded that Spahr did not violate the part of the church's constitution that defines marriage as a covenant between a man and a woman because the ceremonies she performed were not marriages.
According to Amnesty International, the Chicago Police Department has a contract in place that prevents any investigation by the Independent Police Review Authority. The international organization believes this contract offers too much protection for the city's police force. The group references a June 2006 incident in which a gay man sustained a broken nose and 16 stitches to his left eye after allegedly being kicked, punched, and verbally abused by police officers. Along with pressuring Chicago’s mayor to find a solution, Amnesty International may recommend that the city’s Olympic bid for 2016 be denied.
A poll conducted in Jamaica last week found that 70 percent of Jamaicans do not believe gays and lesbians should have any civil rights. The poll found women slightly more receptive than men to repealing the sodomy law or affording protection from discrimination in housing or work. Jamaica’s sodomy law carries a sentence of 10-years in prison on conviction.
That’s the news from us today. Thanks for tuning in to Equally Speaking.
Thanks for watching, and we’ll see you back here again tomorrow morning.