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 Tuesday, September 9th. I’m Janice Hughes.
And I’m Candace Gingrich. First up, news from Congress.
Longtime LGBT civil rights champion Senator Edward Kennedy has announced he will not return to Congress this month and will remain in Massachusetts to recuperate from brain surgery. Kennedy aides said that the radiation and chemotherapy are progressing but that doctors recommended he delay returning to Washington. Kennedy, who had a malignant brain tumor removed in June, said he hopes to be back in the Capitol in January to play a leading role in writing a national health insurance bill.
The church of Governor Sarah Palin is promoting a conference that promises to change the sexual orientation of gay and lesbians through prayer. National Christian fundamentalist organization Focus on the Family is conducting the "Love Won Out" Conference at a church in Anchorage, Alaska. LGBT rights advocacy group Truth Wins Out has called on Palin to publically express her views on the controversial practice.
A poll released yesterday shows that a proposed amendment to ban marriages, civil unions, and domestic partnerships for gay and lesbian couples in Florida is still too close to call. The Quinnipiac University poll found that 55 percent of voters support the amendment, but that it falls short of the 60 percent needed to amend the constitution. Florida already has a law restricting marriage to opposite-sex couples but supporters of the amendment say the law could be overturned in court.
In San Francisco, hundreds of people turned out last weekend to open the headquarters dedicated to fighting a proposed constitutional amendment that would ban marriage for same-sex couples in California. Guests to the opening of the “No on Prop. 8” headquarters included San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom, Oakland mayor Ron Dellum, state assembly members Mark Leno and Fiona Ma, and HRC Field Director Marty Rouse. The “No on 8# campaign is a coalition of a number of LGBT groups, including HRC.
Meanwhile in Southern California, supporters of Proposition 8 continued to raise money over the weekend in order to end marriage equality for gay and lesbian couples. Orange County donors have contributed 1.6 million dollars to Proposition 8, constituting 24 percent of the campaign’s in-state funding and 15 percent of the total dollars raised nationally. To pass Proposition 8, political analysts say that marriage equality opponents must persuade 6 percent of likely voters to support their cause.
In New York, the state Department of Civil Service said that only 33 gay and lesbian married couples have signed up for the state's health insurance since the state extended the benefits to them in 2007. LGBT rights advocates say this small number debunks the argument that taxpayers shouldn't be funding benefits for gay and lesbian couples because New York doesn't allow marriages for same-sex couples. Governor David Paterson recently expanded the benefits for married gay and lesbian couples to include all 1,324 rights that were previously afforded only to opposite-sex couples.
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.