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 Thursday, November 1st. I’m Tommy Lodge.
And I’m Sarah Birnie. First up, a good ruling out of the Methodist church.
A church council voted over the weekend to allow a transgender pastor to continue serving his church in Baltimore. Reverend Drew Phoenix applied for a name change, which the church council said will be honored. However, the judicial body did not make a final ruling on transgender ministers in general.
The Rhode Island legislature this week overrode the governor’s veto of domestic partner retirement benefits for state employees. Governor Carcieri (CAR-see-air-ee) said he thought the benefits were unwarranted and unnecessary but the legislature disagreed. Now any public employee governed by the state employee retirement system will be eligible for the same pension and retirement benefits.
Yesterday was Halloween but an annual tradition in San Francisco unfortunately wasn’t a part of the festivities. Usually drawing hundreds of thousands of people, the Castro’s Halloween street party was cancelled out of safety concerns. Last year, nine people were shot at the event.
Election Day is coming closer and HRC is continuing to ramp up activities in Virginia. This week, Governor Tim Kaine rallied with HRC staffers on the ground. To see pictures and learn more, visit our blog at http://www.hrcbackstory.org.
Ohio Governor Ted Strickland has appointed Mary Wiseman as the state's first openly gay judge. Wiseman will fill a seat on the Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas. She’ll take the bench on November 5th.
North Carolina’s first openly gay elected official has died. Joe Herzenberg was a longtime local activist and member of the Chapel Hill town council. A current openly gay member of the council said Herzenberg was an inspiration that helped other GLBT people enter politics.
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.