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 Wednesday, February 27th. I'm David Paul.
And I'm Shelena Williams. First up, an urgent call for help in the DC Metro Area.
Opponents of a Montgomery County, Maryland measure that would protect transgender people from discrimination have collected more than enough signatures to place the policy on the November ballot. Your help is needed to stop them from taking rights away from resident of Montgomery County. Go to the HRC Back Story blog at www.hrcbackstory.org to learn what you can do to protect the measure.
In other news from the DC area, a candlelight vigil in honor of a slain California student was held in Dupont Circle on Monday evening. A coalition of groups led by GLSEN, including HRC, organized the event. Along with mourning Lawrence King's death, the vigil aimed to call attention to the threats of violence and harassment faced by GLBT people in schools. To see photos from the vigil, go to www.hrcbackstory.org.
Fort Lauderdale, Florida police are struggling to solve the murder of a transgender teen slain last Friday. The body of Simmie Williams Junior was found in a pool of blood Friday in an area frequented by prostitutes, many of them transgender. The site of the killing is near that of another unsolved murder of another trans woman in 2003. Simmie Williams was just seventeen years old.
A New York State Supreme Court Justice is allowing a Manhattan woman to sue for divorce from her longtime same-sex partner, whom she married in Canada in 2004. Judge Laura Drager ruled that, although same-sex marriage is not permitted in the state of New York, that out-of-state same-sex marriage are recognized under the law. While New York does not allow same-sex marriage, it has not specifically outlawed it.
Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee appeared on the Tyra Banks show this week. During his appearance, he told Banks that while he is not "some homophobe," he feels that homosexuality is not the "normal pathway" and opposes same-sex marriage. He also says that he "wants to be the president of everybody." The episode will air on Friday, February 29th.
A new survey of officers in the military reports that most believe that "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" should be maintained. Only 22 percent of officers said that the ban on gays serving openly should be repealed. The survey was conducted by the Center for a New American Security and by the journal Foreign Policy. However, a separate poll, conducted in the fall of 2006 by Zogby International, found that a majority of enlisted men and women don't care if they are serving with someone who is gay.
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.