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, May 8th. I’m John Lake.
And I’m Sarah Birnie. First up, news from Pennsylvania.
A proposed measure to amend Pennsylvania’s constitution to ban same-sex marriage and civil unions has been tabled indefinitely. It is unlikely the measure will advance this session. The bill had been scheduled for a Senate floor vote earlier this week, but was set aside because it faced opposition in the House.
New York’s State Court of Appeals has upheld an Appellate Court ruling that recognizes out-of-state same-sex marriages. The ruling involves a lesbian couple who married in Canada four years ago. One of the women is a county employee, and she filed the case after the county denied her spouse the same healthcare benefits as opposite-sex spouses.
Representative Sestak from Pennsylvania, the highest ranking military veteran in Congress, has called for the repeal of the military’s "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell" policy. Sestak joins 16 other veterans in Congress who are co-sponsors of legislation to lift the ban on openly GLBT service members. A study conducted last year shows the military could attract as many as 41,000 new recruits if "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell" were repealed.
Children’s book And Tango Makes Three has been named the most challenged book in public schools and libraries for the second year in a row. The book is about a family of penguins with two fathers. The American Library Association defines a "challenge" to a book as a formal, written complaint requesting the book be removed because of content or appropriateness.
Hillary Clinton says she intends to stay in the race to be the Democratic presidential nominee. She won the Indiana primary on Tuesday, while rival Barack Obama won in North Carolina. The next primary is May 13th in West Virginia.
Michigan’s Supreme Court ruled yesterday that local governments and state universities can’t offer health insurance to same-sex partners. The court ruled that Michigan’s 2004 ban against same-sex marriage also blocks domestic-partner policies. Justice Stephen Marman, writing for the majority, said that while marriages and domestic partnerships aren’t identical, they are similar.
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.