Episode 22 - LGBT News Transcript
LGBT News Transcript
Host: wook77
Hello, this is wook77 with this episode's LGBT news segment. We've got some good news and some bad news. So, first the bad news. Recently, the Western Region Minister of Ghana requested that the police start rounding up LGBT people in Ghana because of a supposed breach of morality. This action was quickly responded to by lawyers stating that the action was illegal and overstepping the bounds of both the ambiguous law and the position of Minister. We'll be following this story as it continues.
In a recent study released by the Children's Hospital of Boston, the rate of homeless teens in Massachusetts translated to roughly one in four LGBT teens who's homeless. Because the study was done in what is perceived as a more equality friendly society, further studies have been proposed to generate truer numbers with estimates predicted to go much higher.
But there's been a lot going on that's fairly positive. The winner of the Breast Summer Ever contest, a breast augmentation contest put on by a Calgary Radio station was transgendered woman named Avery Mitchell, who will be getting her breasts by winning the contest with a huge 76% of the online vote. Meanwhile, the Miami-Dade school district has added gender identity protection to its anti-harrassment and anti-bullying rules and regulations. The Miami-Dade school district is the US's fourth largest school district.
Equality continues to march along with Obama's recent nomination of openly gay Michael Fitzgerald for a federal judicial bench position while Peter Oetken was recently certified by the Senate, making him the the first openly gay man to be certified by the Senate.
As of July 24th, 2011, lesbian and gay couples can get married in the state of New York. The first couple to get married was a lesbian couple from Buffalo. And meanwhile, in Long Island, TLC's Cake Boss provided a cake for another lesbian wedding and, as of this broadcast, it looks like the creation of this cake will be featured on a future episode of Cake Boss. Over three thousand couples in the state have been granted marriage licenses so far.
Meanwhile, down in Washington DC, Al Franken recently put the smackdown on a Focus on the Family representative by pointing out that his entire premise is based on false presumptions as to what defines a nuclear family. This smackdown came in the middle of hearings on the "Respect for Marriage" act, introduced in the House of Representatives by Jerrold Nadler, a Democrat from the 8th District of New York and introduced in the Senate by Dianne Feinstein of California. President Obama has signalled his support for this significant bill that looks to overturn the Defense of Marriage Act.
The most significant news coming out of the US for LGBT folks and their allies is the certification of the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell. This certification looks to be effective September 20th, 2011. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Admiral Mullen have already ordered their subordinates to begin the implementation process. This repeal has been a long time coming and it's definitely something to celebrate.
An ex- National Organization for Marriage proponent and organizer has launched a pro-gay website and is actively campaigning for marriage equality. Called NOME [pronounced like gnome], instead of NOM, the National Organization for Marriage Equality works to educate the public on the issues of civil rights and marriage.
Speaking of marriage, Washington State appears to be the next step along the way for marriage equality in the US. And in addition, there's been some significant legal news that affect LGBT relationships, positively for a change. Courts have handed down decisions that non-genetic parents of children of LGBT couples have legal rights for visitation when the relationship ends. In addition, the Catholic charities of Illinois have been smacked down for discriminating against potential same-sex adopters in clear violation of Illinois law. When Catholic Charities threatened to stop providing services because of this, the state of Illinois said "ok!" and decided not to renew their contract, to the tune of a 30 million dollar loss for the Catholic charities. Instead, that money will go to adoption facilitators that practice equality.
The court is currently waiting for the jury decision in the murder of Larry King. If you're not familiar with it, or possibly you don't remember all the details, Larry King was a 13 year old student that liked to crossdress and was openly gay. He was shot in the middle of a class by a classmate and that classmate's entire defense is predicated on the "gay panic" defense including the scandalous ideas that Larry King openly flirted with his killer, that he wore female clothes and that the principal was a lesbian. We'll keep you updated as we wait for the jury to return their verdict.
Finally, in news near and dear to my own videogamer heart, Elder Scrolls V, Skyrim, is allowing same-sex marriage with the creators saying that they're quote not making a huge deal out of it endquote. Unfortunately, it looks like the same sex relationships have been written out of the new MMO Star Wars: The Old Republic, crushing my hopes. This is surprising because of the history of equality that the developer, Bioware, has shown with games like Jade Empire, Dragon Age, and Dragon Age II. No attribution as to why has been given out but if you're passionate about getting same-sex relationships featured in this, contact information will be provided in the transcriptions of this episode.
If you have any hints or tips, please feel free to send them to slashcast and we'll get those new items featured in the next episode. Thanks!
Host: wook77
Hello, this is wook77 with this episode's LGBT news segment. We've got some good news and some bad news. So, first the bad news. Recently, the Western Region Minister of Ghana requested that the police start rounding up LGBT people in Ghana because of a supposed breach of morality. This action was quickly responded to by lawyers stating that the action was illegal and overstepping the bounds of both the ambiguous law and the position of Minister. We'll be following this story as it continues.
In a recent study released by the Children's Hospital of Boston, the rate of homeless teens in Massachusetts translated to roughly one in four LGBT teens who's homeless. Because the study was done in what is perceived as a more equality friendly society, further studies have been proposed to generate truer numbers with estimates predicted to go much higher.
But there's been a lot going on that's fairly positive. The winner of the Breast Summer Ever contest, a breast augmentation contest put on by a Calgary Radio station was transgendered woman named Avery Mitchell, who will be getting her breasts by winning the contest with a huge 76% of the online vote. Meanwhile, the Miami-Dade school district has added gender identity protection to its anti-harrassment and anti-bullying rules and regulations. The Miami-Dade school district is the US's fourth largest school district.
Equality continues to march along with Obama's recent nomination of openly gay Michael Fitzgerald for a federal judicial bench position while Peter Oetken was recently certified by the Senate, making him the the first openly gay man to be certified by the Senate.
As of July 24th, 2011, lesbian and gay couples can get married in the state of New York. The first couple to get married was a lesbian couple from Buffalo. And meanwhile, in Long Island, TLC's Cake Boss provided a cake for another lesbian wedding and, as of this broadcast, it looks like the creation of this cake will be featured on a future episode of Cake Boss. Over three thousand couples in the state have been granted marriage licenses so far.
Meanwhile, down in Washington DC, Al Franken recently put the smackdown on a Focus on the Family representative by pointing out that his entire premise is based on false presumptions as to what defines a nuclear family. This smackdown came in the middle of hearings on the "Respect for Marriage" act, introduced in the House of Representatives by Jerrold Nadler, a Democrat from the 8th District of New York and introduced in the Senate by Dianne Feinstein of California. President Obama has signalled his support for this significant bill that looks to overturn the Defense of Marriage Act.
The most significant news coming out of the US for LGBT folks and their allies is the certification of the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell. This certification looks to be effective September 20th, 2011. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Admiral Mullen have already ordered their subordinates to begin the implementation process. This repeal has been a long time coming and it's definitely something to celebrate.
An ex- National Organization for Marriage proponent and organizer has launched a pro-gay website and is actively campaigning for marriage equality. Called NOME [pronounced like gnome], instead of NOM, the National Organization for Marriage Equality works to educate the public on the issues of civil rights and marriage.
Speaking of marriage, Washington State appears to be the next step along the way for marriage equality in the US. And in addition, there's been some significant legal news that affect LGBT relationships, positively for a change. Courts have handed down decisions that non-genetic parents of children of LGBT couples have legal rights for visitation when the relationship ends. In addition, the Catholic charities of Illinois have been smacked down for discriminating against potential same-sex adopters in clear violation of Illinois law. When Catholic Charities threatened to stop providing services because of this, the state of Illinois said "ok!" and decided not to renew their contract, to the tune of a 30 million dollar loss for the Catholic charities. Instead, that money will go to adoption facilitators that practice equality.
The court is currently waiting for the jury decision in the murder of Larry King. If you're not familiar with it, or possibly you don't remember all the details, Larry King was a 13 year old student that liked to crossdress and was openly gay. He was shot in the middle of a class by a classmate and that classmate's entire defense is predicated on the "gay panic" defense including the scandalous ideas that Larry King openly flirted with his killer, that he wore female clothes and that the principal was a lesbian. We'll keep you updated as we wait for the jury to return their verdict.
Finally, in news near and dear to my own videogamer heart, Elder Scrolls V, Skyrim, is allowing same-sex marriage with the creators saying that they're quote not making a huge deal out of it endquote. Unfortunately, it looks like the same sex relationships have been written out of the new MMO Star Wars: The Old Republic, crushing my hopes. This is surprising because of the history of equality that the developer, Bioware, has shown with games like Jade Empire, Dragon Age, and Dragon Age II. No attribution as to why has been given out but if you're passionate about getting same-sex relationships featured in this, contact information will be provided in the transcriptions of this episode.
If you have any hints or tips, please feel free to send them to slashcast and we'll get those new items featured in the next episode. Thanks!