Good morning, and thanks for tuning in to Equally Speaking, your morning dose of GLBT news from the Human Rights Campaign for Thursday, March 13th. I'm Cuc Vu.

And I'm Tommy Lodge. First up, news from Ohio.

The Ohio state legislature has introduced a bill outlawing discrimination in employment, housing or public accommodation based on sexual orientation or gender identity. The Human Rights Campaign is working with Equality Ohio to push for hearings on the bill. For more on HRC's work in Ohio, visit the Back Story blog at H-R-C Back Story dot org.

An AIDS relief bill that includes language which would lift the U.S. travel ban on HIV positive people is set for a vote today in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Activists oppose the ban as discriminatory since HIV is the only medical condition which can be used to deny foreigners an entrance visa. Representative Barbara Lee from California and Senator John Kerry from Massachusetts have joined with Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese to push for reversing the ban.

A University of Hawaii official has said the school is in the process of accommodating same-sex couples in family housing. The statement came one day after a gay couple filed a lawsuit claiming they were denied family housing for the current school year. The rejection letter from the University stated family housing is only for opposite-sex couples.

The Netherlands' highest court has rejected a gay Iranian man's request for asylum. He will now be deported to the U.K., where his original asylum request was also denied. Unless he wins his appeal, the asylum seeker will be sent back to Iran, a country where GLBT people are routinely put to death.

The Kansas Supreme Court has effectively killed a law banning picketing at funerals. The law was passed in response to Fred Phelps and the Westboro Baptist Church's picketing of military funerals. The federal government and at least 37 states have enacted similar laws in response to Phelps and his church.

The International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission will honor the late California congressman Tom Lantos at a ceremony next month in San Francisco. Lantos was the only Holocaust survivor serving in Congress, and was a vocal supporter of GLBT civil rights. Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa will also be honored at the event.

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.