kristie smith is joining us live in berkeley from the local catholic community. good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning to you. a shift in tone about the role of gays and lesbians. we spoke with two educators this morning at the religioussb[ñ sc in berkeley. they told us they were somewhat surprised. they described the school as a progressive interdenominational christian ministry. in comments from reporters on a flight in brazil, if a person is gay, seeks god and has goodwill, who am i to judge. they should not be marginalized. the church had labeled homosexuality as a disorder. they said men were to be barred from thee priesthood. pope francis saying he won't judge priests for their sexual orientation. in a long and rather frank news conference, both of the educators we spoke with are from gay and lesbian studies at the pacific school of6m religion. they believe the remarks were completely off the cuff but critical. >> i think it's also important in a broader conversation even beyond the roman catholic church so that it really does matter drpá religious

reporting live in oakland, kristie smith, nbc bay area news. >> thank you, christie.while protests continue, others say they support the jury's decision, including as you'd imagine, zimmerman's defense lawyer. >> this is verdict is the correct verdict as far as i'm concerned. there was just not enough evidence to convict him. >> george zimmerman was never guilty of anything except protecting himself in self-defense. >> over the weekend the defense suggested zimmerman should never have been brought to trial. much of george zimmerman's case was built on a claim of self-defense as you just heard. that's prompted questions about what constitutes self-defense and how it differs across the country. we spoke to nbc legal analyst to explain. >> you are allowed to use self-defense to fend off imminent peril and you're allowed to use deadly force if you're going to be severely injured or killed. the difference in each state though is whether you have a duty to retreat or escape before you use deadly force first. in many states there's no duty to retreat and you can stand your g

picturetters showed up and credit kristy smith is live with details. christie. >> reporter: good morning, these are b.a.r.t. workers, members of local 1021, technicians, medicatio mechanics, clerks, been here since just after midnight. normally they would be downstairs making sure the gates are working. instead they're on strike. the first [ inaudible ] expires at midnight. these b.a.r.t. workers tell me they got the best tax hike, it was kind of -- [ inaudible ] 400,000 people ride b.a.r.t. each day, taking it out of service will cripple the commute. we'll be checking in with them in a little bit. but they tell us it's really uncomfortable at this pointing out here. live in oakland, christie smith, "today in the bay." >> thank you very much. we'll have continuing coverage all morning long. we'll be live with the latest on how the strike is affecting your commute. we're also going to have live streaming updates on our website, nbcbayarea.com. >>> we're following developing news out of arizona. this morning, president obama is expressing his condolences

kristie smith is joining us live in berkeley from the local catholic community.ley. they told us they were somewhat surprised. they described the school as a