Last night was another adventure in live radio on The Agenda with Joe Solmonese with a full plate of news, entertainment and some surprises (even to us). Leading off, Rep. Marty Meehan talked to Mary about his bill to open military service up to any willing individual – gay or straight. He gave us a timeline of the discriminatory "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell" policy and prospects in Congress for lifting the ban.

Switching to entertainment, Joe talked with John von Soosten, the program director for On Broadway (XM 28), about what’s hot in the New York theater scene this year. After that I came in to share a story about young campaign workers HRC recently trained in Washington and sent out on the road until Election Day. Then Serena Sharp gave us a view from the left coast in a commentary piece on how a bisexual woman learned about anti-gay discrimination when she went from dating a man to dating a woman.

In our Upload segments we heard highlights from Little Miss Sunshine, currently being featured on Cinemagic – XM’s movie soundtrack programming on channel 27. In the second half of the show we turned classical with Martin Goldsmith of XM Classics (Channel 110).

Back to some fluff, Joe got the Skinny on skin care from two of the best experts out there – Matthew Malin and Andrew Goetz of the fantastic line Malin+Goetz. They talked beauty, fashion and what it’s like to be in business together as a couple.

I have to say, my favorite segment last night was when Joe and Mary talked to Timothy Zaal and Matthew Borger, both of L.A.’s Museum of Tolerance. When they were young men, Timothy was a white supremacist who assaulted Matthew because he was gay. Timothy turned his life around and began working at the museum to encourage diversity and understanding. He met Matthew years after the hate crime in a chance encounter and after healing their wounds, the two have become friends. Listen to the fascinating conversation.

In Point of View we examined landmark legislation signed into law last week by President Bush that for the first time allows same-sex couples access to pension rules previously only allowed for married couples. The Human Rights Campaign has worked for the past several years for the provisions that not only help same-sex couples, but other people who are not in recognized marriage relationships. The first provision allows one to leave one’s retirement savings to a non-spouse beneficiary – anyone you designate, including a same-sex partner. In the past, a surviving same-sex partner would typically be forced to withdraw the entire retirement account and face substantial taxes, while married couples were not forced to do so. Similarly, the hardship disbursement provision allows gay couples and other non-spouse beneficiaries access to laws that permit people to draw on their retirement funds in the case of a medical or financial emergency. In the past, the federal law covered only a person’s spouse or dependents when it came to accessing retirement funds during an emergency. Jamey Delaplane, HRC’s outside counsel on pension issues and our lead lobbyist on the new law, joined us to explain how the protections were put in place and what people can do to avail themselves of them. Make sure you brush up by listening to the segment

Then came the surprises. We had expected to have Perez Hilton and Larry Gross on to talk about celebrity outings, but scheduling difficulties left us with some empty time. Luckily, our loyal listeners chimed in and we opened the phone lines for your calls. We learned a little bit about what Hoosiers are, talked about Joe skipping class in high school to go see A Chorus Line in Boston and had a political discussion with a caller in Louisiana.

Check back later in the week and we’ll tell you what’s in store for next Monday.

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