April 17th, 2007

posted by Michael Cole | permalink

Last night’s edition of “The Agenda with Joe Solmonese” featured a little twist. Regular co-host Mary Breslauer took a much-needed vacation and Hilary Rosen joined Joe with hosting duties.

Kicking off the show, Joe and Hilary talked to Indiana state Rep. David Orentlicher, who was a leader in recently defeating an amendment to ban marriage and other rights for same-sex couples in the state. He discussed that great victory and his views on the future of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender equality in the Hoosier State.

Then Joe shared a great interview he did last week with veteran pollster and Democratic strategist Doug Schoen. Schoen has a new book out — The Power of the Vote — that draws on his 30 years of experience in politics that has included helping elect presidents, toppling dictators and working behind-the-scenes of the Democratic Party. Joe asked Schoen about his view that Democrats are more vulnerable in 2008 than they know and how he thinks GLBT issues will play in the presidential race.

We turned things to a lighter note starting with Joe LaMuraglia, the founder and publisher of GayWheels.com. The discussion ranged from the top-researched cars by GLBT consumers to gay-themed advertising campaigns to which auto companies scored high on HRC’s Corporate Equality Index. Listen to this fun and informative conversation about cars.

After the car talk, we welcomed Eddie Shapiro, one of the authors of Queens in the Kingdom — The Ultimate Gay and Lesbian Guide to the Disney Theme Parks. Along with co-author Jeffrey Epstein, Shapiro brings a special passion to talking about his favorite places — the Disney theme parks, which have been in the news recently because they announced they would allow same-sex couples to participate in their Fairytale Weddings program, which had previously been restricted to opposite-sex couples. Shapiro talked about that decision as well as some GLBT-friendly travel advice for navigating the parks.

Hilary Rosen happens to be the president of OurChart.com, the new online social networking site for women, so we brought in Lisa Parrish, who writes their popular blog The Hookup. She had something to say about everything from the women of OurChart to gay car stereotypes to her own favorite blogs. Hear about OurChart.

Finally we took a look at HRC’s Clergy Call to Justice and Equality — a gathering of more than 200 members of the clergy who descended on Capitol Hill today. Bringing clergy to Washington isn’t a novel idea, except these ministers, rabbis, imams and priests are speaking out in favor of GLBT equality, including passing hate crime protections and an employment non-discrimination bill. Two of these ministers — the Rev. Loyce Newton Edwards, a United Church of Christ pastor from Oklahoma, and the Rev. Nancy Wilson, the moderator of the Metropolitan Community Churches — were our guests. Hear their powerful story.





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