June 12th, 2007

posted by Michael Cole | permalink

I missed our live show last night because I’m in Iowa for the kick-off of HRC’s Legacy of Service tour, but thankfully I’m listening right now on XM Online. In case you missed the The Agenda with Joe Solmonese last night too, here’s a recap.

We started out the show by looking at President Bush’s nomination of Dr. James Holsinger to be the next surgeon general — “the nation’s doctor.” Holsinger’s past writings suggest a scientific view rooted in anti-gay beliefs that are incompatible with the job of serving the medical health of all Americans. We got the perspective of a real medical professional — Dr. Ken Haller, a past president of the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association.

Then Joe and co-host Mary Breslauer welcomed Irshad Manji back to the show. She is a Muslim lesbian activist and author of The Trouble with Islam Today. From her new post as a senior fellow with the European Foundation for Democracy, she came by to talk about differences in how Muslims are integrating in the United States versus Europe.

While I wasn’t in-studio, I did leave behind a report on the Point Foundation and their new class of Point Scholars. The 38 recipients are granted an average scholarship of more than $13,000 to pursue their educations and I spoke with two of them — Angela Clements and Tim Bresnahan, both of whom previously worked at the Human Rights Campaign. They talked about how the Point Foundation is making their future careers as professional GLBT activists possible.

Then Mary shared an interview she had last week with Sandra Bernhard, the lesbian comedian and author. They talked about her newly released CD, plenty of politics and her thoughts on being an out performer.

It’s not The Agenda if we don’t have a big segment on politics, and to that end we welcomed Jennifer Senior, contributing editor of New York Magazine. She recently penned a cover story on the presidential candidates but focusing on their particular personalities. Take a listen to this fantastic conversation.

Finally, we gave a nod to dads this week before Father’s Day with Dan Savage, author and editor of The Stranger — Seattle’s alternative news weekly. Savage talked about his decision to be come a dad and some of the trials and joys of fatherhood. Listen here.





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