It was another potpourri on The Agenda with Joe Solmonese last night. We started out with a preview of National Coming Out Day with HRC’s Coming Out Project Director Mark Shields. The big gay holiday is celebrated on October 11th every year to carry on the vision and legacy of the 1987 Lesbian and Gay March on Washington and the first unveiling of the NAMES Project’s AIDS Memorial Quilt. Given the march’s 20th anniversary this year, HRC is sponsoring a video project encouraging people to tell their own stories via video responses on YouTube. Learn more at the Coming Out Project website.

From there we turned to a little courtroom drama with TV’s newest gay star – Judge David Young. He’s being billed as the “gay Judge Judy” with a daytime courtroom show mediating disputes with a cast of character litigants. Listen to parts one and two.

Then we took a look at the drive to get more straight supporters in the fight for GLBT equality with Anne Wynne of Atticus Circle and Jeff Lutes of Soulforce. Their two organizations are teaming up to sponsor “7 Straight Nights for Equal Rights,” a nationwide week of action to organize and mobilize straight allies.

We talked about the Corporate Equality Index last week and we promised to bring you more so Eric Bloem, HRC’s workplace project associate director, was our guest in-studio. He filled us in on the record-breaking results of the annual report card and how businesses are supporting the Employment Non-Discrimination Act like never before.

After that Joe shared an interview he had last week with Air America’s popular host Rachel Maddow. This open lesbian has a lot to say about presidential politics, GLBT issues and the future of progressive movements. Listen in.

Finally, we were thrilled to welcome Professor Charles Marsh on The Agenda. His book Wayward Christian Soldiers is making waves in the Christian community and he’ll share his thoughts on how the Christian right has it wrong on GLBT issues. Listen in.

There’s a lot going on here in Washington and around the country and we took on a lot of it last night on The Agenda with Joe Solmonese.

Leading off the show, we took a look at the Employment Non-Discrimination Act which will face a committee mark-up this week. Rep. Rob Andrews of New Jersey chairs the subcommittee of jurisdiction and presided over hearings on the bill last week. He was our guest to talk about the bill’s prospects and why the issue is so important to him. Listen in.

The Sen. Larry Craig scandal started a lot of conversation on bathroom behavior and the propensity of particularly closeted men to seek anonymous sexual encounters in public. We wanted to take a broad view of the issue so we talked to two guests with different perspectives. First, Matt Coles who heads the American Civil Liberties Union’s Lesbian and Gay Rights Project joined us. The ACLU filed a legal brief yesterday in support of Sen. Craig saying nothing he did should be illegal. Hear what Matt had to say. Then we looked more at the psychology of anonymous encounters with noted psychiatrist Dr. Jack Drescher.

We switched gears to talk about GLBT healthcare with Rob Falk of the Human Rights Campaign and Justin Nelson of the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce. NGLCC and HRC have partnered with Aetna to present Out & Healthy: The National Health Conference on LGBT Healthcare Delivery and Opportunities coming up in November.

Sticking with health care but from a different angle, more than 100 organizations this week issued a call for a National AIDS Strategy to end the epidemic in the United States. We welcomed AIDS Action’s Rebecca Haag and the AIDS Foundation of Chicago’s David Munar to talk about the plan to significantly reduce HIV infection rates, ensure access to care and treatment for those who are infected and eliminate racial disparities. Listen in to their fascinating conversation.

Finally, we ended on a lighter note with Andrew DePrisco, author of the book, Woof! A Gay Guy’s Guide to Dogs. He takes an irreverent look at our fascination with our four legged friends including a top ten list of breeds for gay men and the kinds of dogs celebrity divas prefer. Enjoy this segment here.

We were back from Labor Day and ready with a fresh new edition of The Agenda with Joe Solmonese last night on XM radio.

Headlining the show was Martina Navratilova – tennis star and GLBT icon. We talked about being an out athlete, her book Shape Your Self, as well as her activism on a number of issues. Listen to parts one and two.

We talked to a few authors last night, another one of them being Sarah Schulman. She’s a noted lesbian author and activist who was on the front lines from the early days of the AIDS crisis. Joe and co-host Mary Breslauer sat down for a chat with Sarah about what it was like in those early days and whether or not things have changed in the past twenty-five years. Listen to parts one and two.

When Rev. Jerry Falwell died earlier this year, we welcomed Dan Gilgoff, author of The Jesus Machine, to give his insights on the religious right. Last week marked the passing of Rev. D. James Kennedy and we had Dan back with us to fill us in on Rev. Kennedy and the current state of evangelicals. As the political editor of BeliefNet.com, Dan also had some great insights on the faiths of the presidential contenders.

Then we lightened the load a bit with another return guest – Andy Propst of XM’s On Broadway. He’s one of their resident theater experts and the man behind American Theater Web. If you’re wondering what’s in store for the new season in theater on Broadway and around the country, listen in.

And, of course we took another look at politics – this time with Marty Rouse, HRC’s national field director. Post-Labor Day, the presidential campaigns are heating up even more and this week, HRC is opening a field office in New Hampshire to help mobilize and educate voters in the Granite State. Marty gave us a preview of the big event.