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Well, Monday’s show goes immediately to our “favorites” list. We got an uplifting update from Human Rights Campaign Regional Field Director Sultan Shakir on the important state senate races in Virginia where HRC has been on the ground for weeks. Then we shifted gears, got out our forensic textbooks and had a wonderful, free-flowing conversation with America’s #1 crime writer, Patricia Cornwell. Her newest adventure for heroine Kay Scarpetta is called Book of the Dead. Check out the interview…. You may be surprised by Cornwell who married her partner in Massachusetts. Listen in parts one and two.

We also had two great guests from our XM studios in New York. Eric Marcus has reissued his guide for teenagers (and adults) called What If Someone I Know Is Gay. He, Joe and co-host Mary Breslauer chatted about the book as well as the state of GLBT politics today. Out Magazine Editor In Chief Aaron Hicklin stopped by to talk about their Out 100 list that will be rolled out at a celebrity-filled event Friday night. Aaron has a lot to say about how they get to the magic number of 100. Listen in.

Finally, who knew that Jack Kennedy’s best friend of 30-plus years was an openly gay man? Lem Billings never worked for the president, but he had his own bedroom in the White House. David Pitts has written the untold and extraordinary story of this friendship in the book Jack and Lem. He joined us in studio with this remarkable tale. Listen in.

Next week, Joe, Mary and Producer Michael Cole are all taking a bit of a break. But we’ll be bringing you an encore show that featured Air America’s Rachel Maddow and Charles Marsh, the author of Wayward Christian Soldiers. If you missed it, you’ll want to catch this round and for those of you who heard the show in September, you already know this is one worth listening too again.