Friday, July 09, 2010

Today on the Signorile Show

The DOMA surprise came down yesterday in the last hour of our show: In a case that no one expected a ruling on for perhaps a year, a federal judge in Massachusetts ruled that limiting marriage in federal law to a man and and a woman is unconstitutional. This, as we have been waiting any day now for the historic Prop 8 decision -- and rumors flew on twitter and elsewhere last night of an imminent ruling in that case out of California (which of course never came). In the Massachusetts cases the judge, a Nixon appointee (!), used the 10th Amendment, a "states rights" argument that surely is driving conservative wing-nuts crazy because it's hard for them to disagree. But that's not stopping them of course from whirling in hypocrisy. We'll get into it all today.

Yesterday we discussed the lurid, seemingly unscientific survey that the Pentagon is sending to 400,000 troops asking their thoughts about serving -- and showering -- with open gays and lesbians. Servicemembers Legal Defense Network advised gay, lesbian and bisexual servicemembers not to take the survey for fear of being outed and ejected, their privacy not guaranteed. But other groups, including Servicemembers United, are in fact urging GLB servicemembers to take the survey. Why the disagreement among the groups and who should servicemembers listen to? We'll get into it today.


Change of plans: The Democratic governor of West Virgina will call a special election to fill the seat of recently deceased Senator Byrd rather than wait until 2012, largely, it seems, because he wants to run for the seat himself.

Guest / 3:30pm EST - In 2005, Connecticut couple Margaret Mueller and Charlotte Stacey found out that Margaret, who'd been diagnosed with cancer, was misdiagnosed by doctors and subjected to months of painful treatment, eventually leading to her death. Recently, a Connecticut jury awarded Mueller's estate $2.5 million in a malpractice suit. However, Charlotte, who had a separate lawsuit regarding her partner's death, had her case tossed out because, the judge ruled, marriage wasn't legal at the time in Connecticut. Charlotte Stacey is currently appealing this decision, and joins us along with attorney Sean McElligott to talk about this case.

Guest / 4:30pm EST Mary Buonato of Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders on her victory in Massachusetts federal court yesterday, when a judge ruled the federal ban on marriage for gays and lesbians unconstitutional.

Is widespread use of Viagra fueling a surge in STDs among seniors?

NBC and Today Show have relented and opened up the Modern Wedding contest to gay and lesbian couples. Will be interesting hear from those of you on the show who were accepting the Today Show's exclusion.

Is it that the rich are losing their money and thus their homes in the economic downturn or is this really about lots of people who weren't really rich but were able to buy more house than they could afford in the giddy bank loan bonanza of a few years ago? We'll get into it.

B
anning the sale of pets? Yes, that's what San Francisco is up to. Do you agree? We'll take your calls today.

These stories and much more, today on The Michelangelo Signorile Show! Always check back here throughout the day as we book guests and topics, updating this post.

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