Victory, Finally!

It was exhilarating to see the Senate vote 65-31 to throw out "don't ask, don't tell," finally. It's been a long hard slog, and there's so much more to do to foster LGBT rights. But we should celebrate this victory. I went on CNN yesterday after the vote to talk about what impact this will have.

OutQ's Award for Laramie Project Special

Romaine Patterson and Derek Hartley of "Derek And Romaine," which follows my show on OutQ on Sirius XM (6-10 ET), accepted a Special Recognition GLAAD Award for '"THE LARAMIE PROJECT: 10 YEARS LATER – THE LASTING LEGACY OF MATTHEW SHEPARD', a radio special on OutQ which was conceived and produced my Romaine, who was a friend of Matthew Shepard's. It aired on OutQ on the 10th anniversary of his brutal murder. You can watch them accepting the award, introduced by Stockard Channing here, and you can download "The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later," on the Sirius OutQ homepage.

Also, take a read of Derek's rightful criticism of the media, particularly LGBT media, for ignoring this important production and recognition. Seeing as a lot of GLAAD Awards go to mainstream media that really don't deserve it -- you all know my take on that -- it would have been nice to focus on a project that deserved credit. Go DNR!

"Signorile Saturdays" Debuts This Week

I'm happy to report that my Friday show on OutQ (Sirius 109, XM 98), which often incorporates a "week in review " format and "clips of the week," will be replayed on Sirius Left (Sirius 146) and on XM's America Left (XM 167) on Saturday nights. "Signorile Saturdays" will air on both channels every Saturday night from 8 ET to Midnight ET (5 PT to 9 PT).

The weekend rebroadcasts on OutQ of shows from earlier in the week will continue. And of course, the live show on OutQ continues, weekdays 2-6 ET.

Going On to XM on Monday

"The Michelangelo Signorile Show" and all of the shows on OutQ will begin airing on XM this Monday, February 2, in addition to Sirius. OutQ will air on Sirius 109 and on XM 98. Combined, we will be available to more than 19 million satellite radio subscribers.

For those who are confused: Though the two satellite radio companies merged last fall and became Sirius XM, they have remained as two separate services. Each service will continue to offer distinct channels as well as some channels which will air on both services.

OutQ, I'm happy to say, will be one of those channels aired on both services, as part of basic service, which means XM subscribers will not pay any extra charge to receive it.

So, what does this mean? When I began at Sirius Satellite Radio five years ago we had 30,000 subscribers. It's been quite an experience to see that grow to 8.3 million subscribers as of January 4, 2009. But on Monday, airing on XM in addition to Sirius, we will go to more than double that number of subscribers, to more than 19 million subscribers.