gay issues in the u.s.

Happy LGBT Pride Month! Lots to report on THIS week's show, but first a note on NEXT week's show. Ann and I will be taking a week off and marking the 25th anniversary of the passage of the NYC lesbian and gay rights bill by screening a documentary on the subject, "Rights and Reactions: Lesbian and Gay Rights on Trial" by the late Phil Zwickler and the very much alive Jane Lippman. The film looks at the battle over the bill in 1986, fifteen years after it was introduced as the first piece of legislation proposing to ban discrimination based on "sexual orientation." In the midst of the early years of the AIDS crisis, the bill finally passed. BREAKING: After we taped on Tuesday, Illinois issued its first civil union licenses this morning, launching a historic day for same-sex couples across the state. Janean Watkins and Lakeesha Harris camped overnight outside the Daley Center to be the first in line in Cook County when the state's new civil unions law kicked in. (Nancy Stone/Chicago Tribune). For video: http://www.chicagotribune.com/videobeta/?watchId=47306024-9d6b-425e-a00a.... A new Gallup poll found that a majority of Americans thinks that 25% of their fellow Americans are gay or lesbian. A Texas court voids the marriage of a transgendered woman whose husband died fighting a fire. The federal government issues new guidelines to help protect transgendered employees. In Tennessee, activists fight back against the new law there banning local LGBT rights laws. For more information, go to www.tnep.org. A marriage equality supporting Democrat wins a special election for Congress in upstate New York in one of the most Republican districts in the country. NY's Mayor Bloomberg gives a speech supporting marriage equality, but refuses to stop donating big bucks to the anti-gay Republicans who are holding it up. For updates on the campaign for the marriage equality bill in New York, go to: www.prideagenda.org. The Human Rights Campaign makes an early endorsement of Barack Obama for re-election. A gay boy in Maine is elected prom queen at his small town HS and his boyfriend king. We'll have a video news report. It's the 30th anniversary of the date the Centers for Disease Control first published an article about a mysterious new illness that turned out to be AIDS. Hank Plante, an out gay veteran reporter who covered AIDS from the beginning, returns to KCBS for a series of reports on the epidemic. You can see the first installment at: http://www.lgbtpov.com/2011/05/aids-at-30-hank-plante-on-the-early-days-...

In the news this week: In two different cases, federal judges in the 9th Circuit ordered benefits for gay and lesbian employees, one to court employees. Andy and Ann explain the recent, nuanced, limited affirmation of same sex couples married elsewhere by the New York Supreme Court. A look at the latest right-wing Christian "ecumenical movement" to attack LGBT and abortion rights, among others. And film clips from the anti-gay Utah legislator who has decided he's open to some LGBT rights, although, as you'll see in the clips, his response is nuanced as well. "Gay USA" is a weekly news-hour offering comprehensive news and analysis by and about the LGBT community and lively repartee between hosts Ann Northrop and Andy Humm, as well as interviews with special guests.