national equality march

Humorist and activist Kate Clinton takes heart from the National Equality March and the new generation of activists for gay rights. She points out that we need both the established organizations that have done the hard work of pushing for legislation for years, and the young, new, excited generation willing to push boundaries and move on. Kate's not retiring yet, but she does have hope for the future.

A lot of media attention has been paid to the 9/12, tea party and town hall protests featuring an angry horde of mostly white citizens shouting about socialism and comparing President Obama to the Nazis - often in the same sentence. Our question is, where's the left-wing populist anger? Chip Berlet of Political Research Associates, Joel Silberman, fellow at the New Organizing Institute, and author and journalist Barbara Ehrenreich join us to talk about the rage in the country and figure out how the left can harness it for progressive change. They compare the grassroots attendance at the National Equality March on October 11, estimated at 250,000, with the 9/12 protests stoked by Glenn Beck, and note the need for mass movements to push the Democratic Party to enact the changes it keeps promising--for all Americans.

Daniel Gross asked earlier this week why there wasn't more outrage in the country over the state of the economy, saying that if we haven't seen a revolution yet, we probably wouldn't. Yet popular protests have been happening across the country this summer and fall and show no signs of stopping. A lot of media attention has been paid to the 9/12, tea party and town hall protests. Our question: Where's the left-wing populist anger? Plus all the day's news.

On Aug. 19 Caster Semenya burst onto the world scene with her record-breaking, 800-meter run. But for Semenya, known as The Pride of South Africa, it was a race that was quickly contested when the International Association of Athletics Federations ordered tests be done to verify her gender, thus sparking a cacophony of accusations, speculation and misinformation. On today's panel we ask, "what makes a woman?" We're joined by Janet Green, boardmember at the Accord Alliance, Katie Baratz, a medical student at the University of Pennsylvania, Staceyann Chin, poet, activist and author, and author Sherry Wolf.