James Hipps  

What's your agenda? Gay Agenda brings you the latest in LGBT news and issues. This weeks special guest is Alvin McEwen, a 38 year old native of Columbia, SC and a graduate of Winthrop University in the field of mass communications. Between the years of 2004 and 2007, McEwen engaged in an extensive study of religious right tactics and propaganda techniques. In 2007, he wrote Holy Bullies and Headless M\onsters: Exposing the Lies of the Anti-Gay Industry. He is currently the blogmaster of Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters and Anti-Gay Lies and Liars and has written extensively on how the religious right distorts truth and exploits the fears of heterosexual people of faith against the gay community. He is also author of the column Message to the Religious Right (http://holybulliesandheadlessmonsters.blogspot.com/2008/11/this-isnt-just-about-marriage-its-about.html), which to many, properly articulated the rage of the gay community after the Proposition 8 vote.

Jana Mashonee is a GRAMMY Award nominated singer, songwriter and actress. She is Lumbee and Tuscarora, originally from Robeson County, North Carolina, currently residing near New York City. She is currently releasing her music through a joint venture with Standing Stone Records and Sound of America Records. Jana was discovered by GRAMMY nominated producer/songwriter, Rodney Shelton, when Jana was singing funk in her "weekend band" Peace 'N' Love near Charlotte, NC. Shelton recorded a demo of "What I Am To You" and presented it to Curb Records' Mike Curb who immediately signed Jana to his label. Jana has described herself as an "Urban Indian": “ Being an Urban Indian, is to walk in both worlds but not compromise my cultural identity. I cannot ignore who I am and where I came from. I am proud that I can maintain my traditional customs while living in today’s world. ” Jana is also active motivational speaker for Native American youth, supporting such organizations as U.N.I.T.Y. (United Native Indian Tribal Youth), and her own motivational program "Jana's Kids". Jana also designs jewelry in her lines Urban Indian and Indian Spirit, with the profits going directly to her motivational program, "Jana's Kids". Jana graduated with a Bachelor's degree in psychology from prestigious Davidson College in North Carolina.

This past week I had the honor and pleasure of speaking with E Patrick Johnson, author of "Sweet Tea: Black Gay Men of the South".  It was an awesome show with a great deal of insight on growing up both gay and Black in the south.  Make sure you give it a listen.

Also, check out my post on www.gayagenda.com about the great American hero, Congressman John Lewis (D-Ga) as he speaks about his thoughts on LGBT rights and equality!

What's your agenda? Gay Agenda brings you the latest in LGBT news and issues. This weeks special guest if E. Patrick Johnson. E. Patrick Johnson is Professor, Chair, and Director of Graduate Studies in the Department of Performance Studies and Professor in African American Studies at Northwestern University. A scholar/artist, Johnson has performed nationally and internationally and has published widely in the area of race, gender, sexuality and performance. His book Appropriating Blackness: Performance and the Politics of Authenticity published by Duke University Press in 2003, has won several awards, including the Lilla A. Heston Award, the Errol Hill Book Award, and was a finalist for the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award. He co-authored (with Mae G. Henderson) Black Queer Studies: A Critical Anthology with Duke University Press. E. Patrick Johnson is currently performing Pouring Tea: Black Gay Men of the South Tell Their Stories, based on excerpts from his book, Sweet Tea: Black Gay Men of the South—An Oral History, published by the University of North Carolina Press. The narratives were collected between 2004 and 2006 from black gay men who were born, raised, and continue to live in the South. The men hail from fifteen different states and range in age from 19 to 93.

What's your agenda? Gayagenda.com brings you the latest in LGBT news and issues.