Today’s book salon with Lee Badgett discussing her book, ‘When Gay People Get Married’, is incredibly timely. On the heels of Judge Walker’s order finding Prop 8 unconstitutional, America has begun anew a conversation about whether same sex couples ought to be afforded the same right to marry as opposite sex couples.

Few people are as studied and knowledgeable as Lee Badgett on this subject. Aside from her professional roles as an Associate Professor of Economics at the University of Massachusetts, Amerherst and as Research Director for UCLA’s Williams Institute on Sexual Orientation Law and Public Policy, she and her wife are married under Massachusetts soon after it became the first state in the U.S. to afford marriage rights to same sex couples.

Barney Frank is one of the most well-known members of the United States Congress. His sharp wit and even sharper tongue provides the media, pundits, and political observers with a seemingly endless supply of one-liners that Sarah Palin only wishes she could deliver.

Nearly everyone refers to him simply as Barney. He’s become one of those politicians who is so well branded that the entire world seems to be on a first name basis. It’s a rare status in the political world but one that is well deserved in his case.