‘Gay Agenda’ brings gay news to Pitt

With two shows already behind them, Pitt student Kevin Ramser and his friend, Pitt alumnus… With two shows already behind them, Pitt student Kevin Ramser and his friend, Pitt alumnus Michael Elko, have already settled comfortably into their roles as co-hosts of “The Gay Agenda,” a new show on the University radio station WPTS.

“The Gay Agenda” airs every Thursday from 4:30 to 5 p.m. and currently serves as Pitt’s only broadcast devoted to addressing issues affecting the gay community. Elko said he believes it is the only station in the city to do so.

Although Elko graduated from Pitt in 1989, he rekindled a relationship with the University when Ramser asked him to co-host what would become his second broadcast on the station. Last semester, Ramser was part of the team that created “The Love Triangle,” a show on WPTS. Pitt News readers selected him as the station’s best DJ this fall.

Ramser met Elko when he enrolled in the teacher’s AP English Language and Composition course at Pine-Richland High School in Gibsonia, Pa. Now, as a college junior and film studies major, he has reunited with Elko in Pittsburgh to work on a documentary also concerning issues pertaining to the gay community.

Elko thinks the pair works well together in part because of their generation gap.

“It’s a synergistic reaction. I’m learning from him and he’s learning from me,” Elko said. “Your generation is much more aware than it was two decades ago,” he added.

The first airing of the show on Jan. 6 recapped important gay rights milestones in 2010, such as granting hospital visitation rights for LGBT partners and legislation regarding discrimination in the workplace. It also devoted time to address the run of gay teen suicides at the end of the year and Dan Savage’s “It Gets Better” project— an effort that encourages celebrities, politicians and regular people to reach out to gay teens.

The second “Gay Agenda” broadcast last week was largely devoted to discussing how gay intern Daniel Hernandez helped save Rep. Gabrielle Giffords’, D-Ariz., life during the Tucson, Ariz., shooting earlier this month. Tonight on “The Gay Agenda,” the hosts plan to discuss the issue of teen homelessness in the gay community.

Though the show focuses on some serious issues, its names “pokes fun at radical elements in society [that insist] gays have an agenda to plot and take over the world,” Elko said.

So many of the news stories about the gay community are about “victories being won” as if it’s aiming for world domination, Ramser said.

“They think we’re trying to assimilate and then take over,” he said.

Thus the two men are using the show as a springboard to discuss issues affecting the gay community and to promote awareness — not tolerance.

“I hate the word ‘tolerance.’ It promotes a hierarchy,” Elko said. “It’s awareness that sheds light on ignorance.”

The hosts hope to add diversity to the show by inviting guests to educate listeners on certain issues, but they admit that securing the guests can be frustrating.

“There is a strong connotation with the word ‘gay,’” Elko said as he explained why some people might be hesitant to speak on a gay news radio show.

For now, the two said they are satisfied with providing a voice and support system for the gay community at Pitt.

“One thing that prevents a community from becoming a culture is that culture is learned,” Elko said. “In cultures, people get support from their parents or their neighbors. The gay community doesn’t have that advantage.”

All young people feel alone at one time or another, but it can be exponentially greater among gay youth, the hosts said.

“The Gay Agenda” might currently be the only news show at Pitt dedicated to issues affecting the gay community, but it is not the first of its kind. WPTS News Director Richard White said that from 1992-93 Pitt aired another show focused on the gay community. He could not provide the name of the show.

“Unfortunately, we don’t have much of an archive,” he said.

He echoed the two hosts’ belief that “The Gay Agenda” is the only gay-dedicated news show in Pittsburgh now.

“We’re Pittsburgh’s progressive FM,” he said. “We bring perspective to the news.”