This week, Ted, Teresa, and Maegan talk the ethics of outing closeted lawmakers. Last week, the movie Outrage opened, a new documentary by the compelling filmmaker Kirby Dick, who’s previously confronted the MPAA’s rating system and the Catholic Church’s abuse scandal. This time he’s going after Congressmen, Senators, and other elected officials, most of them Republicans, who have held anti-gay positions in public while hiding their own homosexuality in private. Kirby names names in the film, which many news outlets have refused to do in reviewing the film. We have an exclusive short interview on today’s show with Dick, as he talks about the news coverage and calls out these lawmakers as hypocrites. But the film raises thorny ethical issues. A person’s sexuality is intensely personal; what right is it of Kirby’s to expose these people? After all, it’s not against the law to be a hypocrite.

Moving on to lighter subjects, the White House Correspondents Dinner held its own fair share of laughs and even a few groan-worthy moments. But most people agree President Obama knocked it out of the park, right? He was hilarious, certainly, but should the President of the Free World be making so many mean-spirited remarks? Obama’s acid tongue has more than a few similarities to a past presidential jokester: President George W. Bush. And what about the Wanda Sykes roast? She had a few choice lines, and the biggest one – calling Rush Limbaugh a terrorist and accusing him of being the 20th hijacker – is getting some nasty responses from the beltway. Was she out of bounds? Can a joke about 9/11 be funny, even if it’s tasteless?

Finally, we talk the new Star Trek movie. Our resident trekkie, Teresa, calls out the moviemakers for their portrayal of torture: they show it without dealing with any of the issues surrounding it. Can a summer blockbuster like this preserve the brainy thought-provoking aspects of the Star Trek franchise while still corralling a new audience? And what’s with all the mocking of trekkies by the movie’s stars, Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto, on SNL? You do know that trekkies pay your bills, right? All this on today’s Wilshire & Washington!

Listen to the show here, subscribe to the iTunes podcast, or use the Blog Talk Radio player to the right.

Wilshire & Washington, the weekly Blog Talk Radio program that explores the intersection of politics, entertainment, and new media, features co-hosts Ted Johnson, Managing Editor of Variety; conservative blogger Teresa Valdez Klein (www.teresacentric.com), and liberal blogger Maegan Carberry (www.maegancarberry.com). The show airs every Wednesday at 7:30am PST on BlogTalkRadio.com.

With Supreme Court buzz dominating DC, gender issues are suddenly back in style despite the President’s recent declaration at his 100 Days press conference that protecting abortion rights was not a high priority on his agenda. Kim Gandy, president of the National Organization for Women, joins us for a fascinating discussion about equality in Obama’s alleged post-gender, post-race administration. Is this really a new era? Maegan wonders if we’re perpetuating tired, unnecessarily adversarial talking points from the 1960s and stalling our progress on womens rights in general. Should we reframe our approach to the issues? On the SCOTUS front, Teresa asks why it is assumed that a male judge can’t understand the same issues with the same “empathy” as a female judge. If we want smart, competent judges, why does it matter what gender they are? Is this all just the result of a generational gap in which there’s a disconnect on the part of younger, privileged women from the realities of history? And for the Grand Finale: What of the possibility of a gay or lesbian appointment, or selecting someone who isn’t a member of the “intellectual elite?”

Speaking of misogynist, homophobic culture wars: Ted, Maegan and Teresa also tackle the fascinating issue of the Ms. California and her eyebrow-raising stance on marriage rights. While you were looking at her boobs, Carrie Prejean apparently thought it was OK to share her opinion, but was it in an appropriate context? Do the promoters of the contest have the right to strip her of her title for making these statements, or are we just a masochistic nation that loves to persecute pretty blonde girls, as Britney Spears suggested in her cover of Bobby Brown’s “My Perogative”?

Oh, and this weekend there’s a tiny little thing called the White House Correspondents Dinner, with host Wanda Sykes and possibly President Obama. (Gay women are taking over the world, it seems!) Should we really be cracking light-hearted jokes about the dilapidated state of our union these days, and is it appropriate for the MSMers to be so chummy with people in power? (We hear Judy Miller has awesome seats in the coat room this year.)

Listen to the show here, subscribe to the iTunes podcast, or use the Blog Talk Radio player to the right.

Wilshire & Washington, the weekly Blog Talk Radio program that explores the intersection of politics, entertainment, and new media, features co-hosts Ted Johnson, Managing Editor of Variety; conservative blogger Teresa Valdez Klein (www.teresacentric.com), and liberal blogger Maegan Carberry (www.maegancarberry.com). The show airs every Wednesday at 7:30am PST on BlogTalkRadio.com.