Series Podcast: This Way Out

In the Texas state legislature, Christian Democratic Representative James Talarico gave a biblically-based rebuke against a Republican Christian nationalist bill to post the Ten Commandments in all public school classrooms — and it went viral. The repeal of the U.K.’s notorious “no promo homo” Section 28 and the opening of Lord of the Rings: Return of the King made mid-December 2003 a joyous season for world-renowned actor Sir Ian McKellen. He greeted the news at an LGBTQ gathering at Premiere House in Wellington, New Zealand (recorded by Hugh Young of Access Radio’s GayBC). And in NewsWrap: Uganda’s infamous Anti-Homosexuality Act 2023 faces a quadruple challenge in the nation’s Constitutional Court, Scotland’s Gender Recognition Reform Bill loses the first round of its fight for approval from the British government, Jordanian queer activists forced to flee from government persecution, Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers vetoes a Republican bill to ban pediatric gender-affirming healthcare, Florida defends schoo

Cody Connor is fighting for his trans daughter in the face of Virginia Governor Glen Youngkin’s “model policies” for schools. Writer/director Emile Gaudreault’s 2003 comedy remains a cross-cultural favorite (interviewed by John Frame in Brisbane). Plus, can exorcism save Illinois from marriage equality? And in NewsWrap: The Thai Cabinet approves an amendment to the Civil Code to open marriage to gay and lesbian couples, Nepal finally registers its first same-gender couple since the Supreme Court order in July, Russia’s Supreme Court outlaws the non-existent “international public LGBT movement,” Florida’s Republican lawmakers are bent on expanding “Don’t Say Gay” to clamp down on queer advocacy, Iowa’s book ban faces two separate lawsuits, and more international LGBTQ news reported this week by Ava Davis and John Dyer V (produced by Brian DeShazor).  All this on the December 4, 2023 edition of This Way Out! Join our family of listener-donors today at http://thiswayout.org/donate/

A spoken-word production featuring works by members of QueerWise, a Los Angeles-based, multi-generational writing and performance group. Living in the moment while facing the future, they tackle hard-to-relive histories and magical memories, present-day dangers and hopeful omens. The cast includes Gordon Blitz, Marie Cartier, Lucia Chappelle, Antonia Garcia-Orozco, Christine Papalexis, Jim Pentecost, Robin Podolsky and David Trudell. Robin Podolsky is the head writer, and the group is led by actor-activist-playwright Michael Kearns. Produced for This Way Out by Lucia Chappelle. (NewsWrap returns next week.) All this on the November 27, 2023 edition of This Way Out! Join our family of listener-donors today at http://thiswayout.org/donate/

Private notes between Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas are the literature of love in “Precious Baby Always Shines” (commentary by Janet Mason). The funny, sophisticated, and slightly ribald 1931 film “Girls About Town” takes us on a festive cultural sojourn in search of vintage queer gold (commentary by John Dyer V). And in NewsWrap: the Church of England will “experiment” with special services to bless queer partners for a trial period, activists are not buying the official explanation of the shocking death of non-binary Mexican judge Jesús Ociel Baena, Asia’s first Gay Games leaps all of the official hurdles that China could lay before its Hong Kong hosts, the U.S. Supreme Court refuses to grant an emergency request to overturn an injunction against Florida’s ban on family-friendly drag shows, One Million Moms protest Macy’s “non-binary and transgender extravaganza” Thanksgiving Day Parade, and more international LGBTQ news reported this week by Joe Boehnlein and Elena Botkin-Levy (produced by Brian DeS

Two flashback reports in which we covered major high court rulings that led to marriage equality: one in the Canadian province of Ontario, and one 20 years ago this week in the US state of Massachusetts. Featuring Canadian litigant Michael Leshner; Mary Bonauto of Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders; Massachusetts plaintiffs Gloria Bailey and Linda Davies, Mike Horgan and Hillary and Julie Goodridge; Massachusetts Republican Governor Mitt Romney; Democratic Massachusetts State Representative Phil Travis; Massachusetts U.S. Congressman Barney Frank.(Reporters: Heather Kitching, Greg Gordon) And in NewsWrap: Latvia’s Parliament creates civil unions for same-gender couples with fewer rights than their heterosexual counterparts, more than a million people celebrate Pride in Buenos Aires demanding anti-bias protections and a comprehensive trans law, the director of Budapest’s Hungarian National Museum was fired this week for allowing young people to see the inclusive World Press Photo Exhibit, a U.S. federal

The U.S. Episcopal Church and by extension the worldwide Anglican Communion was rocked by the selection of the first out gay bishop twenty years ago this week. We’ll take you back to the victorious consecration ceremony for the Rt. Rev. Gene Robinson at the University of New Hampshire's Whittemore Center in Durham, November 2, 2003. And in NewsWrap: Jamaica’s Supreme Court leaves the nation stuck with its British colonial-era anti-queer sex laws, Hungary’s far-right government bars youth from the World Press Photo Exhibition because of five pictures of elderly queers, Taiwan’s Vice President Lai Ching-te joins an estimated 180,000 celebrants at the Taipei Pride March, Johannesburg Pride dedicates their parade to LGBTQ+ Ugandans and all Africans who “cannot march for themselves,” the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals puts Idaho’s school bathroom bill on hold again, new Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Mike Johnson is a far right white Christian nationalist with a wealth of anti-queer skeletons i

A unique program for LGBTQ seniors led by West Hollywood, California’s first Poet Laureate Steven Reigns uses poetry as a tool to capture their life experiences and create a live performance piece. Reigns discusses the workshop’s process and goals, and participants Alicia Arbio, Hank Henderson, Ingrid Paulina Rodas, Louise Moore, Nick Paul and Terry Anglin are featured (produced by Brian DeShazor). And in NewsWrap: the Nigerian government’s anti-LGBTQ crackdown escalates with the arrest of 76 people at an alleged “gay wedding,” South Korea’s Constitutional Court upholds the Military Criminal Act’s ban on gay sex between service members, Austria plans to compensate gay men who were unjustly prosecuted for adult homosexual acts, relatively obscure Congressman Mike Johnson of Louisiana is elected Speaker of the Republican-led U.S. House of Representatives with a homophobic and misogynistic track record, “Libs of TikTok” social media influencer Chaya Raichik added to the Anti-Defamation League’s “Glossary of Ext

A collaborative of Indigenous and settler researchers is studying the intersections of Indigeneity, gender, sexual orientation and geography in a “dry lab” — a laboratory that does its work on computers rather than with beakers or Bunsen burners. Co-founder Harlan Pruden says the goal is to combine good relations and indigenous ways of knowing (produced by Lauren Schmitt). And in NewsWrap: India’s Supreme Court defers to Parliament to enact marriage equality legislation, Nepalese lower courts refuse to register the marriage of a queer couple despite the Supreme Court’s provisional marriage order, a Japanese family court slams the surgery pre-requisite for transgender ID change, Poland’s far right “LGBTQ-Free” party fails to win enough seats in Parliament to form a new government, Saskatchewan’s decision to prohibit students from changing their names or pronouns at school parental consent drives a human rights commissioner to quit, U.S. federal judges take action on injunctions against Idaho’s anti-trans bath

In the aftermath of her son Matthew’s infamous murder in 1998, Judy Shepard and her surviving family take on the campaign to pass hate crimes legislation, and establish a foundation to support queer youth (interviewed by Eric Jansen of “Out in the Bay Radio”). And in NewsWrap: Bulgaria’s Supreme Court clears punk music star Milena Slavova of discrimination charges for her viral homophobic social media post, failed anti-queer French presidential candidate Éric Zemmour is fined for denigrating lesbian mothers, Spokane, Washington’s Odyssey Youth Movement is vandalized four times in less than a month, the Public Library in Madison, Alabama pulls a picture book from its children’s section because the author’s last name is Gay, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals upholds a lower court’s block of Florida’s unconstitutional ban on family-friendly drag shows, the Parliament of the Australian state of New South Wales hosts its own Drag Storytime, and more international LGBTQ news report

In commemoration of the 25th anniversary of the murder of Matthew Shepard, we rebroadcast our coverage of the 1998 hate crime that sparked an international outcry. The report features University of Wyoming Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Association President Jim Osborne, Wyoming Governor Jim Geringer and state Representative Michael Massey, Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Center Executive Director Lorri Jean, Human Rights Campaign legal counselor Tony Varona, gay Massachusetts Congressman Barney Frank, comedian Ellen DeGeneres, Shepard’s friend Walter Bouden and parents Dennis and Judy Shepard, plus music by Melissa Etheridge and Blackberri. And in NewsWrap: a Mauritian activist wins his Supreme Court challenge to the colonial-era law against sex between men, the organization Eswatini Sexual and Gender Minorities says the Minister of Commerce, Industry and Trade still refuses to grant it legal recognition, fanatical Christian bikers try to blockade a peaceful pro-LGBTQ march in Beirut, 14 supposedly queer-

Skott Freedman’s 2003 anthology “Bi the People” boosted the audibility of bisexual musicians, including Jill Sobule and Leigh Fischer (interviewed by JD Doyle). Irish folksinger Brian Kennedy turned being outed into an opportunity to be a model of transparency (interviewed by John Frame). And in NewsWrap: Uganda’s “Kill the Gays” law sparks vigilante violence, cross-dressing Iraqi social media star Noor BM is shot dead, the U.S. Congress ignores Boebert’s pointless anti-trans bile, Trump’s desperate Republican rivals play anti-trans cards, an appeals court unblocks Kentucky and Tennessee pediatric gender-affirming healthcare bans, a Florida school district won’t let students “read gay,” and more international LGBTQ news reported this week by Allan Tijamo and Elena Botkin-Levy (produced by Brian DeShazor).  All this on the October 2, 2023 edition of This Way Out! Join our family of listener-donors today at http://thiswayout.org/donate/

Twenty years ago this month, the marriage equality storyline in Canada was poised at a frustrating turning point (reported by Heather Kitching). The world’s largest folk festival has for two decades included queer events, including Gay Sunday (reported by Agnes Kruger). And in NewsWrap: U.S. President Joe Biden addresses the U.N. General Assembly on the Universal Convention on Human Rights, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan makes an embarrassing mistake confusing U.N. development summit banners with LGBTQ rainbow flags, “The Nigerian 69” who were arrested for a “same-sex wedding” are released on bail, a Hong Kong court orders the legal recognition of both lesbian moms on their baby’s birth certificate, Kim Kyu-jin is hailed as South Korea’s first open lesbian to give birth, the U.S. military announces an initiative to upgrade the status of queer service members who were discharged under “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” the U.S. federal judge who tried to ban the abortion pill launches an unhinged attack on fam

Today we have “don’t say gay,” but in the late 1980s the British coined the expression “no promo homo” for Section 28, a law that restricted discussion of LGBTQ issues — even beyond the classroom! The 15-year struggle to bring it down ended on September 18, 2003. Actor JM J (Jim) Bullock talks about life as the voice of “Queer Duck.” And in NewsWrap: Canada’s Conservative Party pledges to ban pediatric transgender healthcare if they regain control of the federal government, hundreds march in Belgrade Pride despite Serbian church and government opposition, Andorra’s Prime Minister Xavier Espot Zamora says he’s never been in the closet, California’s Democratic Party-controlled legislature votes to penalize school boards for banning books, a U.S. federal judge allows enforcement of Florida’s adult gender-affirming healthcare ban, a U.S. judge in Texas extends a hold on a drag show ban, seven are arrested at a sit-in for PEPFAR while U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy remains silent, and more international LGBTQ

The works of Emily Dickinson and Audre Lorde were standard classroom fare twenty years ago, but these days the right wing is clearing them off the shelves. Janet Mason revisited Dickinson and Kathy Sanchez profiled Lorde in September 2003. And in NewsWrap: a “historic” ruling by Hong Kong’s Court of Final Appeal calls on the government to legally recognize same-gender couples, a Bulgarian lesbian couple gets the European Court of Human Rights to order a framework for certifying same-gender relationships, the Texas Supreme Court allows the enforcement of the state’s pediatric trans healthcare ban, a Georgia federal judge gets out of the way of another ban on trans healthcare for children, California Attorney General Rob Bonta wins a temporary injunction against the Chino Valley Unified School District’s new trans-outing policy, and more international LGBTQ news reported this week by Joe Boehnlein and Melanie Keller (produced by Brian DeShazor).  All this on the September 11, 2023 edition of This Way Out! Jo

LGBTQA+ representation was proud and loud when activists returned to the Lincoln Memorial on August 26th for the 60th anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Highlights include Hope Giselle (National Black Justice Coalition), Kierra Johnson (National LGBTQ Task Force), Stacey Stevenson (Family Equality), Sheila Loretta Emerson (P-FLAG/Philadelphia) and Peppermint (GLAAD). And in NewsWrap: nearly 70 people arrested in an Ekpan, Nigeria raid will be prosecuted for “conducting and attending a same-sex wedding ceremony,” two Ugandan men face charges of “aggravated homosexuality” under the Anti-Homosexuality Act, Global Affairs Canada warns LGBTQ citizens about travel to the United States, hundreds protest Saskatchewan order for students to get parental permission to change their preferred name or pronouns, California’s Attorney General sues school district for anti-trans policies, a Maryland judge rejects religious parents’ bid to pull their children from classes featuring LGBTQ-related

The queer cross-country journals of “This Way Out” veteran producer JD Doyle capture a slice of pre-AIDS gay male culture in the U.S. (interviewed by Brian DeShazor). And in NewsWrap: Brazil’s Supreme Federal Court rules that purveyors of anti-queer hate speech should face significant jail time, Germany’s Cabinet proposes a “Self-Determination Act” to help trans and non-binary people officially change their name and gender on government documents, a Beirut drag show is raided and a popular children’s board game is banned in Lebanon, the first four people are arrested under Uganda’s “Kill the Gays” law, Ethiopian police raid suspected queer venues in Addis Ababa, anti-transgender laws in Idaho, Alabama and Georgia receive positive and negative action in federal courts, bi sprinter Sha’Carri Richardson breaks records for the 100-meter title at the World Athletics Championships, and more international LGBTQ news reported this week by John Dyer V and Tanya Kane-Parry (produced by Brian DeShazor).  All this on t

The anniversary of the historic 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom comes again when a rightwing political backlash threatens the movement toward true democracy. The situation was similar in 2003, when we reported on the 40th anniversary (featuring Martin Luther King III and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force’s Matt Foreman). A nationally televised 2008 LGBTQ Democratic Presidential Forum presented by the Human Rights Campaign was one of Barack Obama’s first stops on his way to the White House. And in NewsWrap: the International Chess Federation at least temporarily prevents transgender women from playing against cisgender women, trans social media influencer Wendy Guevara wins the first season of La Casa De Los Famosos México, vandals attack Berlin’s queer Holocaust monument, Williams Institute researchers find that many Florida parents long to escape the “don’t say gay” Parental Rights in Education Act, Baptist-run Baylor University in Texas prevails with a religious exemption case before t

Australia’s aboriginal legacy is well-represented by the drag alter ego of Graham Simms, performer and activist Nana Miss Koori (interviewed by Barry McKay). And in NewsWrap: the World Bank will put a pause on new loans to Uganda because its Anti-Homosexuality Act undermines inclusion and non-discrimination principles, Iraq’s Communications and Media Commission proposes a policy for a “Don’t Say Homosexuality” country, Malaysia outlaws Swiss watchmaker Swatch’s rainbow products, China’s government forbids Taiwanese pop star A-Mei’s “Rainbow” anthem at Beijing concert, Texas federal district judge selects an identified anti-queer hate group to provide “religious liberty training,” the rural Oklahoma town of Prague celebrates its first LGBTQ Pride, and more international LGBTQ news reported this week by Ava Davis and Marcos Najera (produced by Brian DeShazor).  All this on the August 14, 2023 edition of This Way Out! Join our family of listener-donors today at http://thiswayout.org/donate/

Twenty years ago this month, Canada’s top court had just ordered marriage equality, civil unions hit the agenda in New Zealand, the U.S. Congress took up a bill to secure rights for lesbians and gays in bi-national relationships, and the long fight for transgender rights was just getting underway. Reports from August 2003 feature U.S. Representatives Jerrold Nadler and Mary Gay Scanlon, New Zealand M.P. Tim Barnett, U.S. President George W. Bush, California State Assemblymember Mark Leno and Shannon Minter of the National Center for Lesbian Rights. (Correspondents: Hugh Young, Jim Waters, Cathy Sanchez and Bryan Goebel) And in NewsWrap: eight followers of an Islamic splinter group are arrested outside a Kuala Lumpur shopping center for an LGBTQ-supportive protest, a U.S. House subcommittee’s hearing on pediatric gender-affirming care turns into a platform for the Republican majority’s bigotry, U.S. federal appeals courts weigh in on trans rights and drag bans, Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt executive orders t

Put away your preconceived notions of what constitutes drag — with Fauxnique, it’s complicated! Monique Jenkenson was the first cisgender woman to win the Miss Trannyshack Pageant. Her memoir recounts her beginnings in classical dance evolving into her stage shows combining feminism and extravagant drag (interviewed by Out in the Bay’s Eric Jensen). And in NewsWrap: the Superior Court of Justice of Lima orders the federal records agency to register Peruvian lesbian’s marriage to her foreign female spouse, 33 men are arrested in a warrantless raid on a gay sauna in Venezuela, gay Chechen singer Zelimkhan Bakaev was killed because his photo was taken with dictator Ramzan Kadyrov, The 1975 lead singer Matty Healy’s diatribe against Malaysia’s anti-LGBTQ laws angers both queer activists and government authorities, two Arizona trans girl athletes stop a ban on their competing in school sports with a court injunction, J-pop star Shinjiro Atae comes out “Into the Light,” and more international LGBTQ news reported t