This Way Out: The International LGBTQ Radio Magazine

Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) goes viral by exposing U.S. House Republicans’ gender hypocrisy while questioning National Women’s Law Center president and CEO Fatima Goss Graves in a subcommittee hearing.

Trans jazz band leader Billy Tipton’s career spanned from the 1930s to the 70s, and the music continues with The Tiptons Sax Quartet (produced by Steve Sims).

And in NewsWrap: the European Court of Human Rights finds that Poland’s refusal to legally recognize lesbian and gay couples violates the European Convention on Human Rights, the United States Supreme Court rejects an appeal to review Washington state legislation that bans “conversion therapy” for minors, loopholes in a proposed conversion therapy ban in the Australian state of Tasmania get a “thumbs down” from activists, Argentina’s newly inaugurated right-wing President Javier Milei pulls the plug on the Women, Gender and Diversity Ministry, police in Yekateringburg raid a popular queer venue while Russian censors coral “My Little Pony," plus Pope Francis okays same-gender blessings and more international LGBTQ news reported this week by Marcos Najera and Melanie Keller (produced by Brian DeShazor). 

All this on the December 18, 2023 edition of This Way Out!

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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 school board book bans as the government’s right to control libraries, Bucks County, Pennsylvania voters celebrate rescuing their school board from right-wing extremists, and more international LGBTQ news reported this week by Michael Taylor-Gray and Kalyn Hardman (produced by Brian DeShazor). 

All this on the December 11, 2023 edition of This Way Out!

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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!

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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!

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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 DeShazor). 

All this on the November 20, 2023 edition of This Way Out!

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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 judge has upheld a Florida law that bars transgender girls and women from competing in female sports, another “Rainbow Wave” of local electoral victories buoys Democratic wins in U.S. off-year elections, and more international LGBTQ news reported this week by Tanya Kane-Parry and Marcos Najera (produced by Brian DeShazor). 

All this on the November 13, 2023 edition of This Way Out!

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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 in his closet, gay U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg dares House Speaker Johnson to come home with him for dinner, and more international LGBTQ news reported this week by Michael LeBeau and Melanie Keller (produced by Brian DeShazor). 

All this on the November 6, 2023 edition of This Way Out!

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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 Extremism,” and more international LGBTQ news reported this week by John Dyer V and Kalyn Hardman (produced by Brian DeShazor). 

All this on the October 30, 2023 edition of This Way Out!

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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 bathroom law and Montana’s drag show ban, and more international LGBTQ news reported this week by Sarah Montague and Michael Taylor-Gray (produced by Brian DeShazor). 

All this on the October 23, 2023 edition of This Way Out!

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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 reported this week by Joe Boehnlein and Tanya Kane-Parry (produced by Brian DeShazor). 

All this on the October 16, 2023 edition of This Way Out!

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