This Way Out: The International LGBTQ Radio Magazine

The U.S. House of Representatives embraces equality; a Malaysian man beats an anti-gay state Islamic law in the nation’s top court, India’s government says queer couples aren’t “family”, while Thailand’s government stalls on a Civil Partnership Bill, and popular Ghana D.J. Wanlove dares the government to arrest him for his queer support! Those stories, and more this week, when you discover “This Way Out”: the world’s audio oasis for queer news and culture.

After decades of queer activists toiling in the civil rights kitchen, the table was ready to be set for marriage equality in the US ten years ago this week, when the Obama Administration decided to change course in its handling of marriage equality litigation. Our flashback from February 2011 includes Jon Daviddson of Lambda Legal explaining the implications of the revised Justice Department standard, Mary Bonauto of Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders recounting the stories of some of the plaintiffs involved, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney answering questions about the big announcement, Obama Campaign LGBT policy advisor Professor Tobias Wolff providing analysis of the move, and plaintiff Edie Windsor reacting to the decision. Just 15 months later, then-Vice President Joe Biden gave President Obama a shove into endorsing marriage equality. And in NewsWrap: The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights finds Jamaica’s anti-gay male sex laws in violation of LGBTQ constitutional rights, two Russian lesbian mothers denied asylum in Finland are vindicated by the U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child, ILGA-Europe’s 10th Annual Review gives dire warnings, the Equality Act gets a new vote in the House but faces difficulty in the Senate, and 2020 reports tally shocking Brazilian transgender murders and skimpy reporting in the U.S. on anti-trans violence, and more international LGBTQ news reported this week by Melanie Keller and Michael Taylor Gray (produced by Brian DeShazor).

A fond farewell to trans-gressive electronic music star Sophie; an Israeli-American comedy-horror film is on the dinner menu; out Congressman David Cicilline condemns Trump’s riot responsibility; gay Chechen refugees are abducted from their Russian “safe house”, drag queens march for democracy in Myanmar, the U.S. Housing Department backs Biden’s anti-bias vow, gay Navajo Arlando Teller joins Buttigieg’s Transportation team, and New Zealand issues a “Progress” Pride stamp! Those stories, and more this week, when you discover “This Way Out”: the world’s audio oasis for queer news and culture.

Buttigieg boards the Biden rights train; queer youth dress for more than success; the 19-year-old college kid with 2 moms who became an Iowa State Senator; Turkish students’ rainbow protest raises Erdogan’s ire, its “twin city” pressures a Polish town to end its “LGBT Free Zone”, Japan is pressed on queer bias protections before the Olympics, Victoria enacts stiff penalties for queer cure quackery, German actors band together for a coming out manifesto. and country star T.J. Osborne exits the closet! Those stories, and more this week, when you choose “This Way Out”: the world’s audio oasis for queer news and culture.

Joe Biden liberates U.S. transgender troops; a “Rainbow Minute” chronicles how Dr. Tom Dooley won in Vietnam; Honduran lawmakers protect constitutional marriage inequality, Singapore activists fight anti-trans policies and a gay sex ban, Taiwan judges draft a policy to okay foreign queer marriages, gay men are caned for sex again in Aceh, the EuroCourt upholds rights of Romanian trans men, and honored Australians protest a homophobe’s top award! Those stories, and more this week, when you discover “This Way Out”: the world’s audio oasis for queer news and culture.

A rainbow review of the Biden/Harris Inauguration; David Kato remembered as Musevini maintains power; President Biden orders federal LGBTQ job rights on his first day, Buttigieg “refreshes” Senators at his confirmation hearing, other Cabinet nominees support queer equality, a trans person is tapped for a first-ever federal post, Biden’s White House website reflects gender diversity … and oh, those Bernie mittens memes! All that, and more this week, when you choose “This Way Out”: the world’s audio oasis for queer news and culture.

A Black lesbian writer unmasks child sexual abuse in “Love with Accountability”; one final words-and-music “salute” to the “Orange Menace”; Latvia legislates bias against queer families, a Czech court rejects gay dads’ U.S. adoptions, LGBTQ Congress members activate Trump’s impeachment, Biden’s queer scorecard climbs, a Canadian Catholic school district pulls “porno” LGBTQ online resources, and Israel eases legal gender change! All that, and more this week, when you discover “This Way Out”: the world’s audio oasis for queer news and culture.

Queer teens get support to navigate the dating years; the loving culture of Margaret Mead and Ruth Benedict fills more than a “Rainbow Minute”; the U.S. political crisis features queer foes and justice fighters, a Cayman Islands Tribunal grants gay spousal residency status, an N.H.S. agency challenges the U.K. High Court trans teen treatment ruling, there’s a gay “first” in Greece and two trans “firsts” in India, and “Global Citizen” Elton John gets another honor! All that, and more this week, when you discover “This Way Out”: the world’s audio oasis for queer news and culture.

On this week’s special show, a pair of selections from the marathon Global Queer Read-In we presented online last June (produced by Brian DeShazor with Rebecca Drapkin) that speak to the theme of “Coming Out & Making It Real”: Grammy-winning singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Sophie B. Hawkins performs her own “Not Beating Around The Bush” and reads a selection from “Mrs. Dalloway” by Virginia Woolf; and Broadway star, community activist and "Man of the World" Anthony Wayne performs a selection from “Men Of The House: A B-Boy Blues Novel” by James Earl Hardy! Elegant words of note to start the new year this week when you choose “This Way Out”: the world’s audio oasis for queer news and culture! (“NewsWrap” returns next week. Happy 2021!)

From 1993: Deb Price’s syndicated column changed attitudes back when printed newspapers actually did shape public opinion; two LGBTQ movement legends, Harry Hay and Jim Kepner, got together in 1975 to discuss the beginnings of what came to be called “queer theory” — listen through this “gay window”; capped by her live reading of a classic poem by Pat Parker! (“NewsWrap” returns on our week of 11 January 2021 show. Happy New Year!)