This Way Out: The International LGBTQ Radio Magazine

Shaun Peterson’s film documentary investigates the evidence that Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States, would today be considered bisexual or queer (interviewed by Brian DeShazor, part 1 of 2).

Plus: The “Rainbow Rewind” lists notable LGBTQ+ dates in October, and recalls the murder of Matthew Shepard 27 years ago this month.

And in NewsWrap: Slovakia’s legislature approves a constitutional amendment declaring male and female the only two genders that also bans surrogacy and limits adoption to straight married couples, Japan’s government includes same-gender relationships under nine more laws and ordinances that essentially makes them the same as de facto heterosexual marriages, Scotland forces all students and staff to use bathrooms and other sex-segregated campus facilities that match their biological gender, the Canadian government is advising residents with gender-neutral passports to reconsider plans to travel to the United States, 200 gay men looking to hook up in the cruisy toilets of New York City’s Penn Station are caught up in a massive sting operation, Harvard University’s hire of Professor Kareem Khubchandani (aka LaWhore Vagistan) to teach gender and sexuality has the rightwing apoplectic, and more international LGBTQ+ news reported this week by Melanie Keller and Tanya Kane-Parry (produced by Brian DeShazor).

All this on the October 6, 2025 edition of This Way Out!

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The venerable historical preservation organization celebrates LGBTQ+ History Month with an LA County-wide programming series where the past and the future intermingle. One Institute Executive Director Tony Valenzuela talks about the trailblazing histories and vibrant cultural contributions around the festival theme “Reclaiming Freedom” (interviewed by Jason Jenn).

And in NewsWrap: a report from the international track and field governing body World Athletics finds that up to 60 event finalists would not have passed its newly instituted genetic sex test, the U.S. government straddles a line between erasing its transgender citizens and labeling them dangerous terrorists, U.S. President Donald Trump puts the blame on trans rights in his diatribe over the current federal budget standoff, reparations for gay men in Tasmania who were victims of the Australian state’s laws against homosexuality and cross-dressing are approved by the Lower House, Filipina designer Veejay Floresca is Project Runway’s first trans winner and Vietnam’s entrant in the Miss Universe pageant will be transgender star and singer Nguyen Huong Giang, the Australian horror movie "Together" has been pulled from Chinese cinemas after censors used AI to replace one of the male grooms in a gay wedding with a woman, former U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg consider whether to discuss his gay sex life with conservative commentator Tucker Carlson, and more international LGBTQ+ news reported this week by Marcos Najera and Ava Davis (produced by Brian DeShazor).

All this on the September 29, 2025 edition of This Way Out!

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With seven years experience as CEO of Rainbow Railroad, Global LGBTQI+ Human Rights Fellow at the Carr-Ryan Center at Harvard and Refugee Council USA board member Kamahli Powell is uniquely qualified to discuss the world’s refugee crisis and specifically how LGBTQ people are disadvantaged in seeking help when their countries, communities and sometimes even their homes are unsafe (interviewed by David Hunt).

Plus: gay novelist, screenwriter, playwright and actor Truman Capote (September 30,1924 - August 25, 1984) reads from “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” (courtesy of Pacifica Radio Archives).

And in NewsWrap: 61 members of Congress call on U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio to restore LGBTQ-specific data to the State Department’s annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, U.S. Senators Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Aka.) lead a bipartisan effort to reinstate a specialized LGBTQ youth service for the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, Pope Leo XIV clarifies that his stance on inclusion for LGBTQ people excludes same-gender marriage, the Trump administration appeals to the U.S. Supreme Court to enforce its denial of “X” gender passports, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) stops medical care for transgender detainees at a facility in Aurora, Colorado, Ben & Jerry’s co-founder Jerry Greenfield resigns because he says his progressive activism is being silenced by the ice cream company’s Unilever multinational corporate owners, and more international LGBTQ+ news reported this week by Tanya Kane Parry and David Hunt (produced by Brian DeShazor).

All this on the September 22, 2025 edition of This Way Out!

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For more than two decades, activist, educator, diplomat Jessica Stern has worn a variety of hats in her efforts to advance LGBTQ human rights around the world, always at the forefront — unafraid, unapologetic, speaking truth to power. Currently serving as Senior Human Rights and U.S. Foreign Policy Fellow at the Carr-Ryan Center for Human Rights at the Harvard Kennedy School, Stern talks about her pioneering work at the United Nations, her tenure as the top queer diplomat in the U.S. State Department and her advice for standing up for human rights in a hostile world (interviewed by David Hunt).

And in NewsWrap: the lower house of the Dutch parliament votes to criminalize so-called “conversion therapy,” Hong Kong legislators overwhelmingly vote down a bill to grant same-gender couples limited legal rights, an hour-long LGBTQ+ Pride motorcade cruises through the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv in the very midst of the Russian invasion, the U.S. Supreme Court temporarily allows transgender students in South Carolina can use campus bathrooms that align with their gender identity, Oregon state lawmaker Cyrus Javadi has had enough of the Republican Party, and more international LGBTQ+ news reported this week by Joe Boehnlein and Melanie Keller (produced by Brian DeShazor).

All this on the September 15, 2025 edition of This Way Out!

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On her journey from Kansas to Oz and back, Jennifer Knapp’s spiritual rock and roll harmonizes “Christian” and “lesbian" with the unifying power of music - a 40+minute extended feature interviewed by David Hunt.

The late historian Allan Bérubé documented in Coming Out Under Fire (1990) how queer soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines have always been a vital part of military readiness. He revealed in a 1983 talk that the first queer news source in the United States was published at an airfield in the deep South more than 80 years ago (produced by David Hunt).

And in NewsWrap: Burkina Faso’s military junta outlaws same-gender sex for the first time in the nation’s history, Pope Leo XIV intends to follow in his predecessor’s footsteps when it comes to the queer community, Moroccan feminist/human rights activist Ibtissame Lachgar is heading to jail for more than two years for wearing a “Allah is Lesbian” t-shirt, four people arrested for attempting to restore the rainbow crosswalk near the Pulse Nightclub Memorial in Orlando, Florida are released as others continue to chalk the street, world-famous diving champ Greg Louganis plunges into a journey of self-discovery in Panama, and more international LGBTQ+ news reported this week by Lucia Chappelle and Michael LeBeau (produced by Brian DeShazor).

All this on the September 8, 2025 edition of This Way Out!

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On her journey from Kansas to Oz and back, Jennifer Knapp’s spiritual rock and roll harmonizes “Christian” and “lesbian" with the unifying power of music (interviewed by David Hunt).

And in NewsWrap: a court in Kenya orders lawmakers to protect the rights of transgender people for the first time on the African continent, Dr. Demetre Daskalakis is cheered as a hero for resigning from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention along with other CDC leaders protesting HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr’s policies, outspoken Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker goes on offense announcing a statewide LGBTQ legal hotline, a U.S, federal judge closes the door on a lawsuit by disgruntled members of Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority’s trans-inclusive stand, former AFL West Coast Eagles defender Mitch Brown comes out bisexual, and more international LGBTQ+ news reported this week by Michael Taylor Gray and Ava Davis (produced by Brian DeShazor).

All this on the September 1, 2025 edition of This Way Out!

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As the world turns away from traditional news sources, gay journalist Enrique Anarte is building trust — and an audience — on social media (interviewed by David Hunt).

And in NewsWrap: the United Kingdom’s first transgender judge Victoria McCloud is taking her country’s Supreme Court ruling on the legal definition of “woman” to the European Court of Human Rights, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement must immediately release gay Jamaican refugee Rickardo Anthony Kelly by order of a federal district court judge, a student-sponsored charitable drag show on the campus West Texas A&M University was unconstitutionally banned according to the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, books found to be “suspect” under Florida’s expanded “Don’t Say Gay” law will be returning to classroom and school library shelves by order of a U.S. federal judge, local officials in more than two dozen Florida cities have been ordered to remove their LGBTQ Pride rainbow crosswalks, and more international LGBTQ+ news reported this week by Sarah Montague and David Hunt (produced by Brian DeShazor).

All this on the August 25, 2025 edition of This Way Out!

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Every month at AKBAR, a small neighborhood LGBTQ+ bar on the east side of Los Angeles, queer artists of all kinds find a place to play in a unique cabaret. Executive Director Travis Wood, Creative Director Ian MacKinnon, and performers Lore Randolph (aka Fleur The Tease) and Ari (aka Odious Ari) celebrate 13 years of Planet Queer — with a nod to the late playwright Robert Patrick (produced by Brian DeShazor).

And in NewsWrap: a pair of Indonesian college students caught hugging and kissing in a public restroom is set to receive 80 lashes for same-gender sex, Moroccan feminist and human rights activist Ibtissame Lachgar is under arrest for an anti-Islam post in which she wore a t-shirt that reads “Allah is lesbian,” Kathmandu LGBTQ Pride blends with Nepal’s traditional Gai Jatra festival with hundreds of queer celebrants and allies, Arkansas’ pediatric trans care ban is the second such law to be upheld by a U.S. federal appeals court, a school district in Virginia is standing by its trans-positive bathroom policy in defiance of the Trump administration’s order to abandon it, a Minnesota biracial cisgender lesbian teen fights back after a restaurant employees indecent toilet test, and more international LGBTQ+ news reported this week by Marcos Najera and Lucia Chappelle (produced by Brian DeShazor).

All this on the August 18, 2025 edition of This Way Out!

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Fighting for LGBTQ+ rights in the Caribbean has been difficult, but the winds of progress are blowing strong in Saint Lucia. ECADE, the Eastern Caribbean Alliance for Diversity and Equality, just won its fourth court victory since 2022 over long prison sentences for same-sex intimacy. Executive Director Kenita Placide talks about the legal tempest sweeping across the islands (interviewed by David Hunt).

And in NewsWrap: the early retirement benefits transgender U.S. Air Force personnel with 15 to 18 years of service were promised for voluntarily agreeing to leave the military have been withdrawn, a majority of people in China support LGBTQ rights according to a new study released by The Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law, pediatric gender affirming healthcare will be illegal in New Hampshire under a law signed by Republican Governor Kelly Ayotte, Massachusetts’ existing protections for transgender and reproductive healthcare are enhanced under legislation signed by lesbian Democratic Governor Maura Healey, the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals supports the denial of a preliminary injunction to prevent Oklahoma’s ban on pediatric gender-affirming healthcare from being enforced while its constitutionality is litigated, Bishop of Monmouth Cherry Vann is voted the Church in Wales' first female and first out Archbishop, and more international LGBTQ+ news reported this week by Nathalie Munoz and Allan Tijamo (produced by Brian DeShazor).

All this on the August 11, 2025 edition of This Way Out!

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