Three short films — “Making Men” (Belgium, Zimbabwe), “Papi” (USA) and “Love Taps” (USA) — add a queer perspective as the New York African Film Festival explores the intersection of historical and contemporary people on the continent and among the diaspora, under the theme “Convergence in Time” (John Dyer V reports).

We open the lesbian and gay wedding album 20 years after the first same-gender couples in the U.S. legally march down the aisle in Massachusetts, and see where some of the key players are now.

And in NewsWrap: Peru’s rightwing President Dina Boluarte signs a declaration defining what it calls “transsexualism” and “other gender identity disorders” as mental illnesses, the Tory government circulates a draft document that would bar British public school teachers from discussing “the concept of gender identity,” Liechtenstein’s parliament approves a bill to open marriage to same-gender couples, warnings of potential terrorist violence at upcoming June Pride month celebrations are issued by three U.S. security agencies, plaintiff religious parents in Maryland’s Montgomery County lose another ruling in their bid to keep their children out of classes with LGBTQ-related content, Georgia transgender deputy Anna Lange’s anti-discrimination claim is costing the county Sheriff’s Office many times more than her gender-affirming care would, the Long Island Roller Rebels team up with the New York Civil Liberties Union to defeat Republican Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman’s executive order to ban transgender girls and women from competing in gender appropriate sports, and more international LGBTQ news reported this week by David Hunt and John Dyer V (produced by Brian DeShazor). 

All this on the May 20, 2024 edition of This Way Out!

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Broadway’s 2023-24 season is full of LGBTQ-related plays and musicals. Gay USA’s Andy Humm and guest co-host Merryn Johns offer their thoughts on the hits, the misses and the queer Tony nominees; we add some examples from the shows “Suffs,” “Prayer for the French Republic,” “Merrily We Roll Along,” “Water for Elephants” and “Lempicka” to their astute reviews.

Plus: comedian Dana Goldberg’s wise words about pronouns.

And in NewsWrap: the Czech Constitutional Court overturns sex reassignment surgery and sterilization prerequisites for legal gender changes, thousands protest across France and Belgium an attempt in the French Senate to restrict pediatric gender-affirming healthcare, Tel Aviv’s renowned LGBTQ Pride Parade is canceled in favor of a hope and freedom rally due to the ongoing Gaza war, the Boy Scouts of America re-brands itself with the more inclusive name “Scouting America,” South Carolina’s Republican Governor Henry McMaster is expected to sign a bill denying puberty blockers and hormone therapies to trans people under 18, Mississippi’s Republican legislative majority defines gender as the sex assigned at birth for bathroom admittance, Rhode Island is poised to protect medical professionals who provide gender-affirming healthcare and abortion services, and more international LGBTQ news reported this week by Michael Taylor-Gray and Melanie Keller (produced by Brian DeShazor). 

All this on the May 13, 2024 edition of This Way Out!

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The world’s best-known memoirist whose the long series of books about his horrible and hilarious life began with “Running with Scissors” and “Dry.” Augusten Burroughs talks about writing, living and queering the memoir form. (Interviewed by Steve Pride.)

And in NewsWrap: the United Methodist Church ends its 40-year ban on queer clergy and opens its doors to same-gender weddings, a Mombassa court orders a halt to anti-queer protests and incitement to violence by groups opposed to LGBTQ equality, Queensland expands its Anti-Discrimination Act to cover gender diversity and decriminalizes sex work, a U.S. appeals court rules that state-funded healthcare plans must include coverage for gender-affirming treatments and surgeries, the Biden administration reinstates protections from the denial of care based on sexual orientation or gender identity under the Affordable Care Act, U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission updates its regulations to better protect transgender workers from harassment and discrimination, two Mississippi anti-trans rights bills die of Republican infighting in the state legislature, and more international LGBTQ news reported this week by Ava Davis and Joe Boehnlein (produced by Brian DeShazor). 

All this on the May 6, 2024 edition of This Way Out!

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New Hampshire high school high jump champion Maelle Jacques’s testimony (questioned by state Senator Stephen Woodcock) helps stop a trans sports exclusion bill at the committee level in the state Senate.

Australian DJ James “Breko” Brechney lit up the town with a 2020 Vivid Sydney event re-imagined for the COVID lockdown (interviewed by William Brougham).

Plus: the Boston Gay Men’s Chorus and the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus each paid online tributes to first responders, frontline healthcare personnel and other essential workers.

And in NewsWrap: the High Court of Dominica overturns has colonial era laws to de-criminalize same-gender sex, the Iraqi Parliament outlaws queer and trans identity, pediatric gender-affirming care in Scotland and Wales is halted by the Cass Review from England’s NHS, Texas Governor Gregg Abbott wants to purge all transgender and gender non-conforming public school teachers, Maine’s Governor Janet Mills defies far-right Christian nationalists to declare her state to be an abortion and gender care sanctuary, the 30th Tokyo Rainbow Pride Parade draws 15,000 people to the streets of Shibuya Ward proclaiming “Don’t give up until we make change,” Nymphia Wind is the first East Asian and first Taiwanese winner of the original “RuPaul’s Drag Race” series, and more international LGBTQ news reported this week by Daniel Huecias and Michael LeBeau (produced by Brian DeShazor). 

All this on the April 29, 2024 edition of This Way Out!

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Award-winning documentarians Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman talk about finding the stories of those who were swept up when Germany went from being a homosexual haven to a horrific Nazi hell (interviewed by Steve Pride). Contains material some listeners may find disturbing.

Passionate voices filled the Nebraska Capitol building over a second attempt to sideline trans student athletes, and most persuasive argument against the ban came from married gay dad and state Senator John Fredrickson.

And in NewsWrap: England’s National Health Service calls the medical evidence supporting pediatric gender-affirming healthcare “remarkably weak” in The Cass Review, Uganda activists will appeal the Constitutional Court’s ruling that upheld the “Anti-Homosexuality Act” to the Supreme Court, the U.S. Supreme Court allows Idaho’s ban on gender-affirming healthcare for trans young people to take effect, West Virginia’s law excluding transgender athletes from competing in school sports is struck down by a federal appeals court, bills to restrict the rights of transgender people are vetoed by the governors of Kansas and Arizona, the cartoon character Bluey has a friend with two mommies, and more international LGBTQ news reported this week by John Dyer V and Ava Davis (produced by Brian DeShazor). 

All this on the April 22, 2024 edition of This Way Out!

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Back in the days when we liked Ike and loved Lucy, Ann Bannon’s “Odd Girl Out” and the other pulp novels in the “Beebo Brinker Chronicles” gave pre-Stonewall lesbians some reading that mattered (interviewed by Steve Pride).

And in NewsWrap: Germany passes a Self-Determination Act to make it easier for trans people to legally change gender, the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of Faith publishes a document on “Infinite Dignity” that compares gender affirmation treatment to human trafficking and war, the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics establishes rules to exclude trans students from sports at smaller U.S. colleges, Idaho’s legislature ends its session with three more bills to restrict the human rights of trans people, a U.S. district court judge in Florida allows a math teacher to tell her students to use her preferred pronouns, far-right homophobes protest outdoor clothing company The North Face’s support of the Brave Trails camp for queer youth, and more international LGBTQ news reported this week by David Hunt and Lucia Chappelle (produced by Brian DeShazor). 

All this on the April 15, 2024 edition of This Way Out!

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Somewhere between Radio Hall of Famer Barry “Dr. Demento” Hansen and Billie “Glinda” Burke, queer activist and audio producer David Fradkin found “Nurse Pimento” and her pop culture novelty treasures in the late 1970s. Featuring: Carroll O’Connor, Jack Lemon and Joe E. Brown, Groucho Marx, Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy, Noel Coward, Sandy Dennis and George Segal, Carl Reiner and Mel Brooks; music by Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Judy Garland, Perry Como, Edie Gorme, Tommy Smothers and Martin Mull.

“Are you better off today than you were four years ago?” Emma’s Revolution reminds us what life “From a (Social) Distance” was like.

And in NewsWrap: Uganda’s Constitutional Court declines to nullify the “Kill the Gays” Anti-Homosexuality Act in its entirety, the owner of Orenburg, Russia’s queer-friendly Pose nightclub is now in jail with two staffers being held on charges of “extremism,” the United Nations Human Rights Council specifically addresses the rights of intersex people for the first time, Wisconsin’s Democratic Governor Tony Evers refuses to deny trans student the right to compete in high school sports based on their gender identity, Florida Republican state Representative Fabiбn Basabe sues Miami Pride for disinviting him due to his hypocritical record and need for massive police protection, and more international LGBTQ news reported this week by Ava Davis and Michael Taylor Gray (produced by Brian DeShazor). 

All this on the April 8, 2024 edition of This Way Out!

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Sounds of the LGBTQ movement during the first six months of This Way Out’s existence — the program that debuted on April 1, 1988 — and how those historic sounds continue to echo in the issues facing queer communities today.

And in NewsWrap: a landslide vote sends Thailand’s marriage equality bill from the lower House of Parliament to the Senate, nine men convicted on suspicious sodomy charges by a Houthi court in Yemen will be crucified or stoned to death, trans patients under the age of 18 in Wyoming can no longer get gender-affirming healthcare, P-FLAG’s confidential information about Texas member families with transgender children are still protected from state Attorney General Ken Paxton, Dutch trans darts player Noa-Lynn van Leuven’s back-to-back victories over both men and women in the same week ignite a firestorm, a “Drag Queen Story Hour” at the Lancaster, Pennsylvania Public Library is canceled due to a bomb threat that forces a neighborhood evacuation, and more international LGBTQ news reported this week by Joe Boehnlein and Melanie Keller (produced by Brian DeShazor). 

All this on the April 1, 2024 edition of This Way Out!

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The United Methodist Church is preparing for its first General Conference following the departure of congregations unable to accept LGBTQ equality, and an impassioned 2019 speech by now-Rev. J.J. Warren helped set the agenda for the future.

Comedian and television talk-star Rosie O”Donnell eloped to the city of San Francisco 20 years ago this month, when gay and lesbian couples were getting married under a directive from Mayor Gavin Newsom.

Plus: Ireland’s out Prime Minister Leo Varadkar unexpectedly resigns!

And in NewsWrap: Israeli lesbian co-mothers can now be listed on their children’s birth certificates, Italian lesbian moms beat the effort by Prime Minister Georgia Meloni’s government to erase them from their children’s birth certificates, two staff members of a queer Russian nightspot are facing charges of “extremism” for hosting a drag show, Alabama bans diversity/equity/inclusion programs and trans people’s access to appropriate bathrooms in public schools and universities, New South Wales bans conversion therapy for both minors and adults, Australian Senator Penny Wong weds her long-time partner Sophie Allouache and footballer Josh Cavallo proposes to his boyfriend on the pitch, and more international LGBTQ news reported this week by Elena Botkin-Levy and Michael LeBeau (produced by Brian DeShazor). 

All this on the March 25, 2024 edition of This Way Out!

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Texas state Representative James Talarico makes a social media name for himself in a bare-knuckled defense against Christian Nationalism, with an “other side of the Bible” style reminiscent of 2020 presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg.

Months later there’s no news about 76 Nigerians busted at an alleged “gay wedding,” and a decade later we recall the "Global Day of Action" protesting the passage of the country’s “Same Sex Marriage (Prohibition) Act” (Kelly Cogswell and Harriet Hirshorn report from New York City).

2014 was the last year that queer contingents were completely banned from the huge St. Patrick’s Day Parades in Boston and New York City (Kelly Cogswell reports from New York City).

And in NewsWrap: England’s National Health Service cuts off access to puberty blockers for transgender minors, a Uganda appeals court upholds the denial of legal recognition for the queer advocacy group Sexual Minorities Uganda, two more Japanese district courts declare the denial of civil marriage to same-gender couples unconstitutional, the U.S. Supreme Court will not intervene to help queer-supportive West Texas A&M University students hold a drag fundraiser for suicide prevention, gender-variant drivers licenses are no longer an option in Kansas and Arkansas, the settlement of a challenge to Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” law allows some “gay saying,” and more international LGBTQ news reported this week by Ava Davis and Michael LeBeau (produced by Brian DeShazor). 

All this on the March 18, 2024 edition of This Way Out!

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