For a quarter of a century, the unfettered voices of LGBT people have been broadcast around the world on "This Way Out: The International LGBT Radio Magazine." It's distributed weekly to over 200 local community and online radio stations around the world, can be heard via podcast and direct satellite (World Radio Network), and is available on CD by subscription. For our whole story -- including how you can contribute -- please visit our website!

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

"Corrective Rape" Escalates & The Side Door

The targeting of lesbians in South Africa for sexual violence -- which it's believed will make them heterosexual -- is becoming worse (even worse than it was at the time Radio Netherlands' Eric Beauchemin did this 2009 interview with a "corrective rape" survivor), as brave activists confront their government and their neighbors.

An ironic Rainbow Minute celebrates South Africa's first same-gender wedding ... proving that marriage equality doesn't mean equal rights.

Janet Mason reviews Jan Donely's young adult novel that takes the mystery out of surviving bullying.

And in NewsWrap: Hungary harbors homophobia in questionable constitution, India's top court defers challenges to sex law reform, Malaysian "butch camp" draws jeers, queer-positive environments prevent teen suicide, and more news reported by Rick Watts and Michael LeBeau.

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NewsWrap for the week ending April 23, 2011

SUMMARY

Con Game - Hungary's new constitution bans marriage equality and omits sexual orientation and gender identity anti-bias protections ...

Justices Have a Headache - Supreme Court of India defers until an unspecified date hearing petitions challenging the Delhi High Court's ruling decriminalizing same-gender sex ...

Boys Won't Be Boys - 66 teenage boys in Malaysia identified by their teachers as effeminate are sent to a "butch it up" camp ...

Home Security - new report in the U.S. confirms that lesbigay kids who live in queer-accepting areas are less likely to attempt suicide than those who live in more conservative less-affirming locales ...

15 Candles - Dharun Ravi, whose secret webcasting of his Rutgers University roommate Tyler Clementi having sex with another man led to Clementi committing suicide, is indicted on 15 criminal counts including commission of a hate crime, invasion of privacy and witness tampering ...

Familia Interuptus - Virginia's Board of Social Services votes against opening adoptions in the state to same-gender couples ...

Truth Marching On - new CNN/Opinion Research poll shows a continued trend toward majority acceptance in the U.S. of civil marriage equality ...

Your Tax Dollars At Work - Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives authorizes spending up to $500,000 on a high-profile attorney to defend DOMA, the Defense of Marriage Act, in federal court ...

Read the complete NewsWrap text ... or listen to this week's podcast.

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Gay in Malaysia & "108 Queer Questions"

In majority Muslim Malaysia, the conservative government is bent on maintaining what they call a "sacred and pure" society, and the closet holds a lot of power. But as Kuala Lumpur internet video journalist Zan Azlee found, the longing for liberation is becoming almost as powerful.

Abby Dees is a civil rights attorney and editor for St. Lynn’s Press who has been closely involved with the Los Angeles chapters of the Human Rights Campaign and the Trevor Project (gay teen suicide prevention), the National Center for Lesbian Rights and other activist work for 25 years. She is also the author of Queer Questions Straight Talk: 108 Frank, Provocative Questions It's Ok to Ask Your Lesbian, Gay or Bi Loved One. This Way Out’s Steve Pride had a few more questions for her to answer.

And in NewsWrap: Delaware governor expected to ring civil unions bells, GOP AWOL for pro-DOMA hearing, bi-national couples bill back in US Congress, partnerships dawn for couples in Liechtenstein and Ireland, and more news reported by Christopher Gaal and John Torres.

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NewsWrap for the week ending April 16, 2011

SUMMARY

Bells Will Ring - Delaware is on the verge of becoming the eighth U.S. state to offer civil unions or domestic partnerships to same-gender couples ...

Wheels Will Spin - subcommittee of the Republican-led House of Representatives holds a hearing to "defend marriage" ...

Love Will Prevail - a bill to allow U.S. lesbians and gay men to sponsor their foreign partners for legal residency is introduced in both houses of Congress ...

Paperwork Will Abound - Liechtenstein's Parliament passes a registered partnership law that will take effect in September, while gay and lesbian couples begin registering their civil partnerships in Ireland ...

Trends Will Track - a marriage equality bill is introduced in Uruguay's Parliament ...

Blood Will Tell - British officials will reportedly lift the outright ban on gay men donating blood, but will require donors to have been celibate for at least 10 years ...

Fear Itself - Indian government minister worries that all of his country's men will someday "become gays" and a prominent Italian professor claims that gays caused the downfall of the Roman Empire ...

The Hateful Network - the Australian Defence Force is under fire for not disciplining some of its members for creating an anti-gay Facebook page and uploading a homophobic YouTube video ...

Offensive Foul Language - Los Angeles Lakers basketball superstar Kobe Bryant apologizes for his easy-to-lip-read homophobic slur during a nationally-televised game ...

They Opined With Their Socks On - right-wing commentators get their shorts in a bunch over a young boy's neon pink-painted toenails ...

Read the complete NewsWrap text ... or listen to this week's podcast.

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Miss Vicki Marlane & "Don't Ask" Implementation Easy

At 78, drag performer Miss Vicki Marlane is still going strong in San Francisco. Steve Pride finds out about her remarkable life.

The U.S. House Armed Services Committee checks in with the brass of the four branches of the military to see how implementation of the Don't Ask, Don't Tell repeal is going - and the Republicans aren't too happy that it's going so well.

Plus: Kate Clinton has a few words about Social Not-working.

And in NewsWrap: Council of Europe inclusive about violence against women; Shanghai bar raid nabs 60; ENDA at the plate again; Arkansas Supreme Court strikes adoption ban, and more news reported by Chris Wilson and Tanya Kane-Parry.

To listen to the world's only syndicated weekly LGBT radio program, subscribe to our podcast at http://www.thiswayout.org ...

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NewsWrap for the week ending April 9, 2011

SUMMARY

Common Enemies - Council of Europe approved a document calling on member states to combat violence against women, with inclusive language covering sexual orientation and gender identity ...

Safety Net - European Parliament voted to adopt a series of measures to better protect LGBT asylum seekers ...

Shanghai 60 - more than 60 patrons and employees of a newly-opened gay bar in Shanghai were rounded up and held for more than 12 hours following a police raid ...

Copy That - Republican-lead U.S. House Armed Services Committee followed up on last week’s subcommittee hearings on the implementation of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell repeal with hearings of its own ...

Broken Record - Human Rights Campaign calls a scheduled April 15th House hearing on the defense of DOMA the GOP's third anti-LGBT hearing in as many weeks ...

Working It Out - gay Democratic Congressman Barney Frank of Massachusetts announced that he had formally introduced ENDA – the Employment Non-Discrimination Act – in the U.S. House of Representatives, with 111 co-sponsors, including three Republicans ...

Arkansas Family Values - Arkansas Supreme Court ruled that a ballot initiative barring unmarried couples from fostering or adopting children was unconstitutional ...

Liberty & Interdependence - Delaware Senate passed a bill on to create civil unions for same-gender couples ...

To Be, Or Not To Be - Equality California, that state’s leading LGBT advocacy group, has launched a campaign to gauge community support for placing a measure to repeal Proposition 8 on the 2012 ballot ...

Bench Player - Judge Vaughn Walker, whose ruling last year that Proposition 8 violated the U.S. Constitution is currently being appealed, has acknowledged that he is, indeed, a gay man ...

Tuesday, April 05, 2011

Millennial Speak & Sarah Waters

Four young Los Angeles "millennials" talk with Ben Caron about their role models, their politics, and their visions of the future.

Rosie Wilby asks how novelist Sarah Waters (Tipping the Velvet, Affinity, The Little Stranger) creates lesbian history.

Plus ... a Rainbow Minute remembers the 18th Century Ladies of Llangollen.

And in NewsWrap: House Republicans beat dead "Don't Ask" horse, South Korea retains military ban, U.S. Immigration backtracks on bi-nationals, and more news reported by John Torres and Ben Caron.

To listen to the world's only syndicated weekly LGBT radio program, subscribe to our podcast at http://www.thiswayout.org ...

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NewsWrap for the week ending April 2, 2011

SUMMARY

All Systems Go - Pentagon officials disappoint right-wing GOP Congressmen by testifying at a House Armed Services subcommittee that training for the repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell is going "extremely well," is costing less than expected, and that open gays and lesbians could be serving in the U.S. military by the end of August ...

Pork Chop Hill Revisited - South Korea's Constitutional Court upholds a law punishing anyone in the country's military with up to a year behind bars for engaging in homosexual conduct ...

Un-acquired Information Deficiency Syndrome - major new study in the U.S. reveals that little data exists about specific health issues unique to LGBT people, and that more research needs to be done ...

Early Admissions - U.K.'s Equality and Human Rights Commission wants to survey children as young as age 11 about their sexual orientation and gender identity ...

Bordering on Dispair - hopes of bi-national couples in the U.S. for more equitable treatment are encouraged and then dashed by federal government officials in the course of three days ...

Looking in the "I's" - Indiana takes a step toward putting a ban on same-gender marriages and civil partnerships in the state constitution, but a constitutional marriage ban bill is apparently dead in Illinois ...

Plus and Minus - civil unions bill advances in Delaware, but is killed in Colorado ...

Come As You Are - Washington is poised to recognize the marriages and domestic partnerships of same-gender couples legally contracted elsewhere ...

Sorry, Chicken Little - "the sky does not fall in" as a law takes effect in the Australian state of Tasmania to recognize the marriages and civil unions of lesbian and gay couples contracted in other jurisdictions ...

Read the complete NewsWrap text ... or listen to this week's podcast.