NewsWrap for the week ending September 24, 2011

SUMMARY

Final Minutes - Countdown celebrations in LGBT venues across the country culminating at the stroke of midnight on September 20th cheer the official repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell, the 18-year-old U.S. military policy that kept lesbian and gay service members in the closet …

Dear Dad - YouTube video of a private stationed at an Air Force base in Germany coming out to his father in Alabama on the day of repeal gets more than two million views …

He Who Waits - a gay World War II veteran wins a decades-long battle to have his discharge officially changed from "undesirable" to "honorable" …

A Few Good Queers - Marine recruiters make U.S. military history by visiting an LGBT center in Tulsa, Oklahoma to sign up new enlistees …

I Was A Male War Bride - a justice of the peace in Vermont declares a gay lieutenant "officially out" as he pronounces the Naval Academy graduate legally married to his longtime partner seconds after midnight on the day of repeal …

Now to Win the Peace - the Obama administration fights an effort to get equal separation pay for gays and lesbians honorably discharged under Don't Ask Don't Tell, another lawsuit to formally declare the policy unconstitutional …

Let's Jail the Hero - the "fierce advocate's" team also opposes a "vindictive prosecution" defense allowed by a federal judge hearing "failure to obey a lawful police order" charges against military equality advocate Lt. Dan Choi for chaining himself to the White House fence to protest Don't Ask Don't Tell before its Congressional repeal …

Best Wishes, Despite the Above - President Obama himself does issue a statement hailing the demise of the policy and briefly voices support for gays and lesbians around the world during his speech the following day at the U.N. General Assembly …

The Prop 8 Shore - a federal judge allows the release of video recordings of last year's landmark Proposition 8 trial – though his decision will almost certainly be appealed …

Equally Protected - a state judge in Alaska rules that lesbian and gay couples are entitled to the same senior citizen and disabled veteran property tax exemptions as the state's heterosexual couples …

Long Engagement - government officials in the U.K. say they're planning initial discussions on full civil marriage equality legislation in March 2012 with an enactment goal of 2015 …

Leaning on Labor - Tasmania's lower house of parliament passes a resolution urging the Australian federal government to open civil marriage to same-gender couples …

Lynch Pin - "out" Emmy winner and host of this year's telecast Jane Lynch peppers her comments with lesbian references throughout the ceremony, including the lavish opening musical number, during which she slyly discusses recent social progress and the battles yet to be won with the cast of the 1960s era-set Mad Men ….

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Taps for Don't Ask, Don't Tell

Our coverage of the repeal of the U.S. military's ban on openly lesbian and gay servicemembers includes a review of the policy's history (from Pacifica's Democracy Now!), the true identity of Outserve's "J.D. Smith" (from MSNBC's Rachel Maddow Show), and a repeal celebration at the Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Center (with Steve Pride on the scene). You'll hear the voices of Army Lieutenant Dan Choi, Servicemembers United Executive Director Alexander Nicholson, Navy Commander Zoe Dunning, Air Force First Lieutenant and Outserve leader Josh Seefried, Servicemembers Legal Defense Network Board member Tom Carpenter, and other active duty and veteran U.S. lesbian, gay, and bisexual military personnel.

And in NewsWrap: DADT ends and an Air Force private publicly comes out to his father on YouTube, a U.S. federal judge takes the wraps off the Proposition 8 trial videos while a judge in Alaska rules for same gender couple property tax equity, a marriage equality proposal in the U.K. comes with a long engagement but a resolution of support pushes the issue in Australia, Emmy-winner Jane Lynch hosts some Mad Men, and more news reported by Robert LeBlanc and Rick Watts (produced by Steve Pride).

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NewsWrap for the week ending September 17, 2011

SUMMARY

Virtual Visibility - LGBT Iranians respond to last week's reports of sodomy executions by defiantly setting up a Facebook page, for those in the country and those who have fled, called "We Are Everywhere" …

The Bill That Wouldn't Die - Uganda's First Lady wants to "Kill the Gays" …

Nobody's Perfect - Human Rights Watch calls the Netherlands on the carpet for its anti-trans civil code …

Passport to Freedom - Australian government removes sex-change surgery as a requirement for trans-people to identify themselves on passports in their chosen gender …

To Be Unequal, Rather Than to Seem - North Carolina legislature approves a proposal for the May 2012 ballot that would amend the state constitution to define marriage as exclusively heterosexual …

Roomies and Taxes - Michigan's House passes a bill that would forbid public sector employers from offering domestic partner benefits …

Step Back - New Hampshire House Judiciary subcommittee okays a measure to replace that state's 2009 marriage equality law with civil unions that would be open to any two unmarried adults, even if they're related …

Jughead for Bridesmaid - wedding bells will soon ring out in the pages of "Archie Comics" for "Kevin Keller," the most prominent gay resident of the fictional city of Riverdale …

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Alexandra Billings & Prop 8 Standing

An engaging and entertaining chat with the multi-talented trans-performer who's had top "Billings" on ER and Grey's Anatomy (interviewed by Dixie Treichel and John Townsend).

We're on the scene as Proposition 8 proponents stand their ground at the California Supreme Court. Opposing attorneys Theodore Olson and Charles Cooper, Justice Joyce Kennard, and Prop 8 lawsuit plaintiff Kris Perry address the legal standing issue (Pacifica Radio's Christopher Martinez reports).

A pair of Rainbow Minutes (produced by Judd Proctor & Brian Burns) celebrate Sappho, The First Recorded Lesbian in History (read by Allen Browne) and The Daughters of Bilitis (read by Brenda Thornton).

And in NewsWrap: South Africa's new Chief Justice may drive its top court to the right, three "non-existent" gay men may have been hanged in Iran, the Thai Armed Forces reclassify katoeys, a U.S. appeals court nixes Arizona's benefits bust, and more news reported by Natalie Peoples and John Torres (produced by Steve Pride).

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NewsWrap for the week ending September 10, 2011

SUMMARY

Legal Right Turn - South African President Jacob Zuma appoints Mogoena Mogoena, a judge that critics say has issued misogynistic and homophobic rulings, as Chief Justice of the nation's highest court …

Maybe Nobody Killed Her - two of nine men charged with the brutal murder of South African lesbian activist Zoliswa Nkonyana in 2006 are released for lack of evidence …

A Glimpse of Reason - Ghana's Attorney General and Justice Minister Martin Amidu bucks the predominant continental mindset when he tells a press conference that private consensual adult same-gender sex should be decriminalized …

Guess They Found Some - three men are reportedly hanged in Iran for penetrative sodomy, an unusual admission by the state-run media …

"Disorder" Order - Thai trans-women will no longer be publicly labeled "permanently insane" when they report for the military service required of all men in the country, but will still be said to have "gender identity disorder" …

The Captain and the Colonel - Argentina's armed forces okay full dress uniforms for the first same-gender military couple to be civilly wed since marriage equality became the law of the land there last year …

Fair's Fair - the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals tells Arizona that it must provide the same health care benefits to the partners of its gay and lesbian state workers as it offers to heterosexual spouses …

Truck Stops - the Big Apple's Big Gay Ice Cream Truck goes "shopping" ...

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Being With You On 9/11

Mark Bingham was an openly gay passenger on United Flight 93 who joined the group that attacked three hijackers headed for the US Capitol on September 11, 2001. Bingham's mother Alice Hoagland is featured in the award-winning documentary on his life, and she tells Steve Pride about his moment in history.

And in NewsWrap: Mexican and U.S. Presbyterians part ways over gay and lesbian ordinations, British activists evangelize for equality, Prop 8 pix go on trial, the case against an alleged junior high school hate murderer ends in a mistrial, feds harass a "Don't Ask" hero over his White House protest, closeted U.S. service members prepare to come out in print, and more news reported by Rick Watts and Jon Beaupre (produced by Steve Pride).

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NewsWrap for the week ending Sept. 3, 2011

SUMMARY

Til Dogma Do Us Part - Mexican Presbyterians break with their more progressive U.S. counterparts over the latter's move to ordain partnered openly lesbian and gay clergy, while equally-disaffected conservative U.S. Presbyterians meet in Minnesota to discuss a breakaway branch ...

Outside the Box - Britain's leading advocacy group, Stonewall, plans to evangelize for equality overseas ...

You Oughtta Be in Pictures - anti- and pro-Proposition 8 lawyers battle in a U.S. District Court over the release of videotapes of the proceedings of last year's landmark trial that concluded with a judgment calling California's voter-approved marriage equality-banning measure unconstitutional ...

Shadow of Doubt - a mistrial is declared in the murder trial of now-17-year-old Brandon McInerney, whom everyone acknowledges, at age 14, shot and killed his gender-variant 15-year-old classmate Lawrence King, when the jury can't unanimously agree on a first- or second-degree murder or manslaughter conviction ...

For Freedom of Choi-ce - the federal court case against gay former U.S. Army Lieutenant Dan Choi for failing to unchain himself from the White House fence in a protest of Don't Ask Don't Tell last November gets a 10-day delay after the prosecution objects to the presiding judge's decision to allow Choi's defense team to present evidence of "vindictive prosecution" by the government ...

Finer Point - Log Cabin Republicans tells a federal appeals court why its judges need to uphold a lower court ruling declaring the soon-to-be-repealed anti-gay military ban unconstitutional ...

At Ease - some 100 formerly closeted personnel will come out on the day of repeal in the September 20th issue of "OutServe," a new magazine for lesbian and gay service members to be distributed on U.S. Army and Air Force bases ...

And in the End - tacky shots of his derriere on a website for gay sex seekers come back to bite Puerto Rico anti-gay Republican Senator Roberto Arango in the ass ...

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