Gregoire's Gift & India's High Court

Gov. Christine Gregoire gives Washington a great wedding gift in her exuberant marriage equality bill signing ceremony remarks.

Religious fundamentalists appeal a landmark rights ruling that, as Indu Vashist reports from New Dehli for Free Speech Radio News, gave LGBTs in India their visibility.

Plus: the L Project's U.K. chart-topping music video sensation assures queer youth that It Does Get Better.

And in NewsWrap: Islamic U.N. countries decline to discuss sexual minorities, African nations intensify LGBT repression, Australian parliamentarians circulate marriage equality proposals, and more news reported by Tanya Kane-Parry and Rick Watts (produced by Steve Pride).


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

"Like" our Facebook Fan page ...

Support Keep "This Way Out" on the Air ...

And follow TWORadio on Twitter!

NewsWrap for the week ending February 18, 2012

SUMMARY

Talk to the Hand - The UN's Organization of Islamic Cooperation notifies the world body's top human rights agencies that its 56-member nations object to the scheduled March 7th meeting on violence against sexual minorities because "abnormal sexual behavior" has "nothing to do with fundamental human rights" …

The Race Stops Here - Libya's newly-reinstated delegate tells the UN Human Rights Council that promoting LGBT rights threatens "the continuation and reproduction of the human race" …

Not in My Backyard - Tunisia's Human Rights Minister tells a national TV audience that sexual minorities have no rights in his country, and Gambia's President says recognizing the rights of LGBT people would "destroy our culture" …

Raid on Entebbe - Uganda's Minister for Ethics and Integrity leads a police raid on what local media describe as "a secret gay rights activists conference" in Entebbe …

Kill 'Em Here, Too - Liberia's former first lady and now senator follows Uganda's lead by introducing a bill to punish gay sex with execution …

Menage A Trois - three bills to open civil marriage to same-gender couples are introduced in Australia's parliament …

Patch Applied - the Canadian government makes good on a promise to close a legal loophole that questions the legitimacy of marriages of foreign lesbian and gay couples performed there …

Don't Ask, Don't DOMA - the U.S. Justice Department advises Congress that it will not defend the Defense of Marriage Act, which bans federal recognition of same-gender unions, in lawsuits demanding equal military benefits for married gay and lesbian service members …

Next Stop, Marry-land - with passage in Maryland's House of Delegates, a marriage equality bill clears what most believe to have been its biggest hurdle and sets the stage for the U.S. state to become the eighth to open civil marriage to lesbian and gay couples …

Garden Snake - New Jersey Governor Chris Christie makes good on his vow to veto a marriage equality bill approved by both legislative chambers, and repeats his call for a public vote on the issue ….

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

Prop 8 Out

A U.S. appeals court concludes that the Constitution can't Prop up 8! Our enhanced coverage features highlights from Pacifica Radio's California Evening News anchors John Hamilton and Mark Mericle with reporters Christopher Martinez and Dan Fritz. We'll also hear comments by San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera and Deputy City Attorney Therese Stewart; Marriage Equality USA Legal Director John Lewis; Prop 8-challenging co-counsel Theodore Olson, lead plaintiff couple Kris Perry and Sandy Stier, and their 17-year-old son Spencer; American Foundation for Equal Rights Board President Chad Griffin. Then we close with brief excerpts from The Rachel Maddow Show's (MSNBC) exclusive interview with Olson.

And in NewsWrap: marriage equality crosses threshold in Washington state, St. Petersburg bill would outlaw LGBT advocacy, Britain jails Muslim anti-gay hate leafleters, EuroCourt rejects Swedish homophobes' free speech claims, Northern Cyprus' sex law conflict becomes Euro rights case, and more news reported by Vash Boddie and Christopher Gaal (produced by Steve Pride).

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

"Like" our Facebook Fan page ...

Support Keep "This Way Out" on the Air ...

And follow TWORadio on Twitter!

NewsWrap for the week ending February 11, 2012

SUMMARY

Evergreen … For Now - Marriage equality becomes a reality in the U.S. state of Washington, but opponents vow a November ballot box challenge, while matrimonial equity advances in Illinois, New Jersey, and Maine …

Golden Ring - the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals cites state-specific grounds to call California's Proposition 8 unconstitutional …

Not Encouraging - St. Petersburg is the latest Russian region to advance a "no promo homo" bill …

Paper Tigers Caged - anti-gay Muslim hate leafleters are jailed in the U.K. and homophobic Swedish leafleters are rebuffed by the European Court of Human Rights …

Can't Soar With Eagles - a new case filed in the EuroCourt this week blames Turkey for the continued prosecution of private, consensual adult gay sex in Northern Cyprus …

Smart Enough To Have Known Better - in refusing to pardon his gross indecency conviction, the British government blames gay "father of the modern computer" Alan Turing for knowingly violating the law of the land at that time ….

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

Michael Cunningham By Nightfall

The Pulitzer Pride-winning novelist discusses his creative process and his latest work with our Steve Pride, including a reading from the By Nightfall audio-book by Hugh Dancy, and music performed by Harry Connick, Jr.

Plus: Walt Whitman, The Inspiration profiles his pioneering gay British admirer Edward Carpenter in a Rainbow Minute (produced by Judd Proctor & Brian Burns and read by Mike Hinerman).

And in NewsWrap: Euro-Parliament gets "Bothered" about LGBT rights; Australia lifts roadblock to overseas marriages; Ecuador cracks down on "cure" clinics; trans-woman takes office in Bogota; U.S. marriage equality advances in Washington, Maryland and Maine; and more news reported by Tanya Kane-Parry and John Torres (produced by Steve Pride).

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

"Like" our Facebook Fan page ...

Support Keep "This Way Out" on the Air ...

And follow TWORadio on Twitter!

NewsWrap for the week ending January 28, 2012

SUMMARY

The Western Front - 184 Members of the European Parliament take the "Be Bothered Pledge" to advance LGBT rights in the E.U. …

Lead, Follow, Or … - Australia's government removes the roadblock to its gay and lesbian citizens' legal marriages overseas …

First Do No Harm - Ecuador's new "out" lesbian Health Minister Carina Vance Mafla vows to shut down so-called "cure" clinics that promise their tortured "patients" salvation from homosexuality through prayer …

Right For the Job - Bogota, Colombia Mayor Gustavo Petro's appointment of Tatiana Pinero as the Director of Corporate Management in the city's Social Integration Department makes her the capital's first transgender public official …

Real Hope for the Future - Washington appears poised to become the seventh U.S. state, along with the District of Columbia, to offer marriage equality to its lesbian and gay citizens …

Cracking the Oyster - Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley introduces a bill to open civil marriage to his state's same-gender couples …

They Guide - LGBT activists in Maine announce that they have submitted far more than the required number of signatures to put a marriage equality measure back on the state ballot …

Not An Acceptable Trade-Off - a bill to replace the state's inferior civil unions with civil marriage advances in New Jersey's Democratically-controlled legislature, but Republican Governor Chris Christie vows a veto, even as he stuns most LGBT activists by nominating openly gay African-American Chatham, New Jersey Republican Mayor Bruce Harris to the state Supreme Court ….

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