Sapphic Nomads in Samoa & Rev. Rebecca Voelkel

In the first of a series of "on the road" reports, traveling lesbian documentarians Maggie Young and Katie Cook explore fa'afafine life in Independent Samoa.

A Minnesota United Church of Christ minister and LGBT ally prays for marriage equality with correspondent Dixie Treichel.

Plus -- admirers Lily Tomlin, Jane Lynch, and Steve Harvey "Mark" Ellen DeGeneres' "Twain" at Washington, DC's John F. Kennedy Center.

And in NewsWrap: gay activists take Jamaican sex laws to court, Cameroon legal advocates get death threats, marriage equality appeal rejected in New York, a Viking "voices" his support for it, and more news reported by Rick Watts and Michael LeBeau (produced by Steve Pride).

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NewsWrap for the week ending October 27, 2012

SUMMARY

Suing for Dignity - Jamaican activists file suit at the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights demanding repeal of their island nation's sodomy laws …

Lawyer Contracts - phone calls and text messages from persons unknown make death threats against two legal advocates for LGBT rights and their family members in Cameroon …

Lacking Appeal - New York's highest court rejects what may be the last legal challenge to the state's marriage equality law …

Holding Noses May Not Be Enough - the gay Log Cabin Republicans give Mitt Romney their "qualified" endorsement, even as the GOP presidential candidate reiterates his support for a federal constitutional amendment to define marriage as exclusively heterosexual, and the "Boston Globe" reports on his efforts as Massachusetts governor to thwart the legal recognition of lesbian and gay parents …

Cheerleader-In-Chief - President Barack Obama formally urges votes in favor of marriage equality on state ballot measures this November in Maine, Maryland and Washington …

Marriage Scrimmage - National Football League Baltimore Ravens linebacker Brendon Ayanbadejo's outspoken support for Maryland marriage equality draws a state lawmaker's letter demanding that the team owners silence him, prompting Minnesota Vikings punter CHRIS KLUWE to mock the lawmaker in an open letter and appear in a radio ad against the marriage equality-banning state constitutional amendment on the November ballot in his state [you'll hear the spot] …

One-Two Punch - recently "out" Puerto Rican professional featherweight boxer Orlando Cruz wins his first fight as an openly gay man ….

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

Behind "Justin's Pumpkin" …

Petition Drive: 
Hey "Halloween Capital of the World": Don't bar anti-bullying gay kids group from your Halloween parade!

This week's This Way Out features an interview with Jefferson Fietek of Justin's Gift. To sign the petition in support of their contingent marching in the Anoka Halloween Parade, click here!

Justin's Pumpkin & No Bully-Free Lunch

A Minnesota Hallowe'en Parade is stepping on the toes of the LGBT youth organization Justin's Gift, but thousands of petitioners are lining up in support of the contingent (our Dixie Treichel speaks with Jefferson Fietek).

The Christian right-wing American Family Association is afraid that Mix It Up at Lunch Day may actually teach tolerance to schoolchildren (Bryan Fischer is challenged by CNN anchor Carol Costello).

Plus: Rev. Phil Snider's comments on LGBT rights go viral -- but wait … what's this unexpected twist?!

And in NewsWrap: DOMA dies another day, raped Swedish transwoman gets justice, devastating discrimination plagues indigenous North Americans, Madonna and milk "promote" St. Petersburg paranoia, and more news reported by Natalie Peoples and Johnnie Torres (produced by Steve Pride).

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NewsWrap for the week ending October 20, 2012

SUMMARY

DOMA in a Coma - A second U.S. federal appeals court declares the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) a violation of the Constitution's equal protection provisions, and also becomes the first federal court to declare that laws that discriminate against same-gender couples should be judged with "heightened scrutiny" …

Funeral Expenses - the GOP-controlled House of Representatives approaches the $1.5 million spending cap members authorized to defend DOMA after the Obama administration decided to stop doing so …

Fear Factor - growing opposition to the French government's promise to introduce a civil marriage equality bill in Parliament on October 31st may have contributed to this week's announcement that debate would not begin until at least November 7th …

Parental Objections - Belfast judge declares that Northern Ireland's adoption laws discriminate against unmarried heterosexual and same-gender couples …

Good For the Goose - an appeals court in Sweden rules that accusations of rape can be lodged against a suspect regardless of the gender identity of the victim …

Two-Spirit Tragedies - a report issued this week reveals alarming levels of discrimination against American Indian and Alaskan Native transgender and gender-nonconforming people …

Russian Rule-ette - members of the Trade Union of Russian Citizens sue pop diva Madonna for violating St. Petersburg's "no promo homo" law during her August 9th concert, …

Got Queers? - a member of the Russian Orthodox Church-affiliated People's Council wants authorities to investigate rainbow-themed milk cartons for violating the same law ….

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

GOP Left Behind & "Ally" Sally Field

The U.S. march to marriage equality finds the Republican Party flat-footed, as MSNBC's Rachel Maddow and Steve Kornacki note that public opinion poll results are far more progressive on the subject than the party platform.

The Human Rights Campaign really likes celebrity "mother-of-a-gay" Sally Field … and anyone who heard her inspiring acceptance speech for their Ally for Equality Award would feel the same way!

And in NewsWrap: masked gang wreaks havoc at Moscow gay bar, Belgrade authorities force Pride inside, France prepares to pop the question, Australia's parliament refuses to support state marriage rights, court challenge to anti-trans laws fails in Malaysia, Big Bird bashing brings its gay parentage out of the coop, and more news reported by Sarah Sweeney and Robert LeBlanc (produced by Steve Pride).

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NewsWrap for the week ending October 13, 2012

SUMMARY

Moscow Mayhem - More than 20 masked men storm into a popular Moscow gay bar using fists, bottles and caustic substances to injure at least 10 patrons, sending four to the hospital …

Something Inside So Strong - police officials force Belgrade Pride off Serbian streets and into a conference hall for a forward-looking celebration …

Liberty, Equality, Matrimony - the French government announces that its ministers will approve a marriage equality measure on October 31st …

Feds Butt In - a bill to stop the federal government from challenging state or territorial marriage equality measures fails by a wide margin in the Australian Parliament …

No Change For the Changers - a state court in Malaysia rejects a challenge by four transgender-identified Muslim men to secular and Shariah laws banning cross-dressing …

Out of the Coop - the Daily Beast tells the unique love story of Big Bird's two gay dads ….

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

MN Marriage Billboard & "October Mourning"

The campaign to keep the "one man, one woman" Minnesota Marriage Amendment from constitutionally banning equality got a boost from the Guerrilla Girls … and, of all people, Michelle Bachman! Minneapolis organizers Joan Vorderbruggen (http://www.artistsinstorefronts.com), Erin Sayer (http://www.cultstatusgallery.com), and Robyn Hendrix (http://www.thewarm.org) take Dixie Treichel to the streets to view their grand undertaking. (View the billboard here … and p.s.: they take on the Voter ID Amendment, too!)

Leslea Newman's (Heather Has Two Mommies) new book is subtitled A Song for Matthew Shepard, and This Way Out life and literature commentator Janet Mason finds it to be an evocative and powerful remembrance of the slain gay Wyoming youth.

Plus: Brian Houston sings his own Ballad of Matthew Shepard.

And in NewsWrap: Ukraine moves on "no promo homo" bill, Russia's top court upholds "gay prop" ban, no luck for Northern Ireland marriage equality, California's "cure" ban sickens rightwing groups, Puerto Rican boxer Orlando Cruz KO's the closet, and more news reported by Jason Proctor and Abby Dees (produced by Steve Pride).

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NewsWrap for the week ending October 6, 2012

 SUMMARY

"No Promo Homo" Rebound - Ukraine's Parliament gives initial approval to a bill banning "gay propaganda," while Russia's Supreme Court upholds a similar measure but says it doesn't apply to public LGBT events like Pride marches …

No Luck - Northern Ireland's Stormont Assembly turns down a marriage equality proposal …

Equal Burping - same-gender co-parents in Australia get equal baby care leave benefits …

Hatred Extension - Malawi's President Joyce Banda admits that she can't keep her promise to repeal anti-gay sex laws …

Quackery Extension - rightwing lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of California's first-in-the-U.S. ban on so-called "reparative therapy" for anyone under 18 may keep it from taking effect on January 1st …

Clean Slate - some 16,000 men in the U.K. who were convicted of engaging in consensual gay sex before it was decriminalized may now have their "sex offender" police records expunged …

Closet KO'd - "proud gay Puerto Rican" boxer Orlando Cruz makes professional pugilistic history ….

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

Nona Hendryx: "Mutatis Mutandis"

The legendary lesbian singer/songwriter recalls her musical roots and discusses her first album in 20 years during a U.K. visit with Rosie Wilby (produced with Sabine Schereck for Resonance-FM's Out in South London); Tea Party, the first track on the album, is featured.

And in NewsWrap: Tasmania's Upper House narrowly nixes marriage proposal, same-gender bi-national couples living in U.S. get official deportation protection, New York appeals court hears lesbian widow's DOMA appeal, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says gays engage in "very ugly behavior," the Pope says they threaten "life and the family," and more news reported by Abby Dees 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 ...

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NewsWrap for the week ending September 29, 2012

SUMMARY

Close But No Wedding Cigar - Tasmania's upper house defeats a bill that would have made the island state the first in Australia to open civil marriage to lesbian and gay couples …

Homeland Is Where the Heart Is - Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano confirms a change in American immigration policy to define long-term bi-national same gender couples living in the U.S. as families and therefore "low priorities" for deportation proceedings …

As Time Runs Out - a U.S. federal appeals court considers "judicial scrutiny" as 83-year-old lesbian widow Edith Windsor challenges DOMA's constitutionality …

Peanut Gallery - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Roman Catholic Pope Benedict XVI, the Vatican's U.N. observer Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, and St. Petersburg, Russia lawmaker Vitaly Milonov make sad but predictable pronouncements about "the gay" ….

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