NewsWrap for the week ending March 29, 2014

SUMMARY

Inaugural Processions - Lesbian and gay couples begin civilly marrying in England and Wales …

DOMA Adobo - a lesbian couple who live in Puerto Rico but legally wed in Massachusetts files suit to require the U.S. territory to legally recognize the marriage …

Great Lakes Status - a U.S. appeals court extends the stay of a lower court ruling striking down Michigan's law banning civil marriage for same gender couples while state officials appeal it, and while U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder announces that the federal government will recognize the more than 300 couples who legally wed during the brief hours it was available to them, but Governor Rick Snyder says the state won't until there's a final legal resolution …

Celtic Confusion - a group of students in a flashmob celebration of St. Patrick's Day in the Siberian city of Irkutsk are assaulted by homophobic thugs thinking it was a gay event …

Russian Expansion - Russia-like "no promo homo" laws are pending in the former Soviet republic of Kyrgyzstan -- with harsher penalties for violators than the Russian version -- and are being considered in Lithuania and Ukraine …

Abolish the Gays - activists in Uganda report on the increasingly dire situation for sexual minorities in the East African country, while preachers begin a series of "abolish homosexuality" marches …

Bad Company - a proposal appears headed for passage in Ethiopia that would group consensual adult same-gender sex in the nation's Pardon and Amnesty Law with rape, human trafficking and terrorism …

Learned Behavior - a "religious freedom" bill to "protect" Tennessee students from anti-LGBT bias charges is headed to the governor's desk, with opponents calling it a "license to discriminate" …

Change for the Better - Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley is expected to sign into law a bill to protect transgender people in the state from discrimination …

'Til Death Do Us Join? - fringe opponents of marriage equality in the U.K. warn of apocalyptic consequences of marriage equality that include a resurrected Jesus being forced to marry a man and gay people digging up corpse on "National Necrophilia Day" ….

Complete NewsWrap text and this week's podcast to be posted April 1, 2014.

St. Paddy's Protest & Scientific Diplomacy

Week of March 17, 2014
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Green and lavender clash again in New York City in a re-invigorated boycott of the traditional -- and LGBT-exclusive -- St. Patrick's Day Parade (Kelly Cogswell reports).

Can medical experts in sexual orientation dispatched from the U.S. State Department save Uganda from the legalized homophobia inspired by preachers dispatched from the U.S. religious right?

Plus: some parting words from Westboro Baptist Church’s notorious (and now late) Fred ("God Hates Fags") Phelps.

And in NewsWrap: competing family factions face off in Taipei's Freedom Square, Gibraltar rocks civil partnerships, Australia's largest "ex-gay" group exits, an Idaho anti-bias advocate in and out of a closet, and more news reported by Abby Dees and Wenzel Jones (produced by Steve Pride).

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NewsWrap for the week ending March 22, 2014

SUMMARY

Family Feud - Opponents and proponents of Taiwan marriage equality face off and occasionally scuffle at dueling rallies in Taipei's Freedom Square …

Civilized Proposals - lawmakers in Gibraltar approve a civil partnerships bill for both heterosexual and same-gender couples, but a similar proposal dies in Romania's Chamber of Deputies …

Sales Dried Up - Australia's largest "pray the gay away" ministry, Living Waters, shuts down for lack of interest …

No Peace - chairman Mohammed Naseem of Birmingham Central Mosque, one of the largest in Europe, compares gay people to "compulsive murderers, gamblers and pedophiles" …

Heaven Help Him - infamous "God Hates Fags" preacher Fred Phelps of Topeka, Kansas' fringe Westboro Baptist Church goes to his final reward …

Drip, Drip - a U.S. federal judges makes Michigan the 14th consecutive state since last June's Supreme Court DOMA ruling to have its ban on civil marriage for same-gender couples declared unconstitutional …

Slow Motion - a federal judge extends a stay of his ruling ordering Kentucky to recognize the marriages of lesbian and gay couples legally performed in other jurisdictions pending the state's appeal …

Why Wait? - another federal judge rejects Tennessee's request to delay its recognition of three plaintiff same-gender couples who married elsewhere while the state appeals her ruling declaring that refusal to be unconstitutional …

Cloakroom Disobedience - former Idaho lawmaker Nicole LeFavour literally comes out of a closet in the Senate chamber to protest the refusal of the Republican leadership to even consider protecting LGBT people in the state's anti-discrimination laws ….

Read the <a href="http://bit.ly/1iKnK46">complete NewsWrap text</a> ... or listen to <a href="http://bit.ly/1gAUX2t">this week's podcast</a>.

Homophobia for Export

Week of March 17, 2014
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How the U.S. provided the inspiration for Ugandan persecution: trace the birth of the East African nation’s draconian Anti-Homosexuality Act through "educational seminars" hosted by Massachusetts evangelical Christian minister Scott Lively, his follower Stephen Langa of Uganda’s Family Life Network and Ugandan parliamentary research director Charles Tuhaise.

Plus: syndicated columnist Abby Dees encourages her younger self.

And in NewsWrap: Ugandan human rights activists challenge the new anti-gay law's constitutionality, Nigerian Justice "jails the gays" for their own good, Rainbow Russian colors clash with homophobic thugs, same-gender Brits married elsewhere get early equality start, Obamacare offers insurance parity to U.S. lesbian and gay families, and more news reported by Johnnie Torres and Michelle-Marie Gilkeson (produced by Wenzel Jones and Steve Pride).

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This Way Out was funded this week by the Yavanna Foundation and by our generous listeners. Donate today to help support our work -- and the free distribution of the show to non-commercial radio stations -- at thiswayout.org!

NewsWrap for the week ending March 15, 2014

SUMMARY

Fight Back - A coalition of Ugandan human rights groups are joined by LGBT activists, commentators, scholars and politicians in a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the country's "Anti-Homosexuality Act"…

For Your Own Good - Nigeria's Justice Minister claims his country's so-called "Jail All the Gays" law was enacted to protect them from vigilante violence …

Copycat Hatred - politicians in the Democratic Republic of Congo and in Kenya each push for harsher laws against LGBT people …

Learning Curbed - Zimbabwe activists are arrested in Harare for conducting a media training workshop …

Ovo-Phobo-Demo - machete-wielding Russian thugs pelt LGBT participants in Moscow's March 8th International Women's Day March with raw eggs, but are arrested before they can do more serious damage …

Queer Queueing - thanks to a quirk in the U.K. marriage equality law, same-gender couples legally married in other jurisdictions are now considered to be legally married at home, while never-married couples will still have to wait until March 29th to tie the knot …

ObamaQare - the U.S. Health and Human Services Department tells insurance providers that beginning next year they must offer the same coverage to legally married same-gender couples as they do to heterosexually-married couples …

Mysterious Ways - charges are unexpectedly dropped against United Methodist Church Rev. Dr. Thomas Ogletree for officiating the wedding of his son to another man …

Tennessee Hospitality - a U.S. federal judge orders Tennessee to recognize the legal marriages of same-gender couples contracted in other states …

Bet on a Losing Race - Kentucky's Governor authorizes the payment of 100,000 taxpayer dollars to outside attorneys to defend a ban on out-of-state same-gender marriages …

Pry Open the Window - same-gender couples in Utah who civilly married during a brief period of time that they could legally do so ask a federal judge to order the state to recognize their marriages …

Please Knock Loudly - new lawsuits challenging state bans on marriage equality filed in Arizona, Florida, and Indiana join more than 50 others working their way through the court system in several states ….

Complete NewsWrap text and this week's podcast to be posted March 18, 2014.

Nigeria Protests & "Behind the Queens"

Week of March 10, 2014
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Four young men convicted of violating Nigeria's new horrendously-oppressive anti-LGBT laws are publicly flogged and still face fines and imprisonment as demonstrations -- like the one outside the Nigerian Embassy in New York City -- proliferate around the world (Kelly Cogswell and Harriet Hirshorn report).

The forthcoming documentary Behind the Queens unveils Vancouver's drag scene (producers Zack Singer and Deborah Power).

U.S. Congressman Steve King is dethroned by satirist Stephen Colbert after the self-professed Iowa Republican's pronouncement about the fairness of religious discrimination against self-professed LGBTs.

And in NewsWrap: "unnatural" arrests panic Zambia, Cameroon and Uganda; ambiguity attends the Pope's new civil unions spin; the Dalai Lama is "okay" with marriage equality; U.S. marriage equality marches forward in Colorado, Indiana, Wyoming, Illinois, and Kentucky; and more news reported by Tanya Kane-Parry and Christopher Gaal (produced by Steve Pride).

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This Way Out was funded this week by the Yavanna Foundation and by our generous listeners. Donate today to help support our work -- and the free distribution of the show to non-commercial radio stations -- at thiswayout.org!

NewsWrap for the week ending March 8, 2014

SUMMARY

Flogged and Fined - Four young men convicted of violating Nigeria's new horrendously-oppressive anti-LGBT laws are publicly whipped and could face more violence in prison …

Admissible Evidence - trial begins for two men in Zambia forced to undergo anal probes to "prove" their homosexuality …

Orange Is the New Lavender - four lesbians are reportedly arrested in Cameroon, which Human Rights Watch says prosecutes more sexual minorities than any other country in Africa …

Totally Intended Consequences - a Ugandan blog reports that a lesbian has been evicted from her home, despite being a "wonderful" tenant, because of that country's new Anti-Homosexuality Law …

Prophets of Doom - Uganda's Anglican Bishop calls mother Church of England "spiritually blind" about homosexuality, and prospective Anglican clerics in Nigeria must now swear to God that they aren't gay …

New Testaments - ambiguity surrounds comments attributed to Roman Catholic Pope Francis that seemed to suggest that the Church might be open to civil unions for same-gender couples, while exiled Tibetan Buddhist leader the Dalai Lama tells "Larry King Now" that marriage equality is "okay" …

Law in Transition - a landmark ruling in Lebanon sanctions the relationship of a transgender woman and a man …

Jasmine Equality - 200 guests cheer what may be the first public wedding of a gay male couple in Myanmar (Burma) …

Altared States - Colorado's Governor publicly endorses civil marriage for lesbian and gay couples, while Wyoming and Indiana are next in the U.S. to be sued for marriage equality by same-gender couples, and a federal court is expected to rule this month in a case challenging Michigan's hetero-only marriage law …

Early Admissions - citing a federal court ruling, Illinois officials expand the availability of marriage licenses to same-gender couples outside Chicago before the official June 1st enactment date of the state's marriage equality law …

Running for the Roses - Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway is unable to conceal his emotions as he announces that he won't appeal a federal ruling declaring as unconstitutional his state's refusal to recognize same-gender civil marriages legally performed elsewhere ….

Read the <a href="http://bit.ly/OfHeDd">complete NewsWrap text</a> ... or listen to <a href="http://bit.ly/1oRwiH7">this week's podcast</a>.

Museveni's Science & Arizona's Reprieve

Week of March 3, 2014
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President Yoweri Museveni defends the highly questionable "research" behind Uganda's Anti-Homosexuality Law in an interview with CNN’s Zain Verjee.

Arizona's "bias license" gets a dramatic "thumbs down” from Governor Jan Brewer, whose veto announcement prompts howls from the American Family Association's Bryan Fischer and right-wing radio talker Rush Limbaugh; Emory University law professor Timothy Holbrook provides analysis.

And in NewsWrap: courts in Zimbabwe and Zambia each acquit leading LGBT activists, oppressive legislation creeps into Kenya, Jordan cops bust 10 gays and lesbians for getting acquainted, post-Olympic "Open Games" leaps hurdles in Moscow, a U.S. federal judge tosses Texas' marriage inequality law, and more news reported by Jason Proctor and Natalie Peoples (produced by Steve Pride).

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This Way Out was funded this week by the Yavanna Foundation and by our generous listeners. Donate today to help support our work -- and the free distribution of the show to non-commercial radio stations -- at thiswayout.org!

NewsWrap for the week ending March 1, 2014

SUMMARY

Off the Hook - LGBT rights activists are acquitted on bogus charges in Zimbabwe and Zambia …

Laws of Mobs Rule - the war on sexual minorities continues unabated in Nigeria and Uganda …

How to Make Friends - Kenyan leaders call for their own similarly harsh anti-gay legislation …

Acquaintance Raid - ten lesbians and gay men at a "getting to know each other" gathering at a party hall in Amman, Jordan are arrested in a prophylactic prevention of "disturbing the peace" …

High Hurdles - more than 200 athletes from 11 countries endure bomb threats, cancelled-at-the-last-minute venues and hotels, smoke bombs, and "technical problems" at an ice skating rink to compete in the inaugural Russian LGBT Sports Federation's Open Games in Moscow …

Hellish Law Burned - Arizona Governor Jan Brewer vetoes a so-called "religious freedom" bill …

No Legitimate Governmental Purpose - a federal judge declares the Texas law defining civil marriage as exclusively heterosexual to be a violation of the U.S. Constitution …

Clearly Demeaning - a federal judge makes final his ruling declaring as unconstitutional Kentucky's refusal to recognize the civil marriages of same-gender couples performed elsewhere …

Reality Check - retired National Football League Hall of Famer and TV sports commentator Deion Sanders tells "The Arsenio Hall Show" that there were gay players on all five teams he played on during his career, and says of out pro prospect Michael Sam "if he can make plays, he can play the game" ….

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