NewsWrap for the week ending April 26, 2014

SUMMARY

Cracked Wedding Ceiling - Mexico's Supreme Court rules in favor of 39 same-gender couples seeking civil marriage in the state of Oaxaca …

Early Thaw - Alaska's Supreme Court orders limited property tax equality for same-gender, civilly-married couples …

NOM's Away - a federal judge allows a last-minute intervention by the National Organization for Marriage to defend the constitutionality of Oregon's exclusively heterosexual civil marriage law since state officials refuse to do so …

Poor Excuse - North Korea's official news agency condemns a U.N. report critical of human rights abuses in the insulated Asian nation by calling lead investigator, openly gay former Australian High Court Justice Michael Kirby, "a disgusting old lecher" …

Wait Till Your Sultan Gets Home - Brunei delays enforcing –- but perhaps not for long -- a new penal code that punishes consensual adult gay sex with death by stoning …

Another Shot - the Chief Justice of India's Supreme Court announces that the "curative petition" filed by opponents of the country's law banning "unnatural sex" will be heard by a five-judge panel headed by three of the bench's most senior justices …

Wiki Update - the whistleblowing transgender U.S. Army private formerly known as Bradley legally becomes Chelsea Manning …

Excommunication - the Boy Scouts of America revokes the charter of Seattle, Washington-area Rainier Beach United Methodist Church because the congregation and its pastor refuse to fire openly gay scoutmaster Geoff McGrath …

Snitch on the Sick - draft guidelines from the Ugandan government reportedly suggest that the recently-enacted "Anti-Homosexuality Law" requires healthcare workers –- including those at HIV/AIDS clinics -- to report all gay clients to the police …

Meta-Homophobia - a critic of Ugandan anti-gay crusader Pastor Martin Ssempa says the gay-porn-showing zealot himself should be charged with violating that law ….

Complete NewsWrap text and this week's podcast to be posted April 29, 2014.

PureLand LIVE!

Week of April 21, 2014
To listen to the whole show, click here!

The lesbian classical-pop singing duo of Laurie Rubin and Jenny Taira perform live in-studio and discuss their new adventure into music with a message (with correspondent Abby Dees).

Early 20th century British composer and suffragist Ethel Smyth is profiled in a Rainbow Minute (read by Karen Burns, produced by Judd Proctor and Brian Burns).

And in NewsWrap: India's top court affirms and protects trans-people, Malta bans trans bias and okays civil unions, Ethiopia eschews Africa's trending homophobia while Zimbabwe's Mugabe reinforces it, new laws in Brunei punish consensual adult gay sex with death by stoning, and more news reported by Sarah Sweeney and Ryan Pest (produced by Steve Pride).

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This Way Out was funded this week by the Yavanna Foundation, a bequest from the estate of Christopher David Trentham, 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 April 19, 2014

SUMMARY

When Two Aren't Enough - India's High Court declares trans-people to be a third gender entitled to rights, protections, and government benefits …

Whistling in the Dark - the conviction and 35-year prison sentence for Wiki-leaking U.S. Army Private Chelsea (formerly Bradley) Manning are upheld, sending her case to a military appeals court …

Twin Wins - Malta lawmakers protect transgender people from discrimination, and create marriage-like civil unions for same-gender couples that include adoption rights …

Time Out Corner - Ethiopia's government resists calls for harsher anti-gay laws than already exist, so a large church groups-organized anti-gay march in Addis Ababa is cancelled …

The Usual Suspect - Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe calls gays and lesbians "inhuman" and threatens to kick pro-gay foreign diplomats out of the country …

Trapped - defiance and fear mix among Ugandan LGBT and HIV/AIDS activists under the new "Jail the Gays" law as many of their lives are threatened and police hunt them, while a Namibian official says his country won't accept gay refugees fleeing Uganda …

Stoned Again - new laws in Brunei punish consensual adult gay sex with death by stoning …

Can You Hear Me Now? - the 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals considers Oklahoma's challenge to a lower federal court ruling declaring the state's ban on civil marriage for same-gender couples unconstitutional in the second such hearing in as many weeks …

Don't Save the Children - Utah's Attorney General asks the state Supreme Court to stop same-gender couples who legally married during the brief few days that they could from getting second parent adoption approval …

What Constitution? - despite the U.S. Supreme Court 2003 ruling overturning state sodomy laws, Louisiana lawmakers vote to keep their statute on the books because residents believe gay people to be "dangerous, unhealthy and immoral" …

Southern Hospitality - in response to enactment of a state law to "protect religious freedom" that opponents called a veiled anti-LGBT "license to discriminate," hundreds of Mississippi business owners and shop keepers are welcoming them as customers with rainbow window stickers declaring "We Don't Discriminate" ….

Read the <a href="http://bit.ly/1rjZtpc">complete NewsWrap text</a> ... or listen to <a href="http://bit.ly/1i5px5c">this week's podcast</a>.

"The Gay Rub" & Derrick Gordon

Week of April 14, 2014
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Poet/collector Steven Reigns invites people around the world to join him gathering impressions of LGBT history (interviewed by Steve Pride).

Coming out is a slam-dunk for top tier U.S. college basketball player Derrick Gordon! The University of Massachusetts sophomore talks with ESPN's Kate Fagan, while sports legends Bill Russell and Jim Brown each briefly weigh in on out athletes.

And in NewsWrap: Saudi cops bust 35 "gay party"-goers to promote "virtue," Italian court recognizes gay couple's New York marriage, Utah's marriage equality case heard in federal appeals court, Minnesota moves against bullying, Seattle stands with ousted gay scoutmaster, and more news reported by Michael Allan and Carole Meyers (produced by Steve Pride).

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This Way Out was funded this week by the Yavanna Foundation, a bequest from the estate of Christopher David Trentham, 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 April 12, 2014

SUMMARY

Party Off - Thirty-five men are arrested by Saudi Arabia religious police for being at a "gay party" in Jeddah, while four gay men are jailed in Egypt for "debauchery" …

Tuscan Triumph - an Italian court orders the country's first-ever recognition of the marriage of a same-gender couple legally performed abroad …

Last Rights - a U.S. federal court orders the state of Indiana to recognize the Massachusetts marriage of a lesbian couple, one of whom has terminal cancer …

Line Starts Here - a three-judge panel of the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals hears Utah's case challenging a lower court decision declaring the state's ban on civil marriage for same-gender couples unconstitutional – and Oklahoma's challenge will be heard by the same three judges in the coming week …

Safe Bet - Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring sides with marriage equality-seeking same-gender couples in their lawsuit challenging the "heterosexuals only" state ban, and only five U.S. states with bans have escaped court challenges …

Bullies Begone - Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton signs an LGBT-inclusive state anti-bullying bill …

Solemn Oath - Seattle, Washington city officials and his troop's church sponsor stand behind ousted-because-he's-out Boy Scout leader Geoff McGrath ….

Read the <a href="http://bit.ly/1etkJGN">complete NewsWrap text</a> ... or listen to <a href="http://bit.ly/1gyfQI1">this week's podcast</a>.

Heaven and Hell

Week of April 7, 2014
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There's good news and bad news from two very different men of the cloth:

United Methodist Church minister Franklyn Schaefer, defrocked for officiating the marriage of his gay son, shares his spiritual and activist journey with our Steve Pride.

Pastor James David Manning of Harlem’s ATLAH Missionary Baptist Church defends their "Jesus Would Stone Homos" marquee as protests continue.

And in NewsWrap: opponents of India's sex law throwback file final appeal, homophobic Uganda cops raid Kampala AIDS clinic, Nigerian court frees two nabbed under new anti-LGBT law, Russian court makes history by upholding LGBT rights, U.S. feds trump state inequality with DOMA-doctored Medicare, and more news reported by Abby Dees and Gary Shaw (produced by Steve Pride).

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This Way Out was funded this week by the Yavanna Foundation, a bequest from the estate of Christopher David Trentham, 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 April 5, 2014

SUMMARY

All In - A last ditch effort launches at India's High Court to overturn Penal Code Section 377, which outlaws private consensual adult gay sex …

School for Scandal - Uganda police raid a U.S.-funded HIV clinic in Kampala for allegedly "training youths in homosexuality," and many thousands march with President Yoweri Museveni to celebrate passage of the nation's draconian "Anti-Homosexuality Law" …

Escaped the Lash - an Islamic court in northern Nigeria frees two men charged with belonging to a gay rights group …

Homo Promo Demos a Go - the highest court in Russia's Kostroma region rules that bans on peaceful protests of the national law criminalizing "gay propaganda" were illegal, while President Vladimir ("traditional values") Putin divorces his wife of 30 years …

DOMA-Doctored Healthcare - the Obama administration opens Medicare to legally married same-gender couples, no matter what state they live in …

How Many Is That Now? - a U.S. federal judge announces that he'll strike down Ohio's law banning the recognition of same-gender couples legally married in other states …

Devil Made Him Do It - Mississippi's Republican Governor Phil Bryant signs the "Religious Freedom Restoration Act" that critics say legalizes bias in the state against LGBT people …

No Vacancy - a Louisiana House committee kills a bill that would have banned anti-LGBT housing discrimination …

Lucky Seven - a U.S. federal judge rules that Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act protects lesbians and gay men from employment discrimination ….

Complete NewsWrap text and this week's podcast to be posted April 8, 2014.

Escape from Cameroon & Lesbian Lit

Week of March 31, 2014
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Lesbian activist Gertrude Melong tells This Way Out's Steve Pride her story of terror and flight from the official homophobic repression of her west central African homeland. (Gertrude is one recipient of assistance from a fund for LGBTI Cameroonian refugees administered by The Horizons Foundation; she and the fund are featured in the documentary Born This Way.)

Mysterious lesbian poetry meets poetic lesbian mystery as Queer Life and Literature Commentator Janet Mason discovers the works of Nicole Brossard and Joan Timberlake.

And in NewsWrap: equal wedding bells ring in the U.K., Puerto Rican lesbians demand marriage recognition, Russian homophobes assault leprechauns, Tennessee lawmakers legalize anti-LGBT student bias, Maryland protects transgenders from discrimination, and more news reported by Michael LeBeau and Kristin Mellian (produced by Steve Pride).

Subscribe to our podcast so you'll never miss a show! 

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This Way Out was funded this week by the Yavanna Foundation, a bequest from the estate of Christopher David Trentham, 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!