NewsWrap for the week ending March 28, 2015

 Undiplomatic Mission Thwarted - The United Nations rebuffs a Russian resolution to deny family benefits to its legally partnered gay and lesbian staff members around the world …

Courtesy of Mr. Fang, the Magistrate - a U.S. judge blocks federal family leave benefits for couples in states without marriage equality …

Forced March to 2016 - eleven Republican Senators — more than half up for reelection next year — support a non-binding resolution in favor of equal Social Security and veterans’ benefits for married same-gender couples, even if they live in states that don’t recognize their marriages …

Do Unto Others - Indiana Governor Mike Pence ignites a firestorm of national protest by signing a so-called “religious freedom” bill that essentially allows anti-LGBT bias in his state …

Lead Foot on the Brake - Australia’s parliament once again delays debate on a marriage equality bill as Liberal Party PM Tony Abbott resolutely refuses to allow his MPs a conscience vote on the issue …

Even Happier Ending - Heather Has Two Mommies who are no longer "living in sin" ….


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Families Valued & Legislative Mass Hysteria!

Week of March 23, 2015
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You're on the red carpet at the Family Equality Council Los Angeles Awards Dinner with actor and dad Dan Bucatinsky, Houston, Texas Mayor Annise Parker, entertainer and dad Alec Mapa, "GLEEful" actor/singer Alex ("Unique") Newell, and Family Equality Council Executive Director Gabriel Blau (Chrisanne Eastwood reporting).

As crazy phobias proliferate in at least 26 U.S. states, Comedy Central's The Daily Show with Jon Stewart delivers a scathing perspective.

And in NewsWrap: the Presbyterian Church (USA) completes its long march down the aisle, American Reform rabbis elect a lesbian to lead them, Indonesian clerics issue a same-gender sex fatwa, Puerto Rico stops defending its civil marriage ban, Irish students ring their grannies for equality, and more news reported this week by Chrisanne Eastwood and Christopher Gaal (produced by Steve Pride, written by Greg Gordon).

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This Way Out was funded this week by the Kicking Assets Fund of the Tides Foundation, the Yavanna Foundation, 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 March 21, 2015

SUMMARY

What God Has Joined - The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) becomes the largest Protestant denomination in the country to bless the marriages of same-gender couples …

Reb Lesbian - out Rabbi Denise Eger is picked to lead the world’s largest rabbinical organization, the Reform branch of American Judaism …

Kill Order - top Muslim clerics in Indonesia issue a fatwa calling for the execution of anyone who engages in same-gender sex …

Why Fight It? - the government of the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico drops its opposition to marriage equality …

New York Blarney & Boston Jig - one token LGBT group marches in New York City’s contentious St. Patrick’s Day Parade, while organizers invite two LGBT groups to march in Boston’s parade …

GrannyGrams for Equality - Ireland’s #RingYourGranny campaign encourages younger people, who tend to favor it, to urge their elders, who are more likely to oppose it, to vote yes in the upcoming May 22nd Marriage Equality referendum  ….

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Lesbian Marrieds in Selma & Mardi Gras Moments!

Week of March 16, 2015
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Hijinks conquer homophobia at Sydney's Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras Parade featuring a cast of thousands … and our friends at JOY94.9, Australia's LGBTIQ community radio station, with partners 2SER and SBS Radio!

Tori Wolfe-Sisson and Shanté Wolfe-Sisson, one of Alabama's first wedded same-gender couples, chat with Democracy Now!'s Amy Goodman at the Selma Weekend civil rights commemoration about crossing another historic bridge to equality!

And in NewsWrap: Peru's Roman Catholic Church-coerced Congress kills civil unions, Alberta blesses Gay/Straight Alliances, Swiss lawmakers extend bias ban to include LGBT people, EuroCourt nixes forced trans sterilization, and more news reported this week by Wenzel Jones and Natalie Peoples (produced by Steve Pride, written by Greg Gordon).

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This Way Out was funded this week by the Kicking Assets Fund of the Tides Foundation, the Yavanna Foundation, 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 March 14, 2015

SUMMARY

Second Strike - A civil unions bill for same-gender couples dies in a Peruvian Congressional committee - again …

Studies in Support - the Canadian province of Alberta makes high school Gay-Straight Alliances on all publicly-funded campuses mandatory …

Good for Goose, Gander Not So Much - the “Utah Compromise” LGBT anti-bias bill enacted this week - with significant religious exemptions - may be good for the Mormon-dominated state, but would probably be considered a setback almost anywhere else …

Add to the Anti-Bias Equation - Swiss lawmakers vote to protect LGBT people from hate and discrimination …

Trans, Not Childless - the European Court of Human Rights rules that sterilization cannot be required of people seeking gender reassignment surgery …

Stop Trans Loss - a new U.S. Army directive makes it much more difficult for a transgender service member to be discharged …

You Mean We Can't Do That? - it took a few months after U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder confirmed that anti-trans workplace bias is illegal, but upscale retail giant Saks Fifth Avenue finally settles out of court a bias and retribution lawsuit filed by a fired transwoman  ….

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"Acrobaddict" & Wynne's Sex Ed Lesson!

Week of March 9, 2015
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Drugs and drama flip the career of Cirque du Soleil Acrobaddict Joe Putignano (interviewed by Steve Pride).

Alabama Supreme Court stands in the wedding chapel doors (featuring a report from newsy.com's Jay Stubberg).

Ontario's out Premier Kathleen Wynne schools a political opponent about the government's sex education proposal.

And in <i><a href="http://bit.ly/1CWTcJ0">NewsWrap</a></i>: Slovenia's Parliament equalizes civil marriage and adoption rights, Russia attacks U.N. employee benefit equality, slime boomerangs on Egyptian TV reporter Mona Iraqi, a Texas anti-marriage ranger misfires, and more news reported this week by Sarah Sweeney and John Dyer V (produced by Steve Pride, written by Greg Gordon).

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This Way Out was funded this week by the Kicking Assets Fund of the Tides Foundation, the Yavanna Foundation, 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 March 7, 2015

Congrats In Order - Slovenia’s Parliament approves civil marriage and adoption rights for lesbian and gay couples …

Convenient Distraction - Russia tries to undo worker benefits for legally-united U.N. LGBT employees around the world …

Stung - seven gay or trans people are the latest “debauchery” arrestees in Egypt …

Slime Boomerangs - TV journalist Mona Iraqi, who engineered the televised raid of a Cairo bathhouse that led to the acquittal of all 26 men caught up in it is herself facing defamation and other charges in court …

She/Her - a U.S. Army appeals court gives transgender Wikileaker Chelsea Manning a pronoun victory …

Date Set, Lines Drawn - the U.S. Supreme Court schedules oral arguments on marriage equality for April 28th, while more than 375 corporations and employee groups join an amicus brief supporting the right of same-gender couples to civil marriage …

Cornhusker Tie - the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals stays the latest federal judge ruling — this time in Nebraska — overturning a state’s marriage ban, while Nebraska officials lift a 20-year-old ban on gay & lesbian foster parenting …

Lone Ranger - Texas Tea Party state lawmaker Tony Tinderholt gets it dumbfoundingly wrong trying to overturn the marriage of a 30-years-together lesbian couple  ….

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Driftwood Declarations & Talkin' Trans!

Week of March 2, 2015
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I'm From Driftwood website founder Nathan Manske shares stories about the project's effort to personalize politics (interviewed by Steve Pride).

The University of Minnesota’s Tretter Collection seeks transgender testimonies for a new oral history project under the direction of curator Lisa Vecoli (interviewed by Dixie Treichel and John Townsend).

Plus 8-year-old QBDOO reports from Brooklyn about his trans life!

And in NewsWrap: Kazakhstan's Senate passes a "no promo homo" bill, another U.S. Native American tribe votes for marriage equality, Northern Ireland's Roman Catholic Church religiously supports bias loophole bill, the U.K. is first in the world to approve three-parent babies, and more news reported this week by Michael LeBeau and Tanya Kane-Parry (produced by Steve Pride, written by Greg Gordon).

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This Way Out was funded this week by the Kicking Assets Fund of the Tides Foundation, the Yavanna Foundation, 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 February 28, 2015

SUMMARY

Still Soviet After All These Years - Kazakhstan’s Senate approves a “no promo homo” bill …

Equality Watch - a Swiss legislative panel overwhelmingly votes to advance a marriage equality proposal …

Native Intelligence - the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska has become at least the 11th Native American group in the U.S. to open civil marriage to same-gender couples …

Faith in Hate - Northern Ireland’s politically-powerful Roman Catholic Church pushes for an LGBT bias-enabling “religious freedom” bill …

Discrimination Liberation - religious exemption measures are percolating in more than a dozen U.S. states, most recently advancing in the North Carolina and Indiana Senates, but surprisingly opposed by former Georgia Attorney General Michael Bowers and quashed in Arkansas …

State of Rebellion - the Arkansas bill to ban local anti-bias ordinances that don’t comport with state law will officially take effect in September, but Little Rock leads at least three Arkansas cities that have defied the ban or plan to, and an Arkansas-like "no local anti-bias bills" bill is killed in West Virginia …

Judge Bad Penny - Don Davis, the same Mobile, Alabama probate judge who was forced by a direct court order to issue a marriage license to Kim McKeand and Cari Searcy, the lesbian couple who successfully sued the state for marriage equality, refuses to grant Searcy’s second-parent adoption application for the son born to McKean in 2006 and being raised by both women …

Three's the Charm - the U.K. becomes the first country in the world to allow in-vitro fertilization clinics to replace defective DNA in one woman’s egg with healthy DNA from another’s, which will virtually result in 3-parent babies - a dad and two moms …

X Marks the Spot - while the Human Rights Campaign, Americans for the Separation of Church and State, and the AARP(!) are on the American Family Association’s "hit list," the Center for Inquiry, which supports the rights of Christians, atheists and others, is miffed at not being included in the way-far-right group’s “bigotry map” identifying organizations around the U.S. that “openly display bigotry toward the Christian faith”  ….

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