Equality Double-Play & Pink Freud

Week of May 26, 2014
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Marriage equality comes to two more U.S. states: Oregon and Pennsylvania. NBC News Justice Correspondent Pete Williams, attorney Ted Boutrous, Pennsylvania's first out lawmaker Rep. Brian Sims, and MSNBC's Chris Matthews and Rachel Maddow provide analysis and predict future developments.

Commentator Charlie Bauer PhD talks about G-men, the L-word, and making it in a hetero-centric world.

CNN's Anderson Cooper has a special "honor" for the TV personality who piously protested pro-football's first gay kiss, but had previously appeared in a prurient pose with a posse of Chippendale strippers.

Plus: political humorist Bill Maher wishfully declares the victorious end to "the culture wars"!

And in NewsWrap: global actions fight homophobia and transphobia, Africa's first out gay black lawmaker takes office, Canada denies visas to Ugandan activists invited to World Pride Conference in Toronto, mixed judicial signals keep Utah's married same-gender couples in legal limbo, "stayin' tuned" in Idaho and Wisconsin, and more news reported by Michael LeBeau and Pam Marshall (produced this week by Steve Pride).

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Supreme Expectations & Juno Turns a Page

Week of February 24, 2014
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New York University law professor Kenji Yoshino discusses the various U.S. marriage equality cases being considered in the states and prospects for an ultimate Supreme Court ruling with MSNBC's Rachel Maddow.

Juno star Ellen Page comes out at the Human Rights Campaign’s "Time to Thrive" conference and encourages their work with LGBTQI youth.

Plus: Dallas TV sportscaster Dale Hansen celebrates out National Football League prospect Michael Sam.

And in NewsWrap: homophobic hysteria spreads on the African continent, Germany's top court evades an adoptions rights question on a technicality, Arizona's governor ponders a "license to discriminate," and more news reported by Tanya Kane-Parry and Wenzel Jones (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 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!

Panetta's Pride & Denver's Gay Revolt

U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta salutes "out and proud" gay and lesbian servicemembers, commemorating the first LGBT Pride Month since the death of Don't Ask, Don't Tell.

Activist/documentarian Jerry Gerash reveals the little-known queer history of a 1973 Denver revolution that spawned a landmark gay rights-affirming U.S. Supreme Court ruling (thanks to reporter Vash Boddie).

Plus: our Queer Life and Literature Commentator Janet Mason probes the poetry of Jim Cory's No Brainer Variations.

And in NewsWrap: Ethiopian conference plans to "bury" homosexuality, gay/trans activist butchered in South Africa, Anglican and Roman Catholic bishops oppose U.K. marriage equality, Conservative U.S. rabbis approve same-gender wedding ceremonies, and more news reported by Robert LeBlanc and Natalie Peoples (produced by Steve Pride).

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NewsWrap for the week ending May 5, 2012

SUMMARY

Barking Watchdog - Kenya's National Human Rights Commission urges the decriminalization of same-gender sex and prostitution …

Let Them Eat Grass - Gambia's President Yahya Jammeh renews his vitriolic condemnation of gay people …

Russian Rainbow Retort - seventeen LGBT activists and their supporters who waved rainbow flags or sported rainbow suspenders or pins are singled out by police and arrested at a May Day march and rally in St. Petersburg organized by Russia's political opposition movement, while prominent activist Nikolai Alekseev is the first person to be convicted of violating that city's recently enacted law banning "gay propaganda" …

Don't Say Vote - the sponsor of Tennessee's so-called "Don't Say Gay" bill to ban any discussion of sexual orientation in public schools decides to withdraw his proposal after state education officials assure him that the subject will not be broached, and he recognizes that "some people... didn't want to vote on it" …

He Showed Them - Missouri Republican lawmaker Zach Wyatt comes out as a gay man as he comes out against a "Don't Say Gay" bill recently introduced in his state …

The Biased Life - Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning issues an opinion that local governments can't adopt ordinances to protect LGBT people from discrimination because state law fails to do so …

Madness in Their Methodism - delegates to the quadrennial General Conference of the United Methodist Church soundly reject a proposal to change the denomination's doctrine that same-gender sexual relationships are "incompatible with Christian teaching" …

Sinking to Their Level - there's controversy in Copenhagen over a gay bar owner's decision to ban heterosexuals from kissing in his establishment ….

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

Mattachine Steps Dedication

A ceremony in the Silver Lake district of Los Angeles marks the "Hay Day" of the movement with the christening of a historical marker on the steps leading up to the home of gay rights pioneer Harry Hay, site of the first meetings of the Mattachine Society in the early 1950s. Celebrating the centennial of Hay's birth are fellow Radical Faerie and writer Mark Thompson, the Rev. Malcolm Boyd of the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles, California Assemblyman Mike Gatto, local gay historical preservationist Wes Joe, Silver Lake Neighborhood Council member Elizabeth Bougart, longtime Hay neighbors David Byrd and Jolino Becerra, and L.A. City Councilman Eric Garcetti. Vash Boddie reports from the scene.

And in NewsWrap: Gambia goes after gays and lesbians, drunken Dubai dalliance draws stiff jail time, Budapest cops and Hungarian lawmakers try to silence LGBT people, Russia's delegation decries G8 rights declaration, studies show homophobes doth protest too much, "reparative therapy" supporter repudiates his research, Australian Greens' Brown bows out, and more news reported by Sarah Sweeney and Abby Dees (produced by Steve Pride and Vash Boddie).

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NewsWrap for the week ending April 7, 2012

SUMMARY

Targets on Their Backs - An anti-gay group in Liberia's capital city of Monrovia distributes fliers with what is being described as a "hit list" of people who support LGBT rights, whom one member said could be punished by "flogging and death" …

You Mean They're Human? - authorities in Cameroon's capital of Yaounde shut down a human rights workshop when they discover that the focus is on LGBT rights …

This Is Fascist - two Russian gay activists become the first to be arrested in St. Petersburg under the city's recently enacted law criminalizing dissemination of LGBT "propaganda" to minors for holding placards outside a popular youth center simply reading "Gay – this is normal" …

The Orientation Will Not Be Televised - Malaysian government authorities announce a ban on state-owned radio and TV stations of any shows that feature gay characters, although one official says male program hosts who appear effeminate are exempt "because they are born this way" …

Too Late for Daniel - Chilean lawmakers pass a bill to ban sexual orientation- and gender identity-based bias seven years after it was first introduced, but about a week after the highly-publicized brutal neo-Nazi gang beating death of "out" young man Daniel Zamudio …

Freezing Chads? - citing several polling place irregularities, the ACLU of Alaska demands a formal review of municipal election results this week in Anchorage that included the overwhelming defeat of Proposition 5, which would have banned anti-LGBT bias …

The Audacity of Political Pressure - the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund joins 72 members of Congress to urge President Obama to issue an executive order requiring federal contractors to have LGBT-inclusive non-discrimination policies …

Queers in Hoodies - 23 of the largest LGBT rights organizations in the U.S. sign on to a joint open letter condemning the shooting death in Florida of unarmed 17-year-old African-American teen Trayvon Martin …

Age Appropriate - after almost a half-million people petition the Motion Picture Association of America to protest the "R" rating of "Bully," the highly-praised documentary about anti-queer school bullying that would only allow viewers 17 and older to see it in theaters, filmmakers agree to cut the number of "f"-words from six to three to get a "PG-13" rating, which will allow movie houses to admit viewers aged 13 and older, and screenings in middle schools and high schools, so that it can be seen by the film's target audience ….

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

Prop 8 Onstage & Tennessee's Sons On Film

Excerpts from an all-star cast's live L.A. reading from the transcript of the Proposition 8 trial featuring George Clooney as Prop 8-challenging lawyer Ted Boies, Kevin Bacon as Prop 8 backers' attorney Charles Cooper, John C. Reilly as Prop 8 supporter David Blankenhorn of the Institute for American Values, and George Takei as Prop 8 proponent Dr. William Tam of the Traditional Family Coaltion.

Entertainment Correspondent Steve Pride discovers how The Sons of Tennessee Williams pioneered Louisiana liberty in conversation with the documentary's writer/director Tim Wolff and one of his interview subjects, Albert Carey.

And in NewsWrap: Liberia doubles down on anti-gay legislation; Cameroon arrests alleged lesbians for the first time; St. Petersburg, Russia's mayor weighs anti-LGBT repression; surveys in Iowa, New Jersey and California show surge in support for same-gender weddings; Texas judge won't marry hetero couples until equality walks down the aisle, and more news reported by Tanya Kane-Parry and Rick Watts (produced by Steve Pride).

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NewsWrap for the week ending March 3, 2012

SUMMARY

Opposite of Liberation - A second bill to punish private consensual adult same-gender sex with prison time is introduced in Liberia …

Female Trouble - several women have reportedly been arrested for engaging in lesbian sex in Cameroon …

Pigs, Dogs and Cameron - Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe says "to hell with you" to rights-supporting British Prime Minister David Cameron …

Post in a Prominent Place - the first-ever gay-supportive billboard in Africa promotes the upcoming Mr. Gay World competition in Johannesburg …

When You Can't Say Something Nice - lawmakers in St. Petersburg, Russia give final approval to a bill to criminalize the public advocacy of LGBT rights …

Good News/Bad News - Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley signs a measure making his state the eighth to open civil marriage to same-gender couples – though a November ballot challenge is expected …

Dawn Breaking - recent public opinion polls show significantly increased support for marriage equality in Iowa, New Jersey and California …

Get In Line - Dallas County, Texas Judge Tonya Parker, the first openly lesbian African-American elected official in the state, refuses to marry heterosexual couples until gays and lesbians have the same right ….

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

Making the Boys & Bye-Bye Barney

Writer-director Clayton Robey brings the "boys in the documentary" in preview clips from his newly-out-on-DVD chronicle of the iconic stage-to-film classic The Boys in the Band to a visit with Entertainment Correspondent Steve Pride.

The rarely-retiring U.S. Congressman Barney Frank says he's actually retiring from the House.

And in NewsWrap: Australia's Labor Party favors marriage equality with an escape clause, Queensland creates civil unions, a bill to criminalize same-gender weddings and LGBT advocacy clears Nigeria's Senate, Cameroon jails three more gay men, Spanish election results drive lesbian and gay couples to the altar, and more news reported by Sarah Sweeney and Michael LeBeau (produced by Steve Pride).

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Out in Africa

International Gay & Lesbian Human Rights Commission Executive Director Cary Alan Johnson and Kenyan-born activist Lourence Misedah discuss LGBT struggles on the Mother Continent and beyond, including good and bad news from Uganda, Rwanda, Malawi, Kenya, South Africa, Jamaica, the Philippines, Iran, and India.

(NewsWrap returns next week with reports from around the world.)

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NewsWrap for the week ending November 5, 2011

SUMMARY

Quid Pro Quo - The British government's intention to tie its financial aid to countries' human rights records, including the treatment of LGBT people, angers several African leaders, including those from Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Ghana at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Perth, West Australia …

To Skin a Cat - Botswana's former president Festus Mogae calls for decriminalization of same-gender sex to help fight the continent's soaring HIV infection rates …

Proving What We Knew - the United Nations Human Rights Committee issues a report detailing and harshly criticizing human rights abuses, notably those against LGBT people, in the Islamic Republican of Iran …

To Your Health - the first health clinic specifically welcoming sexual minorities in Indonesia opens on the island of Bali …

Scathach to the Rescue - Ruth Davidson's election to lead the Scottish Tories makes her the first "out" lesbian to lead a major U.K. political party …

For Gay and the Empire - Manchester's former U.S. National Basketball Association star John Amaechi is honored with the Order of the British Empire …

Thin Ice & Fancy Footwork - former Australian hockey star Gus Johnston and current Welsh rugby team captain Jed Hopper each come out as gay men, while already "out" Welsh rugby star Gareth Thomas announces his retirement ….

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

NewsWrap for the week ending June 5, 2010:

Summary: A committee of the United Nations Economic and Social Council rejects consultative status for the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission ... more than a thousand mostly young Muslims stage a first-ever march against homosexuality in Ghana ... Tiwonge Chimbalanga & Steven Monjeza, the Malawi couple pardoned from their 14 years hard labor sodomy prison sentence by President Bingu wa Mutharika last week, make their first post-release public appearance ... a 42-year-old Pakistani man and his 19-year-old transwoman friend are arrested in a raid on the teen's birthday party in Peshawar and are being charged with sodomy ... U.S. President Barack Obama issues an official LGBT Pride Month proclamation and issues a memo outlining the benefits he ordered last year for the partners and children of lesbigay federal workers ... military veterans Dan Choi and Jim Pietrangelo end their week-long hunger strike protesting the slow progress of "Don't Ask Don't Tell" repeal but say they might do it again ... Dutch airline KLM refuses the request of its gay flight attendants to not have to work on flights to queer-dangerous Iran ... Dutch researchers say they may have discovered evidence that "gaydar" actually exists.

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