Ex-F.O.B. & Jokes On Them!

Week of April 27, 2015

Veteran rights activist David Mixner recalls the "Don't Ask" double-cross (in conversation with Steve Pride).

Matt Baume of the American Foundation for Equal Rights, Jon Stewart of Comedy Central’s The Daily Show, and stand-up "comic in chief" Barack Obama use pro-equality humor to herald historic U.S. Supreme Court hearings.

And in NewsWrap: rights trump religion in Kenya's top court, a trans rights bill passes India's upper house, a well-known Japanese lesbian duo defiantly weds, U.S. Republicans still swim against the marriage equality tide, Dallas does "Hooters" the gay way, and more news reported this week by Abby Dees and Michael LeBeau (produced by Steve Pride, written by Greg Gordon).

Download This Week's Podcast … 

or Hear It on Stitcher! 

Visit our website, thiswayout.org, for local community radio affiliate stations, CDs and more!

Like us on Facebook ...

Stay in touch with our blog ...

Follow @TWORadio on Twitter!

Our online archive is available at Radio4All (Show them some love!)

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.

Still Ask, Still Tell & Lounge Lizard Laughs

Week of May 19, 2014
To listen to the whole show, click here!

The U.S. military signals an "about face" on its ban on transgender service members with comments by U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel. Navy veteran Landon Wilson and filmmaker Fiona Dawson discuss a possible pending policy change on MSNBC's Ronan Farrow Daily.

"America's best, least-known lounge act," Mack & Poppy (aka Tod Macofsky and Christopher Michael Graham, share their music and mirth with correspondent Steven Reigns.

And in NewsWrap: India's elections keep retro sodomy law in place, marriage equality inspires increased assaults in France, Gambia's leader vows to kill fleeing gay refugees, Conchita's victory lap riles Russians, and more news reported by Kristin Mellian and Gary Shaw (produced this week by Wenzel Jones and Steve Pride).

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

Get CDs of the regular show and specials from our archives at our website, thiswayout.org!

Like our Facebook page ... 

Stay in touch with our blog ... 

Follow @TWORadio on Twitter! 

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 December 14, 2013

SUMMARY

Repression Rewind - India's Supreme Court re-criminalizes private consensual adult same-gender sex by overturning the 2009 Delhi High Court ruling that had struck down the colonial-era Penal Code Section 377 that outlaws "carnal intercourse against the order of nature" …

Instant Annulments - Australia's High Court overturns the marriage equality law passed by the Australian Capital Territory …

First Shall Be Last - the U.K. government announces that the Marriage (Same-Sex Couples) Act 2013, approved by parliament in July, will take effect in England and Wales on 29 March 2014, but military couples and those already in civil partnerships will have to wait longer to be legally married …

More Than One Way - even though two in three Croatians voted to constitutionally ban marriage equality earlier this month, the center-left government of Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic introduces a "life partnership" bill that would give same-gender couples a few marriage–like rights …

Rebellious Phase Passes - with Mississippi being the last to end its defiance of a Pentagon order this week, U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel announces that legally married lesbian and gay National Guard enlistees will now have access in all 50 states to the same spousal benefits as their heterosexual peers …

Malicious Mouthpiece - Russian President Vladimir Putin shuts down his nation's venerable state-run news agency RIA Novosti, replacing it with a Kremlin-controlled multimedia venture called Russia Today, and tapping to head it up a leading TV anchor who infamously called for burning the hearts of dead gay people …

Plant-Based Polemic - Putin defends the national so-called "no promo homo law" during his annual address to both chambers of Parliament, saying that Russia needs to be protected from "genderless and fruitless so-called tolerance" …

Maiden Who Protest Too Much - a Putin spokesman dismisses as "rubbish" claims by the founder of a Moscow-based think tank that President Putin may be a latent homosexual ….

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

Don't "Jail the Gays" & "Everything Possible"

To listen to the whole show, click here!

U.N. Human Rights Commissioner Navi Pillay has her say about Nigeria's "Jail the Gays" bill in response to Nigerian LGBT activist Davis Mac-Iyalla's questions on the BBC's World Have Your Say program.

JD Doyle discovers everything possible about Fred Small's Everything Possible, from his inspiration for the iconic song to Michael Callen and The Flirtations classic rendition of it -- Small's personal favorite!

LGBT Pride deploys to Kandahar (as reported by the U.S. Defense Department).

Plus: A Great Big World says Everyone Is Gay.

And in NewsWrap: lawsuit bouquets bloom from US Supreme Court DOMA decision, marriage equality slips past Costa Rican lawmakers, Pink Dot targets Singapore's penal code, Brazilian "cure" prescription expires, and more news reported by Jenn Mahoney and Charlie Bauer (produced by Steve Pride and Angela Brooks).

To listen to the world's only syndicated weekly LGBT radio program, subscribe to our podcast at http://www.thiswayout.org ...

"Like" our Facebook Fan page ...  

Support Keep This Way Out on the Air ... 

And follow TWORadio on Twitter! 

High Court, High Noon

 Listen to the complete show here

Marriage equality champions square off with their opponents before the Supreme Court of the United States! Voices that will ring throughout LGBT history include U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, Steven Bryer, Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy, and Ruth Bader Ginsburg; Proposition 8 defense attorney Charles Cooper, opposing counsel Ted Olson, and lead plaintiff Kristen Perry; Defense of Marriage Act defense attorney Paul Clement, opposing counsel Roberta Kaplan, U.S. Solicitor General Donald Verrilli, and plaintiff Edith Windsor; law professor Kenji Yoshino; and attorney Shannon Minter.

And in NewsWrap: gay U.S. military activist Lt. Dan Choi convicted of a law-breaking White House fence-chaining Don't Ask Don't Tell demonstration, Paris police protect presidential palace from anti-equality protest, Russian activist beaten after his Pride is banned, Brits turn out for Turing, and more news reported by Pamela Brooks and Wenzel Jones (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 ...

"Like" our Facebook Fan page ...  

Support Keep "This Way Out" on the Air ... 

And follow TWORadio on Twitter!  

NewsWrap for the week ending March 30, 2013

SUMMARY

Supreme Test - The U.S. Supreme Court hears two historic days of oral arguments on marriage equality cases – the first involving California's Proposition 8, and the second challenging DOMA, the federal Defense of Marriage Act …

Decorated, Damaged, Delinquent - PTSD takes its toll on gay Army hero Lt. Dan Choi as he's convicted of a criminal misdemeanor for chaining himself to the White House fence in a 2010 protest against Don't Ask Don't Tell …

Shields Up - French "family values" types "put the kids in front" as hundreds of thousands march against marriage equality - and police - in Paris …

The Whole World Is Watching - Pride is banned in another Russian city and its organizer is beaten as TV cameras roll …

Poisoned Apple Pie - the "Universal Machine," (ultimately persecuted) gay mathematician Alan Turing's forerunner to the modern computer, is named the greatest British innovation of the 20th century ….

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

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).

To listen to the world's only syndicated weekly LGBT radio program, subscribe to our podcast at http://www.thiswayout.org ...

"Like" our Facebook Fan page ...  

Support Keep "This Way Out" on the Air ... 

And follow TWORadio on Twitter!  

NewsWrap for the week ending April 28, 2012

SUMMARY

Under the Table Bias Relief - The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission rules that gender identity-based workplace bias constitutes sex discrimination under Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which leaves gays and lesbians without protections and waiting for passage of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, or ENDA, by a more receptive Congress …

Don't Ask Keeps Telling - three U.S. Senators ask Defense Secretary Leon Panetta to expedite the process for veterans kicked out of the service under Don't Ask Don't Tell to delete that specific reason, which virtually "outs" them to prospective employers, from their discharge documents …

Court Martial the Messenger - a military judge advances the court martial of Private First Class Bradley Manning, variously described as gay or "gender confused," for providing Wikileaks with reams of sensitive documents in what's been called the largest leak of government secrets in U.S. history …

Scaling the Rockies - Colorado's Senate provisionally approves a bipartisan civil unions bill that probably faces stiffer opposition in the GOP-controlled House …

The Maine Event - the infamously anti-gay National Organization for Marriage teams up with the Christian Civic League of Maine to fight a marriage equality measure on the November state ballot …

Cure for the "Cure" - a bill introduced in the California Senate would ban so-called "reparative therapy" for anyone under the age of 18 …

In Franklin's Footsteps - Brian Sims is all but on his way to Harrisburg as the first openly gay member of Pennsylvania's House of Representatives …

Tongzhi Power - pop star Anthony Wong comes out as a gay man to thousands of fans during the closing night of a series of concerts at the Hong Kong Coliseum …

No Promo Homo Convicto - the movement to prevent minors from being exposed to so-called "gay propaganda" spreads across Russia, while the first man arrested for violating such a law in St. Petersburg is only convicted of refusing to comply with a police order to stop violating the law ….

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

NewsWrap for the week ending October 22, 2011

SUMMARY

Behind Closed Doors - Northern Cyprus' former Finance Minister and two others are arrested in a private home in north Nicosia for "acts against nature" …

Unprotected Custody - Zimbabwe Prison Services denies condoms to men behind bars because gay sex is illegal …

Not Enough Better Yet - bullied 15-year-old Canadian 10th-grader Jamie Hubley becomes the latest headline-making gay teen suicide …

Uncle Sam Owes Alimony - a federal judge okays a lawsuit seeking full separation pay denied to gays & lesbians honorably discharged under "Don't Ask Don't Tell" …

More To Tell - another "DADT" lawsuit will demand equal benefits for legally-married active duty lesbian and gay service members …

All in the Family - a U.S. Senator's intervention allows a National Guard enlistee just back from duty in Kuwait to bring her civil partner to a military reintegration program for returning soldiers and their families …

Repeat Step One - lawyers hired by the GOP-controlled U.S. House of Representatives to defend the Defense of Marriage Act in legal challenges to its constitutionality argue in federal court that gays and lesbians "are far from politically powerless" …

Shattered Closet - a federal judge in California decides that proponents of Proposition 8 offered no proof in their attempt to stop the release of the names of people who signed petitions to qualify the marriage equality-banning ballot measure …

After the Horse Has Bolted - Washington conservative religious groups file an emergency order to stop the naming of petitioners supporting a repeal of that state's domestic partner benefits law after 30 DVDs of petition signatures had already been released …

Gold Diggers of 2011 - even the Manhattan Clerk's Office joins the economic boom that marriage equality has brought to the Empire State ….

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

NewsWrap for the week ending September 24, 2011

SUMMARY

Final Minutes - Countdown celebrations in LGBT venues across the country culminating at the stroke of midnight on September 20th cheer the official repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell, the 18-year-old U.S. military policy that kept lesbian and gay service members in the closet …

Dear Dad - YouTube video of a private stationed at an Air Force base in Germany coming out to his father in Alabama on the day of repeal gets more than two million views …

He Who Waits - a gay World War II veteran wins a decades-long battle to have his discharge officially changed from "undesirable" to "honorable" …

A Few Good Queers - Marine recruiters make U.S. military history by visiting an LGBT center in Tulsa, Oklahoma to sign up new enlistees …

I Was A Male War Bride - a justice of the peace in Vermont declares a gay lieutenant "officially out" as he pronounces the Naval Academy graduate legally married to his longtime partner seconds after midnight on the day of repeal …

Now to Win the Peace - the Obama administration fights an effort to get equal separation pay for gays and lesbians honorably discharged under Don't Ask Don't Tell, another lawsuit to formally declare the policy unconstitutional …

Let's Jail the Hero - the "fierce advocate's" team also opposes a "vindictive prosecution" defense allowed by a federal judge hearing "failure to obey a lawful police order" charges against military equality advocate Lt. Dan Choi for chaining himself to the White House fence to protest Don't Ask Don't Tell before its Congressional repeal …

Best Wishes, Despite the Above - President Obama himself does issue a statement hailing the demise of the policy and briefly voices support for gays and lesbians around the world during his speech the following day at the U.N. General Assembly …

The Prop 8 Shore - a federal judge allows the release of video recordings of last year's landmark Proposition 8 trial – though his decision will almost certainly be appealed …

Equally Protected - a state judge in Alaska rules that lesbian and gay couples are entitled to the same senior citizen and disabled veteran property tax exemptions as the state's heterosexual couples …

Long Engagement - government officials in the U.K. say they're planning initial discussions on full civil marriage equality legislation in March 2012 with an enactment goal of 2015 …

Leaning on Labor - Tasmania's lower house of parliament passes a resolution urging the Australian federal government to open civil marriage to same-gender couples …

Lynch Pin - "out" Emmy winner and host of this year's telecast Jane Lynch peppers her comments with lesbian references throughout the ceremony, including the lavish opening musical number, during which she slyly discusses recent social progress and the battles yet to be won with the cast of the 1960s era-set Mad Men ….

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

Taps for Don't Ask, Don't Tell

Our coverage of the repeal of the U.S. military's ban on openly lesbian and gay servicemembers includes a review of the policy's history (from Pacifica's Democracy Now!), the true identity of Outserve's "J.D. Smith" (from MSNBC's Rachel Maddow Show), and a repeal celebration at the Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Center (with Steve Pride on the scene). You'll hear the voices of Army Lieutenant Dan Choi, Servicemembers United Executive Director Alexander Nicholson, Navy Commander Zoe Dunning, Air Force First Lieutenant and Outserve leader Josh Seefried, Servicemembers Legal Defense Network Board member Tom Carpenter, and other active duty and veteran U.S. lesbian, gay, and bisexual military personnel.

And in NewsWrap: DADT ends and an Air Force private publicly comes out to his father on YouTube, a U.S. federal judge takes the wraps off the Proposition 8 trial videos while a judge in Alaska rules for same gender couple property tax equity, a marriage equality proposal in the U.K. comes with a long engagement but a resolution of support pushes the issue in Australia, Emmy-winner Jane Lynch hosts some Mad Men, and more news reported by Robert LeBlanc 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 ...

"Like" our Facebook Fan page ...

Support Keep "This Way Out" on the Air ...

And follow TWORadio on Twitter!

Don't Defend Marriage, Respect It

Comprehensive coverage and analysis of the U.S. Senate Judiciary committee hearing on the Respect for Marriage Act, which would repeal the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA).

And in NewsWrap: Don't Ask's final countdown begins, Ghanaian clerics call on government to hunt homosexuals, Jamaica's top cop denounces anti-gay accusations, Lithuania attacks biased advertising, India embarrassed by Health head's homophobia, and more news reported by Michael LeBeau and Ben Caron (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 ...

"Like" our Facebook Fan page ...

Support Keep "This Way Out" on the Air ...

And follow TWORadio on Twitter!

The Bachmann "Cure" & Torn Apart

The hubby of White House hopeful Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) heads a homophobic "cure" clinic, a scandal revealed by undercover "patient" activist John Becker. Becker tells MSNBC's Ed Schultz about his experience at Bachmann & Associates, and Jon Stewart skewers Mrs. Bachmann's "chutzpah" on his Comedy Central Daily Show.

U.S. immigration policy borders on cruelty, as bi-national lesbian couple Judy Rickard and Karin Bogliolo can attest. Linda Birch chats with them about their sometimes harrowing experiences and Judy's new book Torn Apart: United by Love, Divided by Law.

And in NewsWrap: Chilé's Piñera honors his civil unions promise; marriage equality fails to destroy civilization in Argentina, Spain, and Canada; "New York state of mind" becomes contagious; "Don't Ask" drama becomes a "Can't Kick Out" conundrum; and more news reported by Jenn Mahoney and Sarah Sweeney (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 ...

"Like" our Facebook Fan page ...

Support Keep "This Way Out" on the Air ...

And follow TWORadio on Twitter!

NewsWrap for the week ending July 16, 2011

SUMMARY

Campaign Pledge - Chilé's President Sebastián Piñera floats a civil unions proposal ...

Hasn't Hurt - several Uruguayan celebrities televise marriage equality endorsements, while same-gender wedding stats are issued in Argentina, Spain and Canada ...

Sundays Will Never Be the Same - New York prepares for Sunday weddings in July ...

Bringing It All Back Home - gay South Australian MP says he'll challenge his country's refusal to recognize same-gender marriages legally conducted abroad after he marries his longtime partner in New York ...

Rising Tide - passage in the Empire State inspires new moves for marriage equality in Maine, Maryland and Colorado ...

Just Don't Already - legal battle in federal court over Don't Ask Don't Tell wears on as legislative repeal looms ...

Knowledge Base - California requires public schools and social studies textbooks to teach about LGBT people's contributions to the economic, political and social development of the state and the country ...

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

NewsWrap for the week ending July 9, 2011

SUMMARY

DOMA-Defying Actions - U.S. Justice Department pro-actively joins the legal challenge to DOMA, arguing that the so-called Defense of Marriage Act is unconstitutional, and also announces that it will no longer oppose joint bankruptcy filings by legally united same-gender couples ...

Don't Dally, Don't Stall - 3-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals lifts its stay of a lower court ruling declaring Don't Ask Don't Tell to be unconstitutional and ordering an end to its enforcement, while House Republicans add new amendments to the 2012 defense authorization bill designed to obstruct im minent legislative repeal of the policy ...

Euro Inventory - Council of Europe issues its first social-legal report on anti-LGBT discrimination among its 47 member countries with recommendations for ensuring full equality ...

Liberation Contagion - Pride marches on in London, Lima, and Toronto, and is controversially celebrated at the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad ...

Attack of Affection - 74-year-old straight but not narrow Pride-watcher in North Carolina is charged with misdemeanor assault for planting a kiss on the cheek of a protesting preacher ...

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.

Harvey Milk Day & DADT Repeal Fright

Now playing ... week of May 31, 2010

Activists get back to basics at a Los Angeles rally celebrating the first official commemoration of the slain LGBT rights leader's birthday.

As the U.S. House and a key Senate committee pave the way for "Don't Ask Don't Tell" repeal, right wing extremists succumb to homophobic hysteria.

And in NewsWrap: international pressure wins pardons for gay Malawi couple, arrested Zimbabwe activists out on bail awaiting trial, Bucharest Fest finds success under tight security, skinhead assault on Bratislava Pride cancels parade plans, flashmob marchers evade Moscow Pride ban, and more news.

To listen to the world's only syndicated weekly LGBT radio program, subscribe to our podcast at http://www.thiswayout.org ...

Check out our Facebook Fan page at http://www.facebook.com/ThisWayOutRadio ...

And follow TWORadio on Twitter!