Manning Gets Mercy!

U.S. Army trans whistleblower Private Chelsea Manning’s shameful sentence is commuted by out-going President Barack Obama, who reflects on his LGBT rights legacy (including First Amendment activist Evan Greer, and Manning’s attorneys Chase Strangio and Nancy Hollander)!

Plus "Queer Life and Lit" commentator Janet Mason says “thank you" to the 44th U.S. president!

And in NewsWrap: Sri Lanka keeps its laws against same-gender sex, Ireland lifts its gay blood ban for currently active men, Gambia’s genocidal Jammeh reluctantly relinquishes power, Trump touts patriotism and picks a pro-HB2 Civil Rights head, comic relief is coming from Will & Grace to help survive Trumped-up times, and more international LGBT news reported this week by John Dyer V and Jessica Andrea (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.

“Romer” Remembered!

Timely recollections of North Carolina’s Colorado ancestor as our Countdown to This Way Out #1500 commemorates the 20th anniversary of the Romer versus Evans decision with vintage coverage of the U.S. Supreme Court’s overturning of Colorado’s discriminatory Amendment 2 in May 1996!

A Rainbow Minute reveals the bi ways of Broadway’s American hero! (Produced by Judd Proctor and Brian Burns, read by Jay White.)

And in NewsWrap: Wal-Mart settles for millions in queer spousal benefits claims, HB2-defending North Carolina governor concedes defeat, Trump’s hard right turns continue to concern, Greece’s Parliament approves expanded rights for queer couples, Malta leads Europe in banning “cure therapy,” and more international LGBT news reported this week by Wenzel Jones and Carole Meyers (produced by Steve Pride, written by Greg Gordon).

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Older shows are archived at Radio4All (Show them some love!)

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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.

“Fire Song” & Queer Parenting!

Writer/director Adam Garnet Jones previews his first feature film and discusses the Two-Spirit romance and indigenous issues that ignite Fire Song. (Interviewed by Steve Pride.)

Same-gender parents share their family secrets in four recent books: Gay Fathers, Their Children, and the Making of Kinship by Aaron Goodfellow (Fordham University Press); Saving Delaney: From Surrogacy to Family by Andrea and Keston Ott-Dahl (Cleis Press); Which One of You Is the Mother?: The Absolutely Positively True Adoption Story of Two Gay Guys by Sean Michael O'Donnell (CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform); Queerspawn In Love: A Memoir by Kellen Anne Kaiser (She Writes Press). (Queer Life & Literature commentator Janet Mason)

And in NewsWrap: Trump's cabinet picks shelve LGBT rights, voters end the reign of Gambia's homophobic Yahya Jammeh, a close UN vote saves its newly created LGBT rights watchdog, thousands march for equality with Pride in New Delhi and Hong Kong, South Australia's premier issues an unprecedented apology, and more international LGBT news reported this week by Jessica Andrea and Michael LeBeau (produced by Steve Pride, written by Greg Gordon).

Download This Week's Podcast …
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Visit our website, thiswayout.org, for local community radio affiliate stations, CDs and more!

Older shows are archived at Radio4All (Show them some love!)

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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.

God For Gays in Ghana & Irish Marriage Broker!

Week of January 5, 2015
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"Sapphic Nomads" Maggie Young and Katie Cook meet Leonard Glover, a gay Ghanaian activist inspired by his rainbow faith.

"The Outing" founder Eddie McGuinness tells Chris Wilson about the Irish matchmaking festival that pairs gay and lesbian singles.

And in NewsWrap: Scotland and Luxembourg celebrate the New Year with marriage equality; a trans U.S. teen's suicide prompts abusive therapy charges; a Chinese court rules that there's no medical basis for claimed "cures" of homosexuality; unrelenting oppression continues in Zimbabwe, Gambia and Egypt; and more news reported this week by John Dyer V and Greg Gordon (produced by Steve Pride, written by Greg Gordon).

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

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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 January 3, 2015

SUMMARY

Bells & Flowers - Same-gender couples begin legally marrying in Scotland and Luxembourg …

Courtships & Weddings - the U.S. Supreme Court will consider one or more marriage equality cases at its first conference of 2015 on January 9th, and a federal judge clears the way for the civil marriages of lesbian and gay couples in Florida to begin on January 6th …

"My Death Needs to Mean Something" - the gruesome suicide of 17-year-old Ohio transgender teen Leelah Alcorn sparks sadness, outrage, and resolve …

Shockingly Bad Medicine - a court in China issues a landmark ruling against a counseling center that claimed to "cure" homosexuality

Not Just Thugs - thirty-five members of Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe are injured as thugs invade a private holiday party …

Push Back - security forces in Gambia arrest three men on charges of homosexuality, even as the European Union and the U.S. sharply reduce financial aid because of the draconian anti-gay law signed by homophobic President Yahya Jammeh in October that prompted the arrests …

Pyramid Crackdown - more than two dozen men arrested for "perversion" and "debauchery" at an early December raid on a Cairo bathhouse purportedly orchestrated by a much-maligned TV journalist go on trial, but three-year sentences are reduced to one year for each of the eight men convicted in November of the same charges for appearing in a widely-viewed YouTube video that authorities called Egypt's first gay wedding ceremony …

Shaking the Dust Off Their Feet - Alexandria, Indiana's First United Methodist Church closes after some 80% of the congregation quits in protest of the firing of an openly gay choir director ….

Read the complete NewsWrap text … download the podcast … or listen on Stitcher!

Dana Eagle Soars!

Week of December 15, 2014
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Lesbian laughs with the Eagle, the Hummer, and the Last Comic Standing as Dana meets up with Chris Wilson and Wenzel Jones.

Queer Life and Literature Commentator Janet Mason leafs through three new books about disparate parts of the LGBT world: Pride Climbing Higher, Stories by LGBT People from Nepal, an anthology edited by Chad Frisbie (Creative Nepal, 2014), Mardis Gras, a photobook from Australia (2014, Sonia Friedrich) and The Last Conception, a novel by Gabriel Constans (Melange Books, 2014).

And in <i><a href="http://bit.ly/1w0od5m">NewsWrap</a></i>: dozens of naked men humiliated at Cairo gay bathhouse crackdown, thousands protest E.U. sanctions over Gambia's anti-LGBT laws, English and Welsh "partners" finally get married, Seoul's mayor bows to human rights pressure, I.O.C. bans bias against the L-G-B but not the T, and more news reported this week by Michael LeBeau and Chrisanne Eastwood (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 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 December 15, 2014

SUMMARY

Un-Pride March - Up to 40 frightened and naked allegedly gay men are paraded out of a Cairo bathhouse with news cameras rolling as they're being arrested for “perversion” and “debauchery” …

Biting the Hand - thousands march in Gambia’s capitol of Banjul to protest the EU’s withdrawal of financial aid because of the enactment of draconian new anti-gay laws …

No, It's Not Free Speech - a U.S. federal appeals court in Boston advances an unusual “crimes against humanity” lawsuit by Ugandan activists against professional homophobe Scott Lively …

Movin' On Up - same-gender couples in English and Welsh civil partnerships begin converting them to civil marriages …

Decent Proposal - a civil marriage bill is introduced in the Chilean House of Delegates …

Sorry for Dehumanizing You - after a five-day sit-in by equality advocates at City Hall, Seoul’s mayor apologizes for dumping an LGBT-inclusive municipal Human Rights Charter because Christian conservatives had objected …

Game Changer … Almost - the International Olympic Committee adds sexual orientation to the named characteristics in the Charter’s anti-bias Principle 6, but as activist (and Harvey Milk nephew) Stuart Milk notes, transgenders are still without specific mention …

What's the Problem? - U.S. Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James tells the “USA Today’s” Susan Page that she has no objection to military service by qualified transgender people …

Empire Progress - transgender rights advance in New York City and New York state …

When the Unexpected Happens - Roman Catholic Pope Francis tells an Argentinian newspaper that parents finding themselves in the “somewhat unusual situation” of having a gay or lesbian child should support them …

Lavender Lotuses - Kyodo’s 500-year-old Shunkoin Zen Buddhist Temple becomes Japan’s first to host the wedding ceremonies of same-gender couples ….

Read the complete NewsWrap text … download the podcast … or listen on Stitcher!

Anti-Trans Violence & Queer India!

Week of November 24, 2014
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Political priorities and Eighteen trans-forming moments in a poem by activist Andrea Jenkins, shared with correspondent Dixie Treichel.

"Sapphic Nomads" Maggie Young and Katie Cook get Mumbai psychologist/activist Deepak Kashyap's coming out in India story -- one with a happy ending!

And in NewsWrap: Gambia joins Africa's "jail the gays for life" club, LGBT Iraqis are trapped between the Islamic State and pro-government vigilantes, South Carolina and Montana tie the knots, two U.S. country stars come out in harmony, Benjy the gay Irish bull makes bail with the help of a Bart Simpson benefactor, and more news reported this week by Michael LeBeau and Greg Gordon (produced by Wenzel Jones and 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 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 November 22, 2014

SUMMARY

Sinking to Their Level - With a new law punishing "aggravated homosexuality" with life in prison, Gambia joins notorious fellow African nations Uganda and Nigeria as one of the most horrific places for LGBT people on the continent …

No One Hears Them Scream - LGBT Iraqis caught between forces of the Islamic State and pro-government Muslim militia face "imminent risk of death" …

Count Two More - new actions this week open civil marriage to same-gender couples in South Carolina and Montana …

Passing the Ball - the first out NCAA Division I men's basketball player Derrick Gordon has a successful debut, while the first pro basketball player to come out, 35-year-old Jason Collins, announces his retirement …

Standing By Their Men - country music stars Ty Hendron and Billy Gilman come out separately on the same day …

Bart's Bail Bondsman - "Simpsons" co-creator Sam Simon saves Benjy the gay Irish bull from becoming "a sandwich" ….

Read the complete NewsWrap text ... download the podcast … or listen on Stitcher!

St. Pat's Ploy & Love Is Strange

Week of September 15, 2014
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Mature marriage meets separation anxiety in the new Ira Sachs film starring Alfred Molina and John Lithgow (interview by Steve Pride).

The organizers of the New York City St. Patrick's Day Parade try to green-wash their bias, but they can't fool Gay USA's Ann Northrup and Chris Cooper.

And in NewsWrap: Ugandan repression migrates to Gambia, Cairo cops hunt down viral video "gay wedding" guests, the Australian Football League rethinks its deal with the Sultan, mounting marriage equality cases compel U.S. Supreme Court consideration, and more news reported this week 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 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 September 13, 2014

SUMMARY

Hateful Contagion - Gambia lawmakers approve a draconian Uganda-like anti-LGBT law, while seven men arrested in Cairo for appearing in a viral video that allegedly shows Egypt's first gay wedding ceremony "test negative" for homosexuality …

Deal With the Sultan - the Australian Football League "reassesses" its major sponsorship deal with Royal Brunei Airlines in view of the pending laws in the tiny Southeast Asian country that call for gay people to be stoned to death …

Supreme Suspense - all eyes will be on the U.S. Supreme Court on September 29th when justices meet behind closed doors to consider hearing appeals of marriage equality rulings in Indiana, Oklahoma, Virginia, Wisconsin, and Utah, while three other federal appeals courts ponder marriage equality cases in Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, Tennessee, Texas, Idaho, Nevada, and Hawai'i …

Clobbering Quackery - a federal appeals court upholds New Jersey's ban on so-called "reparative therapy" for patients under the age of 18 that claims to turn gay people straight …

Dishonorable Bias - a Republican-controlled panel of the U.S. House of Representatives rejects a bill to provide lesbian and gay military veterans with spousal benefits equal to their heterosexual counterparts, even if they live in states that don't recognize their legal marriages …

Taming the Beast - professional homophobes Mat Staver and Matt Barber of the "Faith and Freedom" radio show use a "heterosexual men are pigs" argument to keep civil marriage exclusively heterosexual ….

Read the complete NewsWrap text ... download the podcast … or listen on Stitcher.

Still Ask, Still Tell & Lounge Lizard Laughs

Week of May 19, 2014
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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! 

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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 May 17, 2014

SUMMARY

Post-Landslide Legal Limbo - India's law criminalizing gay sex is likely to stay in force for at least five years – unless it's overturned by the Supreme Court – following national elections that swept the anti-gay, opposition party to power …

Wedding Wrangling - Arkansas joins Utah and Michigan with hundreds of civilly-married same-gender couples in legal limbo after an appeals court stays a lower court ruling authorizing them, while an appeals court stays a similar ruling in Idaho to avoid such uncertainties …

Backlash - anti-gay violence spikes sharply in France after marriage equality becomes the law of the land there in mid-2013 …

Floodgates of Hate - abuse of and violent assaults on people perceived to be LGBT continue to mushroom in Uganda since the February enactment of the draconian Anti-Homosexuality Law …

Don't Feel Threatened Or I'll Kill You - Gambia's President Yahya Jammeh calls anyone seeking asylum by claiming anti-gay persecution in his country "liars," warning that "If I catch them I will kill them"…

Pork Prize - the sky has yet to fall following bearded gay Austrian drag queen Conchita Wurst's celebrated win at the Eurovision Song Contest as a butcher in her hometown creates a top-selling special sausage featuring the singer's portrait that he calls "extra spicy, just like she is" …

Razor's Edge - although Russian lawmakers call for a "gay free" competition, and one apocalyptically laments "the end of Europe," several men in Russia and in Eastern Europe reportedly shave their beards to protest Conchita's win, and social media lampoons priests in the Conchita-condemning Russian Orthodox Church as "bearded men in dresses opposing bearded men in dresses" ….

Complete NewsWrap text and this week's podcast to be posted May 20, 2014.

NewsWrap for the week ending February 22, 2014

SUMMARY

St. Valentine's Day Massacre - A mob of 40 viciously attacks more than a dozen perceived to be gay young men in Nigeria's capital of Abuja in the early morning hours of February 14th as violence against LGBT people escalates following enactment of the so-called "Jail the Gays" law …

Exodus - LGBT people are reportedly fleeing equally inhospitable Uganda, as government leaders defy possible reduced foreign aid over the country's equally draconian "Anti-Homosexuality Act"….

Human Rights Repellent - Gambian President Yahya Jammeh calls gay people "vermin" during a nationally televised speech …

Love the Motherland - members of the pro-gay Russian punk band Pussy Riot are horsewhipped and doused with pepper spray under an Olympics promotional sign in Sochi as they try to perform an anti-Putin protest song …

In Full Regalia - transgender former Italian M.P. Vladimir Luxuria is arrested at least once outside an Olympic venue for wearing a rainbow-colorful headdress and outfit and carrying a sign saying "It's okay to be gay" …

If He Won, Who Lost? - President Putin hands out a "humanitarian" award to a popular newscaster who said the hearts of deceased gay people need to be burned or buried to avoid accidental transplantation …

Safe on a Technicality - Germany's top court evades a request to rule on the rights of civilly partnered same-gender couples to adopt non-biological children …

In Sight of the Finnish Line - Finland's parliament begins a process that activists hope will lead to marriage equality in the only Nordic country without it …

Resistance Is Futile - Oregon's Attorney General declines to defend her state's constitutional amendment banning marriage equality …

Rocking the Rockies - nine couples in Colorado challenge their state's ban in federal court …

Off the Back Burner - a federal court says that same-gender couples in Cook County don't have to wait for the June 1st implementation date of the Illinois marriage equality law to tie the knot …

Brewer Brews on Bias - will Arizona become the first U.S. state to enact a bill that allows discrimination against LGBT people by individuals and businesses if providing services would "substantially burden" the exercise of their sincerely held religious beliefs? ….

Complete NewsWrap text and this week's podcast to be posted February 25, 2014.

NewsWrap for the week ending September 28, 2013

SUMMARY

Ring of Allies - Eleven countries and the European Union reaffirm their support for LGBT rights during the 68th session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York …

Worlds Apart - Gambian President Yahya Jammeh uses his address to the General Assembly to call gays & lesbians one of the three "biggest threats to human existence," Cameroon's Ambassador to the U.N. office in Geneva suggests that brutally-tortured and murdered gay activist Eric Lembembe had it coming, while Bangladesh also rejects a recommendation by the U.N. Human Rights Council to abolish its colonial-era sodomy law …

Slip-knotted Loophole - a family court judge in Costa Rica refuses to allow a gay couple to register as married even though legislators "accidentally" removed gender references in the country's marriage laws in July …

Second Place Not Good Enough - a Superior Court judge in New Jersey orders civil marriage opened to same-gender couples in the U.S. state on October 21st, though Republican Governor Chris Christie vows to appeal …

Old Friends - Republican former President George H.W. Bush officially witnesses the civil marriage of a lesbian couplenhn in Kennebunkport, Maine …

Credit Where It Isn't Due - notoriously rights-resistant ExxonMobil announces that the giant oil conglomerate will extend spousal benefits to the same-gender partners of its legally married gay and lesbian workers – but only because the U.S. Labor Department requires it …

Spaghetti Opera - CEO Guido Barilla gets his global pasta company in hot water by telling an Italian radio audience that their advertising will never feature a gay couple because "we like the traditional family," and "if gays don't like it they can buy another brand" …

Too Easily Satisfied - Amnesty International joins a chorus of global human rights groups criticizing the International Olympic Committee for being "completely satisfied" with Russian assurances that its "no promo homo" law won't put LGBT athletes or visitors to Sochi in harms way …

Frontlines - ten LGBT activists are arrested outside Russia's Olympic headquarters in Moscow for protesting the "no promo homo" statute …

Shades of Gray - prosecutors in the Russian region of Chelyabinsk assure a local citizen that a rainbow-colored lamppost does not violate the law ….

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

Leslie Jordan's "Fruit Fly"

What entertainer Leslie Jordan's mother doesn't want you to know -- but he told all to Rosie Wilby during the London run of his one-man show!

Plus: the classic Everybody Has To Have A Mother by the New Miss Alice Stone Ladies Society Orchestra!

And: pioneering Russian mathematician Sofia Kovalevskaya is remembered in a Rainbow Minute (produced by Judd Proctor and Brian Burns, read by Tonya Utkina).

And in NewsWrap: Uruguay prepares for marriage equality, judge won't register gay Paraguan couple's legal Argentine wedding, Gambia's President calls gays satanic, Nepal's Blue Diamonds are in the rough, civil unions spring from Arizona's "liberal oasis," and more news reported by Wenzel Jones and Carole Meyers (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 ...

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NewsWrap for the week ending April 6, 2013

SUMMARY

No Stopping It Now - Uruguay appears to be a few months away from being the latest country to open civil marriage to lesbian and gay couples …

Blocked Border Crossing - a judge in Paraguay refuses to register a gay couple's legal Argentine marriage …

Coming Attraction - the Colombian Senate is reportedly scheduled to debate a marriage equality bill in the coming week …

Family Friendly - the French Senate begins debate on a marriage equality measure that also includes adoption rights …

Local Control - the city of Bisbee, Arizona prepares to fight the state over its civil unions ordinance …

Cures AIDS, Sees Devil - Gambian President Yahya Jammeh once again almost literally tells gays and lesbians to drop dead …

Rough Cuts - a government office in Nepal is apparently bent on destroying the country's pioneering 12-year-old LGBT Blue Diamond Society …

Once More Unto the Breach - activists in St. Petersburg, Russia's second-largest city, plan a ban-defying Pride event …

Goal! - a Brazilian import charges fans of his adopted St. Petersburg football team with racism and homophobia …

Suffer the Little Children - St. Petersburg "hometown boy" and President Vladimir Putin calls for a ban on the adoption of Russian orphans by foreign same-gender couples …

Friendly Persuasion - a critique from above proudly waves during his visit to Amsterdam to participate in the Netherlands-Russia 2013 Year of Friendship ….

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

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.

NewsWrap for the week ending April 14, 2012

SUMMARY

Hunting Season - More than a dozen "suspected homosexuals" are arrested for "indecent practices" in the west African nation of Gambia …

Let's Not Get Drunk And Screw - two men –- one from Britain and the other from the Seychelles –- are sentenced in Dubai to three years in jail for having consensual but drunken gay sex in public …

Don't Parade, Don't Promote - police in Hungary's capital of Budapest refuse to issue permits for a planned LGBT Pride march claiming that it would be impossible to redirect traffic around the chosen route, while bills are introduced in Hungary's parliament echoing similar legislation recently introduced in Russia's lower house of parliament making it a criminal offense to "promote" LGBT rights …

Eight Minus One - Russia's delegation to the G8 Foreign Ministers meeting in Washington rejects language in a post-event document that included support for the humanity of sexual minorities …

Protesting Too Much - a series of studies of college students in the U.S., U.K. and Germany suggest that the most outspoken homophobes are often themselves repressed homosexuals …

Never Mind - leading U.S. psychiatrist Dr. Robert Spitzer repudiates controversial research he published in 2001 that seemed to support so-called "change therapy" …

Get Off the Bus - two groups in the U.K. who believe gay people can be turned straight are blocked by London's mayor from promoting their "ex-gay" programs in adverts on the sides of city buses …

Keep Discriminating For Now - despite mounting pressure from LGBT equality proponents, the White House tells reporters that President Obama will not be issuing an executive order "at this time" to require federal contractors to have LGBT anti-discrimination policies …

Lavender Sheep - Christine Forster, the 47-year-old sister of Australian Opposition leader Tony Abbott, comes out as lesbian, but Abbott maintains his opposition to marriage equality …

Gay Green Brown Goodbye - openly gay Greens chair and Senator Bob Brown unexpectedly announces his retirement after leading the progressive political party for the past 16 years from what the Australian Broadcasting Corporation called the "radical fringe to the center of power" ….

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