Dressed As A Girl!

CHECHNYA UPDATE: three gay survivors describe the terrifying anti-gay purge, while President Ramzan Kadyrov pleads "not guilty" and OutRight Action International's Maria Sjodin sounds the alarm (Lucia Chappelle reports).

East London dragsters John Sizzle, Amber Waze and Holestar bring high drama in high heels to producer-director Colin Rothbart’s award-winning documentary (Michelle-Marie Gilkeson, correspondent).

And in NewsWrap: harsh homophobic crackdowns resume in Nigeria and Iran, tributes are paid to the gay activist police officer killed in the Champs-Elysées terror attack, Trump picks an anti-LGBT bigot to lead the U.S. Army, a basketball legend has some "Magic" words for the parents of nonconforming LGBTQ kids, and more international LGBT news reported this week by John Dyer V 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 July 25, 2015

SUMMARY

We're Human, It's a Right - The European Court of Human Rights decides for the first time that same-gender couples are entitled to some form of legal recognition …

Inviolable Identity - Italy’s highest court rules and the lower house of the Polish parliament decides that a trans-person can change their legal gender without having reassignment surgery …

Marry Us! - Taiwan’s capital city of Taipei petitions the island’s high court to open civil marriage to same-gender couples …

New Boss, Old Boss, Etc. - Nigeria’s new president Muhammadu Buhari rejects anti-LGBT law reform during a state visit to the U.S. …

Bringing It Home - President Barack Obama pushes LGBT rights in Kenya and Ethiopia …

The Vote's On You - the Texas state Supreme Court orders the city of Houston to put its 2014 City Council-enacted LGBT anti-bias ordinance to a public vote …

Over the Rainbow - a Saudi Arabian educator and his school apparently violate Islamic “anti-rainbow” ideology …

Read the complete NewsWrap text here.

The Right and Left Hands of God

Week of February 2, 2015
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U.S. Republicans board a ship of fools with harbingers of hate from the American Family Association for a visit to Israel, as MSNBC's Rachel Maddow reports (including several outrageous pronouncements by AFA mouthpiece Bryan Fischer).

True love speaks spiritually to  James Alexander Langteaux, author of Gay Conversations With God (interviewed by Steve Pride).

And in <i><a href="http://bit.ly/1C8Jfm8">NewsWrap</a></i>: Mormons swap non-discrimination for religious exemption, Idaho lawmakers bounce a bias ban for the ninth year, an "outed" Chinese worker sues for wrongful termination, Nigerian birthday party guests are busted for "planning a gay wedding," an Egyptian appeals court formally clears "debauched" gay bathhouse arrestees, and more news reported this week by Michael Allan and Carole Meyers (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 January 31, 2015

SUMMARY

For All The Saints - The Mormon Church supports anti-bias protections for LGBT people in the U.S., as long as there’s an exemption for “sincerely held religious belief” …

The Boys Still in Boise - Idaho lawmakers for the ninth year reject a proposal to ban discrimination in the state based on sexual orientation and gender identity …

Fairness Gusher - U.S.-based global oil giant ExxonMobil finally adds LGBT people to its workplace anti-bias policies ...

Spiritual Damages - a court in Shenzhen hears China’s first-ever gay workplace discrimination lawsuit …

Party to Persecution - twelve young men in northern Nigeria are busted by Islamic state police for “planning a gay wedding” …

Which Mob Do You Prefer? - nine young gay men in Uganda are attacked by a mob, arrested by police and tortured behind bars …

Cue Cops - an Egyptian appeals court closes the cases against 26 men who were charged with “debauchery” in December in an infamously-televised Cairo bathhouse raid …

On Your Honor - zsthe California Supreme Court bans all judges in the state from membership in any nonprofit youth organization that discriminates against LGBT people -- most notably the Boy Scouts of America …

A Road to Enigma - a Sicilian city names a road for gay British World War II Nazi code-breaker Alan Turing, whose achievements are celebrated in the Oscar-nominated “The Imitation Game”, and also memorialized in several locales in the U.K. - including a statue in a park bordering the “gay village” in Manchester ….

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

Rappin' Transboy to Singin' Transman!

Week of November 17, 2014
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Singer/songwriter Joe Stevens transposes gender keys in conversation with Dixie Treichel (including a sample from the title cut from his new solo CD, Last Man Standing).

There's style and stylin' for hate and hope from the ridiculous fashion musings of Jehovah’s Witness leader Anthony Morris III to the sublime coming out rap by Camp Aranu'tiq's 8-year-old transboy Alex.

The Great Mademoiselle who mentored several gay composers is profiled in a Rainbow Minute (produced by Judd Proctor and Brian Burns at WRIR-FM/Richmond, Virginia, read by John Deboer).

And in NewsWrap: Botswana recognizes lesbigay rights, homophobic Nigerian vigilantes claim 25 busts, Saudis jail gay social media nudist, New South Wales passes "bring your own marriage" bill, high school gender swap helps Japanese students see differently, and more news reported this week by Carole Meyers and Wenzel Jones (produced by Wenzel Jones and Steve Pride).

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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 15, 2014

SUMMARY

We're Here, We're Queer - Lesbians, Gays and Bisexuals of Botswana win the legal right to exist …

Beyond the Law - Nigerian vigilantes say they've taken 25 gay men into custody and turned them over to authorities for violating Islamic law …

Facebutt - a Saudi Arabian gay man gets a three year sentence for posting his nude photos and offering free gay sex on social media sites …

Mad Man - the owner of "Gayway," an ostensibly gay Asian news and entertainment website based in Taiwan's capital of Taipei, faces up to two years in jail for posting "obscene" pictures to promote his gay erotic massage parlor …

BYO Marriage - New South Wales becomes Australia's third state to recognize the civil marriages of same-gender couples legally performed elsewhere …

How Many Is That? - a District Court makes South Carolina the latest U.S. state to have its ban on civil marriage overturned …

Counties On It - clerks in a growing number of Kansas counties begin issuing marriage licenses to gay and lesbian couples despite state officials' vows to continue defending the ban in court, while Mississippi county clerks prepare to issue licenses to same-gender couples anticipating an imminent ruling by a District Court judge overturning the "Magnolia State" ban …

Courtship Rituals - all parties agree to forgo oral arguments for a directed verdict by a federal judge in a case challenging Montana's ban, a federal judge refuses to dismiss a challenge to South Dakota's ban, and Nebraska officials promise to fight a pending challenge to their ban by the ACLU …

Their Michigan - plaintiff couples appeal last week's aberrant 6th Circuit ruling upholding bans in Michigan and three other states, while Michigan officials ask a court to invalidate the marriages of some 300 same-gender couples who legally wed during the few days in March between a district court decision overturning the ban and a stay being issued pending appeal …

Dis-dress Signal - Malaysia's Deputy PM calls for a challenge to last week's Court of Appeal decision overturning a state's laws against cross-dressing …

Rebirthing Process - new Mexico City legislation allows trans people to change the gender designation on their birth certificates without medical examinations or court orders …

Wide Angle - "Sex Change Day" teaches students at a Japanese high school a valuable lesson ….

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

NewsWrap for the week ending November 8, 2014

SUMMARY

Repression Walks Again - A new bill in Uganda seeks to revive the infamous "Anti-Homosexuality Act", and is being called "even more draconian" …

Many Happy Arrests - leading Nigerian LGBT rights and health advocate Ifeanyi Orazulike says he was arrested without charge on his birthday and threatened by police officials …

Hard Time for A Good Time - eight Egyptian men who appeared in a notoriously viral "gay wedding" video each get three year prison terms …

Success for Dress - Malaysian transwomen win the right to cross-dress, and the Irish government settles a 21-year legal battle with trans activist Dr. Lydia Foy …

Breaking the Wedding Ceiling - a contrary marriage equality ruling by the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals may finally force the Supreme Court to settle the issue, as state marriage equality battles continue to rage in Missouri, Kansas and Florida …

Not Laughing - Estonia becomes the region's third country to deny entry to Russian sitcom actor Ivan ("burn gays alive in ovens") Okhlobystin …

You're Out, I'm OUT - Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics, who banned the aforementioned Okhlobystin from his country last week, announces that he is "proud to be gay" on his official Twitter page …

Dropped Call - Russian officials tear down a six-foot interactive iPhone tribute to late Apple founder Steve Jobs on a St. Petersburg college campus after current CEO Tim Cook comes out, explaining that the memorial has now become "a public call to sodomy" ….

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

Out in the Night

Week of October 27, 2014

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Black lesbian friends out on the town find themselves Out in the Night -- their true story revealed in Blair Dorosh-Walther's acclaimed documentary film. Entertainment Correspondent Steve Pride talks with Renata Hill and Patreese Johnson, two of the New Jersey 4.

Right-wing U.S. televangelist Pat Robertson issues a neurotic "gay terrorism" alert.

And in NewsWrap: Liberian churchmen blame Ebola on homosexuality, a Nigerian court nixes a straight challenge to the country's draconian anti-gay laws, hooded vandals invade a Macedonian LGBT celebration, a trans veteran proves U.S. Army discrimination, a lonely Puerto Rican judge upholds the U.S. territory’s civil marriage ban, "Gandalf" fights school bullying, and more news reported this week by Wenzel Jones and Michael LeBeau (produced by Steve Pride).

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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 October 25, 2014

SUMMARY

Contagious Hate Virus - Liberian Roman Catholic and Anglican leaders preach that Ebola is God's curse on the country for tolerating homosexuals …

Straight Down the Tubes - a Nigerian Federal High Court judge dismisses a challenge to the draconian anti-gay laws enacted in the country last year because the plaintiff is heterosexual and therefore not directly affected by them …

The Klan Rides Again - up to a dozen homophobic hooded hooligans create mayhem when they invade the 2nd anniversary party of an LGBT support center in the Macedonian capital of Skopje, sending at least one young woman to the hospital …

Passing Transmuster - disabled transgender veteran and civilian U.S. Army employee Tamara Lusardi wins a landmark federal discrimination case, and while transgender people are barred from U.S. military service, enlistees from 18 other countries gather in Washington, D.C. for a first-ever conferenced entitled "Perspective on Transgender Military Service from Around the Globe" …

Against the Tide - U.S. District Judge Perez Gimenez breaks with most of his peers and upholds the ban on civil marriage for same-gender couples in the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico …

States of Marriage - officials in Kansas, Montana and South Carolina, over which federal appeals court rulings overturning state marriage bans have jurisdiction, postpone the inevitable by refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-gender couples in their respective states unless a federal court specifically orders them to do so; other state marriage news from Alaska, Idaho, and Nevada …

The Family Way - the Utah Supreme Court opens adoption to legally-married same-gender couples …

Occupy Synchronicity - Hong Kong Pride organizers coincidentally adopt the umbrella as their official symbol this year and order 500 of them in rainbow colors weeks before the umbrella becomes the symbol of pro-democracy "Occupy Central" street protesters, who use them to defend against tear gas, pepper spray, and police batons …

Flame of Anor - out British actor/activist Sir Ian McKellan revives the wizardly "Gandalf" to encourage students at a school he’s visiting to properly prepare for their examinations or, he warns, "You shall not pass!"

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

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.

Homophobia for Export

Week of March 17, 2014
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How the U.S. provided the inspiration for Ugandan persecution: trace the birth of the East African nation’s draconian Anti-Homosexuality Act through "educational seminars" hosted by Massachusetts evangelical Christian minister Scott Lively, his follower Stephen Langa of Uganda’s Family Life Network and Ugandan parliamentary research director Charles Tuhaise.

Plus: syndicated columnist Abby Dees encourages her younger self.

And in NewsWrap: Ugandan human rights activists challenge the new anti-gay law's constitutionality, Nigerian Justice "jails the gays" for their own good, Rainbow Russian colors clash with homophobic thugs, same-gender Brits married elsewhere get early equality start, Obamacare offers insurance parity to U.S. lesbian and gay families, and more news reported by Johnnie Torres and Michelle-Marie Gilkeson (produced by Wenzel Jones and Steve Pride).

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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!

NewsWrap for the week ending March 15, 2014

SUMMARY

Fight Back - A coalition of Ugandan human rights groups are joined by LGBT activists, commentators, scholars and politicians in a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the country's "Anti-Homosexuality Act"…

For Your Own Good - Nigeria's Justice Minister claims his country's so-called "Jail All the Gays" law was enacted to protect them from vigilante violence …

Copycat Hatred - politicians in the Democratic Republic of Congo and in Kenya each push for harsher laws against LGBT people …

Learning Curbed - Zimbabwe activists are arrested in Harare for conducting a media training workshop …

Ovo-Phobo-Demo - machete-wielding Russian thugs pelt LGBT participants in Moscow's March 8th International Women's Day March with raw eggs, but are arrested before they can do more serious damage …

Queer Queueing - thanks to a quirk in the U.K. marriage equality law, same-gender couples legally married in other jurisdictions are now considered to be legally married at home, while never-married couples will still have to wait until March 29th to tie the knot …

ObamaQare - the U.S. Health and Human Services Department tells insurance providers that beginning next year they must offer the same coverage to legally married same-gender couples as they do to heterosexually-married couples …

Mysterious Ways - charges are unexpectedly dropped against United Methodist Church Rev. Dr. Thomas Ogletree for officiating the wedding of his son to another man …

Tennessee Hospitality - a U.S. federal judge orders Tennessee to recognize the legal marriages of same-gender couples contracted in other states …

Bet on a Losing Race - Kentucky's Governor authorizes the payment of 100,000 taxpayer dollars to outside attorneys to defend a ban on out-of-state same-gender marriages …

Pry Open the Window - same-gender couples in Utah who civilly married during a brief period of time that they could legally do so ask a federal judge to order the state to recognize their marriages …

Please Knock Loudly - new lawsuits challenging state bans on marriage equality filed in Arizona, Florida, and Indiana join more than 50 others working their way through the court system in several states ….

Complete NewsWrap text and this week's podcast to be posted March 18, 2014.

Nigeria Protests & "Behind the Queens"

Week of March 10, 2014
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Four young men convicted of violating Nigeria's new horrendously-oppressive anti-LGBT laws are publicly flogged and still face fines and imprisonment as demonstrations -- like the one outside the Nigerian Embassy in New York City -- proliferate around the world (Kelly Cogswell and Harriet Hirshorn report).

The forthcoming documentary Behind the Queens unveils Vancouver's drag scene (producers Zack Singer and Deborah Power).

U.S. Congressman Steve King is dethroned by satirist Stephen Colbert after the self-professed Iowa Republican's pronouncement about the fairness of religious discrimination against self-professed LGBTs.

And in NewsWrap: "unnatural" arrests panic Zambia, Cameroon and Uganda; ambiguity attends the Pope's new civil unions spin; the Dalai Lama is "okay" with marriage equality; U.S. marriage equality marches forward in Colorado, Indiana, Wyoming, Illinois, and Kentucky; and more news reported by Tanya Kane-Parry and Christopher Gaal (produced by Steve Pride).

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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!

NewsWrap for the week ending March 8, 2014

SUMMARY

Flogged and Fined - Four young men convicted of violating Nigeria's new horrendously-oppressive anti-LGBT laws are publicly whipped and could face more violence in prison …

Admissible Evidence - trial begins for two men in Zambia forced to undergo anal probes to "prove" their homosexuality …

Orange Is the New Lavender - four lesbians are reportedly arrested in Cameroon, which Human Rights Watch says prosecutes more sexual minorities than any other country in Africa …

Totally Intended Consequences - a Ugandan blog reports that a lesbian has been evicted from her home, despite being a "wonderful" tenant, because of that country's new Anti-Homosexuality Law …

Prophets of Doom - Uganda's Anglican Bishop calls mother Church of England "spiritually blind" about homosexuality, and prospective Anglican clerics in Nigeria must now swear to God that they aren't gay …

New Testaments - ambiguity surrounds comments attributed to Roman Catholic Pope Francis that seemed to suggest that the Church might be open to civil unions for same-gender couples, while exiled Tibetan Buddhist leader the Dalai Lama tells "Larry King Now" that marriage equality is "okay" …

Law in Transition - a landmark ruling in Lebanon sanctions the relationship of a transgender woman and a man …

Jasmine Equality - 200 guests cheer what may be the first public wedding of a gay male couple in Myanmar (Burma) …

Altared States - Colorado's Governor publicly endorses civil marriage for lesbian and gay couples, while Wyoming and Indiana are next in the U.S. to be sued for marriage equality by same-gender couples, and a federal court is expected to rule this month in a case challenging Michigan's hetero-only marriage law …

Early Admissions - citing a federal court ruling, Illinois officials expand the availability of marriage licenses to same-gender couples outside Chicago before the official June 1st enactment date of the state's marriage equality law …

Running for the Roses - Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway is unable to conceal his emotions as he announces that he won't appeal a federal ruling declaring as unconstitutional his state's refusal to recognize same-gender civil marriages legally performed elsewhere ….

Read the <a href="http://bit.ly/OfHeDd">complete NewsWrap text</a> ... or listen to <a href="http://bit.ly/1oRwiH7">this week's podcast</a>.

NewsWrap for the week ending March 1, 2014

SUMMARY

Off the Hook - LGBT rights activists are acquitted on bogus charges in Zimbabwe and Zambia …

Laws of Mobs Rule - the war on sexual minorities continues unabated in Nigeria and Uganda …

How to Make Friends - Kenyan leaders call for their own similarly harsh anti-gay legislation …

Acquaintance Raid - ten lesbians and gay men at a "getting to know each other" gathering at a party hall in Amman, Jordan are arrested in a prophylactic prevention of "disturbing the peace" …

High Hurdles - more than 200 athletes from 11 countries endure bomb threats, cancelled-at-the-last-minute venues and hotels, smoke bombs, and "technical problems" at an ice skating rink to compete in the inaugural Russian LGBT Sports Federation's Open Games in Moscow …

Hellish Law Burned - Arizona Governor Jan Brewer vetoes a so-called "religious freedom" bill …

No Legitimate Governmental Purpose - a federal judge declares the Texas law defining civil marriage as exclusively heterosexual to be a violation of the U.S. Constitution …

Clearly Demeaning - a federal judge makes final his ruling declaring as unconstitutional Kentucky's refusal to recognize the civil marriages of same-gender couples performed elsewhere …

Reality Check - retired National Football League Hall of Famer and TV sports commentator Deion Sanders tells "The Arsenio Hall Show" that there were gay players on all five teams he played on during his career, and says of out pro prospect Michael Sam "if he can make plays, he can play the game" ….

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

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.

Panti's Rant & "Uprising of Love"

Week of February 10, 2014
To listen to the whole show, click here!

Irish drag queen Panti Bliss (aka Rory O'Neill) responds to RTE Television's decision to settle libel lawsuits after she named the names of LGBT-haters with a poignant lesson on just what homophobia is … and what it does to people.

Lesbian rocker Melissa Etheridge sings for the right to love -- and donates the proceeds of her new single to the Russia Freedom Fund.

And in NewsWrap: Rainbow Russians qualify for Olympic arrests, Nigerian anti-LGBT law gets national bishops' blessing, Ugandan lawmakers insist there's a "cure," Scotland's Parliament pipes up for marriage equality, theater thugs disrupt Sarajevo LGBT film fest, Pride marches on in Melbourne and Mumbai, and more news reported by Sarah Sweeney and Rick Watts (produced by Steve Pride).
 

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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!

NewsWrap for the week ending February 8, 2014

SUMMARY

Gold Medal Handcuffs - As many as two dozen LGBT rights activists are jailed in separate actions in Moscow and St. Petersburg on the eve of the Opening Ceremonies of the Winter Olympics in Sochi for violating Russia's so-called "no promo homo" law …

Prison Be Unto You - Nigeria's Roman Catholic Bishops Conference praises President Goodluck Jonathan for signing what's come to be known as the "Jail All the Gays" bill …

National Resistance Doctors Agree - Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni is reportedly getting "scientific" assurances from lawmakers in his ruling political party with medical backgrounds that gays can be "cured" so that he can sign the oppressive "Anti-Homosexuality" bill there …

Purple Heather - Scottish lawmakers overwhelmingly make their country the 17th in the world to open civil marriage to lesbian and gay couples …

Lovers on Hold - a U.S. federal judge promises a ruling "soon" following hearings on a lawsuit challenging Virginia's state ban on marriage equality …

Forward Looking - same-gender couples file suit this week challenging Wisconsin's ban …

Cinema Verite - hooded thugs invade a movie theater in the Bosnian capital of Sarajevo hosting an LGBT Film Festival injuring at least three people …

Hot-Footing Down Fitzroy - tens of thousands brave sweltering temperatures in Australia to applaud the annual LGBT Pride march in Melbourne …

Prideful Pushback - a record crowd defies India's Supreme Court with Pride in Mumbai …

Condolences - lesbian tennis legend Billie Jean King bows out of the official U.S. delegation to the Winter Olympics because of her mother Betty Moffitt's failing health, who died at 91 on the same day as the Opening Ceremonies in Sochi …

Torch of a Different Color - the London Gay Men's Chorus "serenades" the Russian Embassy to protest that country's "no promo homo" law during the hours that the Winter Games Opening Ceremonies are being held in Sochi ….

Complete NewsWrap text and this week's podcast to be posted February 11, 2014.

NewsWrap for the week ending February 1, 2014

SUMMARY

Torture, Blackmail and Intimidation - Rampant police abuse with impunity is creating "nightmarish" conditions for gay and bisexual men in Kyrgyzstan …

Wrecking Crew - a homophobic mob breaks into and overruns the office of Alternative Cote d'Ivoire, the leading LGBT advocacy group in the Ivory Coast, seriously injuring a security guard and stealing most everything they didn't vandalize …

No Second Thoughts - India's Supreme Court refuses to reconsider its two-judge panel December ruling that recriminalized private consensual adult gay sex …

Don't Look At Us - Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong says it's not the government's responsibility to protect gay rights …

Last Straw - lawmakers in Northern Cyprus remove the last vestige of laws that banned gay sex in Europe …

Hide the Package - Islamic courts in Nigeria will resume in secret the prosecutions of 10 men charged with belonging to a gay group – now a criminal offense thanks to sweeping anti-gay legislation signed by President Goodluck Jonathan – to avoid repeats of the stone throwing execution-demanding assault on one of the courts in Bauchi last week …

Back to the Laboratory - Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni now says he wants scientific proof that being gay "is not genetic, but a behavior that is acquired" before he'll sign the draconian "Anti-Homosexuality Bill" there …

No Armored Closets - Bulgarian lawmakers reject a bill that would have outlawed just being out, although one of the measure's backers worries about how his children would be affected by seeing what he calls "those half-naked buggers with psychotic abnormalities" ….

Complete NewsWrap text and this week's podcast to be posted February 4, 2014.