Rudd's Word, Rejecting Russia & Keller's Parent

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Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and his main reelection challenger Tony Abbott briefly debate marriage equality during their first face-to-face campaign match-up.

U.S. President Barack Obama condemns Russia's "no promo homo" law, but nixes a protest boycott of the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi … and Georgetown University Professor Charles King tells MSNBC's Rachel Maddow why the Olympics controversy is fostering increased global support for gay rights.

Our Steve Pride chats with cartoonist Dan Parent at Comic-Con 2013 in San Diego about creating the popular Archie Comics gay teen character "Kevin Keller."

And in NewsWrap: celebrity gay couple gets Uruguay's first same-gender marriage license, Pennsylvania county leaps to "right side of history," Pride blooms in Hanoi and Entebbe, Stockholm and Amsterdam offer surrogate Pride to Russian visitors, anti-gay suppression fails in Armenia and Lithuania, and more news reported by Pamela Brooks and Charlie Bauer (produced by Steve Pride).

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NewsWrap for the week ending August 10, 2013

SUMMARY

Felicitaciones y los Mejores Deseos! - Uruguay begins offering marriage licenses to same-gender couples, becoming the second country in South America with such equality nationwide …

Penn's Spirit - Pennsylvania's Montgomery County defies the U.S. state's heterosexuals-only marriage law …

Even in Vietnam and Uganda - LGBT Pride celebrates its second birthday in both Hanoi and Entebbe …

Brakes on Bigotry - a "no promo homo" law is proposed and then quickly withdrawn in Armenia, while Lithuanian officials reject holding a referendum on such a law there …

Payback is a ... -  Putin's Russia continues to suffer economic and political backlash against government promises to enforce its law banning "gay propaganda" among native and foreign athletes and spectators alike when it hosts the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi …

Välkomna! - Pride in Stockholm puts out the welcome mat for beleaguered celebrants from Russia …

Float You, Vladimir! - more than a half-million watch Amsterdam float its condemnation of Putin and support for a homophobia-free sports world …

Marching to the Russian Front - a pair of Canadian Olympians march in support of diversity in the 35th annual Pride parade in Vancouver, British Columbia ….

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Queer in Kyrgyzstan & Matt Fishel

"Sapphic Nomads" Katie Cook and Maggie Young's latest "audio postcard" comes from Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, where tradition fights liberation.

LGBT music expert JD Doyle features British singer/songwriter Matt Fishel's debut gay political power pop album, Not Thinking Straight, featuring his "radio friendly" hit.

And in NewsWrap: France and Uruguay both on the cusp of marriage equality; controversial clash derails debate on marriage proposal in Colombia; Zambian activist arrested for demanding decriminalization; Singapore, Montana and Virginia each confront sodomy laws; "wizardly tribute" to the "Iron Lady" makes news in Britain, and more news reported by Tanya Kane-Parry and Michael LeBeau (produced by Steve Pride).

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NewsWrap for the week ending April 13, 2013

SUMMARY

Edge of Our Seats - Legislators in France and Uruguay each push marriage and adoptions equality to the brink of reality …

Who Started It? - Colombia's Senate President blames "disruptive" LGBT people for indefinitely postponing a marriage equality bill there …

Profile in Courage - brave Zambian gay activist Paul Kasonkomona is jailed for "inciting the public to take part in indecent activities" …

Taking the Loh Road - Singapore High Court Justice Quentin Loh upholds the city-state's sodomy law …

Grizzly Come Lately - lawmakers in the U.S. state of Montana repeal sodomy law …

That Vaginal Probe Homophobe, Again - Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli loses a federal appeals court bid to keep the sodomy law on the books in his state …

Really Most Sincerely Dead - less-than-fans of recently deceased former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher boost a "tribute song" (of sorts) from a 1939 MGM movie starring one of history's most enduring gay icons onto BBC Radio 1's Top 40 Music Chart ….

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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).

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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 ….

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Ambassador James Hormel

The rebirth of the controversy around Defense Secretary nominee Chuck Hagel's infamous 1998 insult notwithstanding, the first openly gay US ambassador proves that he was and is Fit To Serve (an interview by Steve Pride).

And in NewsWrap: Brazil barrels toward marriage equality, marital progress stalls in Uruguay, Taiwan's top court stokes hasty marriage proposal, wedding bells ring in Maine and Maryland, love texts and queer whiskey seal Cameroonian convictions, the sun will never set on Sally's special spot, and more news reported by Sarah Sweeney and Michael LeBeau (produced by Steve Pride).

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NewsWrap for the week ending January 5, 2013

SUMMARY

Full Steam Ahead - A judge makes Sao Paulo the latest Brazilian state to open civil marriage to same-gender couples …

Put on the Brakes - an expected December 26th Senate vote on a marriage equality bill in Uruguay is postponed until April …

Under Consideration - lawmakers in Taiwan hold initial hearings on a bill to give limited marriage rights to the island's same-gender couples …

Sweet Victories - first-ever voter-authorized marriages of lesbian and gay couples are celebrated in Maine and Maryland, while marriage equality bills progress in Illinois and Rhode Island …

Steel Magnolias - five lesbian couples make news applying for marriage licenses in the state of Mississippi …

Text Offense -Cameroon appeals court upholds the 3 year prison sentence of a man convicted of "homosexuality" for simply sending an "I love you" text message to another man …

Hound the Gays - continuing harassment and worse against LGBT activists in Uganda includes the arrests of two gay youth workers, the vandalizing and burglary of the offices of Sexual Minorities Uganda, and what the nation's leading newspaper reports as "tens of thousands" of people hearing preachers in churches and sports stadiums across the country demanding passage of the so-called "Kill The Gays Bill" when parliament reconvenes in February …

By the Light of the Silvery Dyke - a little corner of the moon is named for late lesbian astronaut Sally Ride, the first American woman in space …

Viva la First - a lesbian and her partner become the proud parents of the first baby born in 2013 in France ….

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NewsWrap for the week ending December 15, 2012

SUMMARY

Equality on the Way - The Uruguay House overwhelmingly passes a marriage equality bill that most believe will be approved in the Senate and signed into law by the president in early 2013 …

Friend or Foe - pressure grows on the Obama administration to file friend of the court briefs supporting marriage equality in the two cases coming before the Supreme Court next year …

Good Money After Bad - the Republican majority in the U.S. House ups the ante to 2 million taxpayer dollars in its legal defense of the equality-banning Defense of Marriage Act …

Dominoes - Western Australia becomes the latest state or territory "Down Under" to have marriage equality on the parliamentary agenda …

Business of Love - honeymooners make tourism phones ring off the hook following the first legal marriage of a gay male couple on the Dutch Caribbean island of Saba…

Proud of Prejudice - an avowedly anti-gay Ukrainian political party brags about assaulting and gassing a peaceful LGBT rights demonstration in Kyiv …

Rate Hike for Bed and Bias - a court in Chile fines a motel for sexual orientation-based discrimination in the first such case since the enactment of the country's long-languishing anti-bias law earlier this year …

Curses and Blessings - Uganda's parliament adjourns, possibly until as late as February 2013, without considering the so-called "Kill the Gays Bill," while the nation's homophobic House Speaker Rebecca Kadaga is ironically blessed by anti-LGBT Pope Benedict XVI at a so-called "human rights conference" in Rome ....

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Ivy's League (pt. 1 of 2)

The legendary exploits of the now 86-year-old pioneering lesbian-feminist activist Ivy Bottini (the first of a two-part interview with Abby Dees).

And in NewsWrap: Nigeria and Uganda weigh heavy anti-gay laws, Uruguay and France argue marriage equality, Spain's top court nixes nuptial naysayers, U.S. Supreme Court delays Prop 8 and DOMA decisions, critics challenge lesbian moms book and gay penguins play, Danish birds don't duck dads' responsibilities, and more news reported by Tanya Kane-Parry and Christopher Gaal (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 November 17, 2012

SUMMARY

Jail Allies, Kill Gays - Nigeria and Uganda each move closer to enacting draconian anti-LGBT legislation …

Warm Winds - lawmakers in Uruguay move to make theirs the second country in South America to open civil marriage to lesbian and gay couples …

Oui and Si - French government officially proposes a marriage equality bill, and Spain's Constitutional Court upholds theirs …

Nie - Slovakia's parliament rejects a proposal to recognize same-gender partnerships …

DOMA Coma - U.S. Supreme Court postpones deciding whether or not to hear Prop 8 and/or DOMA cases until the end of November …

Bicameral Legislator - Arizona's Kyrsten Sinema narrowly wins election as the first openly bisexual member of Congress …

New Jobs - Washington's Ed Murray becomes only the second "out" state Senate Majority Leader in U.S. history, and if the U.S. Senate confirms President Obama's nomination of William Thomas to a lifetime seat on the Court for the Southern District of Florida he'll become the country's first openly gay African-American federal court judge …

Childish Censorship - the ACLU sues a Utah school district for removing "In Our Mothers' House," a picture book featuring a family headed by two lesbian mothers, from the shelves of its elementary school libraries, and a school district in Austin, Texas cancels elementary school performances of "And Then Came Tango," a play based on two male penguins at a New York zoo who successfully adopted and nurtured an abandoned egg …

Gay Bird Dads Don't Duck - a pair of male penguins in Denmark joins similar couples in Spain, Germany and China to be given an orphaned egg to incubate and raise as their own ….

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