NewsWrap for the week ending January 24, 2015

SUMMARY

With and Without Civility - Chilean lawmakers put the finishing touches on a civil unions bill, but Macedonia’s Parliament bans civil marriage and makes civil unions almost impossible …

Three Strikes - Portuguese lawmakers reject for the third time a bill to open adoption to same-gender couples …

Sweet Home - a U.S. federal judge overturns Alabama’s civil marriage ban …

News That's Fit to Scapegoat - the Egyptian government has reportedly ordered state-run media to step up negative coverage of LGBT people …

Censored! - Russian authorities tentatively ban films that “defile national values” -- such as, critics warn, any with positive LGBT content -- and the founder of an online site for Russian LGBT teens, “Children-404," is convicted of spreading “gay propaganda” …

Trans World Headlines - Israel’s high court allows trans people to change the gender designation on their IDs without having to undergo reassignment surgery, the first housing shelter for Turkish trans-women opens in Istanbul, and trailblazing Silverton, Oregon Mayor Stu Rasmussen, the first transgender mayor in the U.S., leaves politics -- at least for now ….

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NewsWrap for the week ending January 17, 2015

SUMMARY

SCOTUS Engaged - The U.S. Supreme Court agrees to hear a challenge to the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision that upheld bans on civil marriage for same-gender couples in Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, and Tennessee, but turns down the direct appeal of a district court ruling that upheld Louisiana's ban …

Marital Judgements - a federal judge orders Michigan to recognize the marriages of some 300 same-gender couples who tied the knot during a brief period of time when they could and a Kentucky judge grants a first-ever divorce to a lesbian couple who married in Massachusetts, even though Kentucky bans civil marriage equality, while the 9th U.S. Circuit rejects appeals for a rehearing of its 3-judge panel's decision striking down the bans in Nevada and Idaho, and a federal judge overturns South Dakota's ban …

Pushing the Borders - a gay couple who legally wed in England sues for recognition of the marriage in their native Northern Ireland, while a gay Mexicali couple's months-long march down the aisle concludes …

Parenting in Sin - Austria's highest court opens adoption to same-gender couples, even though they can't legally marry in the country …

Not Debauched Enough - 26 Egyptian men caught up in a much-ballyhooed raid on a Cairo bathhouse are unexpectedly acquitted of "debauchery" …

Hint Dropper - U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon criticizes India's Section 377, the law that forbids private consensual adult gay sex, during his visit to New Delhi, but the ruling party might finally support repeal …

An Ideas Whose Time Has Passed - an official in the Indian state of Goa draws jeers for proposing centers to make LGBT people "normal," and then claims to have been "misquoted" …

Wrong Way - Russian officials "clarify" an edict issued last week saying that all transgender people would be denied driver's licenses ….

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Tough Times & Golden Moments!

Week of January 12, 2015
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Turkish lesbian activist Sedef Cakmak looks to the UN for support, as she tells UN Radio: Women's Stephanie Castro.

Maggie Young and Katie Cook's "Sapphic Nomads" sojourn comes to an end (at least for now) in Ghana, where gays and lesbians like activist Anita Confidence live "illegal" lives.

Transparent and The Normal Heart score queer Golden Globe Awards (with excerpts from comments by winners Jill Soloway, Matt Bomer, and Jeffrey Tambor)…

Trans Eurovision Contest winner Conchita Wurst sings for the Heroes in the new single from her forthcoming album.

And in NewsWrap: a club assault kicks Russian gays in the apathy, 26 Egyptian men are tried for "debauchery," Vietnam okays same-gender weddings, an Irish priest comes out for equality, and more news reported this week by Michelle-Marie Gilkeson and Michael LeBeau (produced by Steve Pride, written by Greg Gordon).

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A Rare Concert featuring Linda Tillery, June Millington and Mary Watkins!

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 10, 2015

SUMMARY

Kicked in the Apathy - At least four patrons are injured as several thugs invade a popular Russian gay nightclub, sending at least one club-goer to the hospital with critical injuries, as a Human Rights Watch report details the dramatic increase in homophobic violence since the 2013 passage of the country’s “no promo homo” law (with comments by HRW’s Russian researcher Tanya Cooper) …

No U Turn - a new Russian law bans transgender individuals from getting driver’s licenses because “mentally ill” people are more likely to be involved in serious auto accidents …

Welcoming Gesture - Vietnam repeals a ban on same-gender wedding ceremonies, although they still won’t be legally recognized, as Asia’s first out U.S. Ambassador Ted Osius takes his new post in Hanoi …

Marriage Stateside - the first conference of the U.S. Supreme Court in 2015 ends on January 9th with no marriage equality cases announced; the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals hears Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas marriage cases, and SCOTUS decline's Louisiana District's appeal; lesbian and gay couples begin tying the knot in Florida …

Mammas Mia! - an Italian court makes history by legally recognizing a child born to a bi-national lesbian couple …

Backdown on Crackdown? - 26 men arrested during the police raid of a Cairo bathhouse go on trial -- then unexpectedly acquited (with comments by veteran global rights activist Scott Long about escalating anti-gay repression in Egypt) …

Queering the Kirk - the Church of Scotland edges closer to approving the ordination of openly gay ministers …

Going My Way - parishioners give Dublin Roman Catholic priest Martin Dolan a standing ovation for coming out ….

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Solid Gold: Tillery, Millington and Watkins in Concert - 1981!

A rare find from the Pacifica Radio Archives 

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This August 9, 1981 concert with Linda Tillery, June Millington and Mary Watkins at the Great American Music Hall In San Francisco features Joy Julks on bass and a host of other musicians. It was stuck on a shelf silent for over 30 years ... and now thanks to the National Archives, it’s being preserved for all time.

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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).

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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 ….

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