This Way Out: The International LGBTQ Radio Magazine

Christopher Isherwood’s own stories of pre-War Berlin; remembering Renee Nicole Good; U.S. top court hears trans student sports ban cases, a new survey confirms pediatric transgender healthcare can be life-saving, Malaysian authorities shut down an empty “gay friendly” hotel, the latest Human Rights Campaign U.S. queer quality of life poll finds deterioration under Trump, and billionaire philanthr...

Sophie B. Hawkins performs “Not Beating Around the Bush” (recording of her original song made exclusively for “This Way Out”) and reads an excerpt from “Mrs. Dalloway” by Virginia Woolf. SOPHIE B. HAWKINS is a U.S.-born singer-songwriter whose commercial success has been matched by her passionate advocacy for animal rights, and the equality of women and the queer community. In 1925, VIRGINIA WOOLF...

We continue our review, highlighting of some of the news and feature stories on This Way Out during 2025. [NOTE: “NewsWrap” and the “Rainbow Rewind” segments return on our week of 12 January 2026. In our 38th year satisfying your weekly minimum requirement of LGBTQ news and culture! Now more than ever, your financial support of our U.S. 501(c)(3) charitable nonprofit will help keep us in ears arou...

We continue our review of some of the news and feature stories on This Way Out during the past 12 months, including trans lawmakers defending drag and their own dignity, celebrating a venerated Aussie activist, challenging anti-queer laws in the Caribbean, marching for gender rights in the U.K., greeting a drag virtuoso violist, analyzing a major setback at the U.S. Supreme Court, and reviewing th...

Twenty-twenty-five’s queerest news and feature stories in review; this week’s Rainbow Rewind remembers Frank Kameny, Ma Rainey and key late December happenings; quick-study Kazakh Senators pass a “no promo homo” bill, Trump’s vile war on trans kids escalates, Congressional Republicans criminalize trans kid caregivers, a North Carolina County disbands its library board over a trans kid picture book...

Portland, Oregon’s twice monthly live open mic performance event, Slamlandia, yields the work of three queer poets: Joshua Merritt, Evey Rothwell and Ret (produced by Brian DeShazor). Plus December birthdays including anthropologist Margaret Mead and historic queer moments from the declassification of homosexuality as a disease to the dawn of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” on the Rainbow Rewind (written...

What life is like in the newsrooms and on the beat for LGBTQ+ reporters in a time when there’s too much news and fewer jobs, according to Los Angeles chapter co-presidents Hansen Bursic and Katie Karl of NLGJA: the Association of LGBTQ+ Journalists (in a roundtable with This Way Out’s Lucia Chappelle, interviewed by Brian DeShazor). Plus the reign of a lesbian queen, two music halls, human rights...

Poet Steven Reigns’ memorial memoir chronicling his profound six-year friendship with Michael Church who died of AIDS in 2000 (“Outliving Michael,” Moon Tide Press, 2025) is presented in an original sound collage with archival news reports and the friends’ favorite music (produced by Brian DeShazor). Plus United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres has a message of hope for World AIDS Day, d...

Poet Steven Reigns’ memorial memoir chronicling his profound six-year friendship with Michael Church who died of AIDS in 2000 (“Outliving Michael,” Moon Tide Press, 2025) is presented in an original sound collage with archival news reports and the friends’ favorite music (produced by Brian DeShazor). Plus United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres has a message of hope for World AIDS Day, d...

As World AIDS Day 2025 approaches, the theme of community organizing versus government indifference today echoes the early years of the pandemic. Historic coverage includes AIDS patient/activists Robert Bland, Bob Cecchi and Daniel Warner, columnist Bobbi Campbell and journalist David Hunt. Plus Rainbow Rewind shout-outs to Benjamin Britten, Bayard Rustin, Bruce Vilanch and more (produced by Brian...

This special podcast edition of This Way Out Radio presents the full recording of The Quentin Crisp Memorial program that was excerpted in This Way Out's feature in program #1964. Here, we listen to the full memorial program including eulogies from those who knew him best. This program recorded and produced by Brian DeShazor won a Golden Reel Award for local events coverage at the 2001 National Fe...

In commemoration of the November 21, 1999 passing of “The Naked Civil Servant,” listen to excerpts from one of his last interviews and a reading of one of his last pieces by publicist Chris Snell at his March 3, 2000 memorial service (produced by Brian DeShazor). Plus November notes from The Rainbow Rewind including Transgender Day of Remembrance, the Goodridge marriage equality decision and Rosea...

Focussing on key queer vIctories in the huge blue wave of Democratic Party wins, Andy Humm and Ann Northrop of Gay USA assess the U.S. off-year election returns with all the delight and derision they deserve. Plus a November-oriented Rainbow Rewind calls out the original Daughter of Bilitis, the man whose camera shutter caused right wing shudders, and queer historical turning points (produced by B...

President of the National Association of LGBTQ journalists (NLGJA.org) Ken Miguel talks about how the organization promotes queer visibility and accuracy in the media (interviewed by Brian DeShazor). Plus: The Rainbow Rewind notes the November birthdays of comedian Bob Smith and Canadian rocker ally Ryan Adams, the premiere of “The Crying Game” and the passage of Proposition 8, California’s ban on...

We commemorate the birthday of the renowned gay Irish writer Oscar Wilde (October 16, 1854- November 30, 1900) with the play he was writing in October, 1891 — Salomé. Before we get to the play, listen to Brian DeShazor’s 2014 interview with the erudite Mr. Nimoy and his wife Susan more than fifty years after the play’s original broadcast, and learn how a chance encounter on the sidewalk outside of...

We commemorate the birthday of the renowned gay Irish writer Oscar Wilde with an excerpt from the play he was writing in October, 1891 — a scene from a production directed for Pacifica Radio by a “pre-Spock” Leonard Nimoy (hear the complete performance at thiswayout.org, presented by Brian DeShazor). Plus: The “Rainbow Rewind” recalls the end of the picket line, “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’s” demise, a...

Jennie Arnau discovered her passion for music in her childhood home of Greenville, South Carolina, a place that called her back at a time of loss and grief. She’s now living and working in New York City, ending a self-imposed break from songwriting and performing with her new album, A Rising Tide (interviewed by David Hunt). Plus: The “Rainbow Rewind” pays tribute to the Matthew Shepard Foundation...

Extended 50-minute interview with Shaun Peterson’s about his film documentary that investigates the evidence that Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States, would today be considered bisexual or queer (interviewed by Brian DeShazor).

Shaun Peterson’s “Lover of Men: The Untold History of Abraham Lincoln” goes beyond investigating the love live of the 16th U.S. President to examine how the study of history evolves (interviewed by Brian DeShazor, part 2 of 2). Plus: The “Rainbow Rewind” crosses generations to find outspoken October-born advocates and digs down to the roots of National Coming Out Day. And in NewsWrap: the United S...

Shaun Peterson’s film documentary investigates the evidence that Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States, would today be considered bisexual or queer (interviewed by Brian DeShazor, part 1 of 2). Plus: The “Rainbow Rewind” lists notable LGBTQ+ dates in October, and recalls the murder of Matthew Shepard 27 years ago this month. And in NewsWrap: Slovakia’s legislature approves a con...

The venerable historical preservation organization celebrates LGBTQ+ History Month with an LA County-wide programming series where the past and the future intermingle. One Institute Executive Director Tony Valenzuela talks about the trailblazing histories and vibrant cultural contributions around the festival theme “Reclaiming Freedom” (interviewed by Jason Jenn). And in NewsWrap: a report from th...

With seven years experience as CEO of Rainbow Railroad, Global LGBTQI+ Human Rights Fellow at the Carr-Ryan Center at Harvard and Refugee Council USA board member Kamahli Powell is uniquely qualified to discuss the world’s refugee crisis and specifically how LGBTQ people are disadvantaged in seeking help when their countries, communities and sometimes even their homes are unsafe (interviewed by Da...

For more than two decades, activist, educator, diplomat Jessica Stern has worn a variety of hats in her efforts to advance LGBTQ human rights around the world, always at the forefront — unafraid, unapologetic, speaking truth to power. Currently serving as Senior Human Rights and U.S. Foreign Policy Fellow at the Carr-Ryan Center for Human Rights at the Harvard Kennedy School, Stern talks about her...

On her journey from Kansas to Oz and back, Jennifer Knapp’s spiritual rock and roll harmonizes “Christian” and “lesbian" with the unifying power of music - a 40+minute extended feature interviewed by David Hunt.

The late historian Allan Bérubé documented in Coming Out Under Fire (1990) how queer soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines have always been a vital part of military readiness. He revealed in a 1983 talk that the first queer news source in the United States was published at an airfield in the deep South more than 80 years ago (produced by David Hunt). And in NewsWrap: Burkina Faso’s military junta...