This Way Out: The International LGBTQ Radio Magazine

Even at the National Historic Landmark dedicated to a queer civil rights activist, legal scholar, author and Episcopal priest, the Trump administration is rewriting U.S. history. Executive Director Angela Thorpe Mason of the Pauli Murray Center for History and Social Justice in Durham, North Carolina is fighting to keep the legacy alive (produced by David Hunt). And in NewsWrap: Greek men whether...

Infamous U.S. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) didn’t know what she was getting into when she defamed the drag artist with a doctorate Professor Lil Miss Hot Mess, but gay Representative Robert Garcia (D-CA) had the skillful sarcasm to shut her down (Lauren Schmitt reports). lIllinois Governor JB Pritzker’s fiery address lights up the Human Rights Campaign’s annual Los Angeles dinner w...

While transgender members of the U.S. military wait on tinder hooks for the courts to rule on President Donald Trump’s order to expel them, Col. Bree Fram of the Space Force refuses to give up her frontline post. The courageous trans soldier, a descendant of a family with a history of valiant service, shares her story. Note: Fram spoke in her personal capacity and her views do not necessarily refl...

Transgender philosophy professor Talia Mae Bettcher (“Beyond Personhood: An Essay in Trans Philosophy”) confronts a world that oppression has turned upside down, and has some bold suggestions for radical, liberating action to stop trans erasure (interviewed by Tanya Kane-Parry). And in NewsWrap: the U.S. Department of the Navy puts its plans to expel Navy and Marine Corps personnel with a history...

In the cycle between LGBTQ+ inclusion and exile, you can see the same signposts in either direction. Whether the queer community is on the rise or whether rights are being extinguished step by step, three bellwether issues are “no promo homo” laws, military service and marriage equality. Current news and archival reports from March 2000 illustrate the point. And in NewsWrap: Ghana’s horrific anti-...

As the Trump administration erases the T and Q in LGBTQ from government websites and publications — even the signage outside the Stonewall National Monument — New York college student Eli Butler seeks to counter the hate of far-right politicians and media outlets by exploring the hidden history and the joy of transmasculine community building (interviewed by David Hunt). And in NewsWrap: two young...

Sixty years ago this month, days before the assassination of Malcolm X and weeks ahead of “Bloody Sunday” on the Edmund Pettus Bridge, the University of Cambridge’s historic debate society hosted a face-off between Black gay author, activist and public intellectual James Baldwin and conservative founder of The National Review William F. Buckley, Jr. Baldwin’s presentation is read by multidisciplin...

The Municipal Elections Committee of Los Angeles had a brief, shining romance with progressive candidates that began in the 70s, but in the 90s AIDS brought about the demise of the first LGBTQ political action committee in the United States (Part 2 of 2 produced by David Hunt). And in NewsWrap: Indonesian authorities arrest 56 men during a raid at a private gathering they label a “gay sex party” i...

The first major confrontation between queer and conservative powerhouses in the U.S. launched the country’s first official LGBTQ political action committee, the Municipal Elections Committee of Los Angeles. This Way Out’s David Hunt looks for strategy lessons from the early days of “checkbook activism” (Part 1 of 2). And in NewsWrap: U.S. President Donald Trump bans trans girls and women from comp...

Transgender journalist Erin Reed is a respected independent voice with a large following on social media. She met with a group trans people and allies to review the growing list of anti-trans executive orders coming out of the Trump White House (produced by David Hunt). And in NewsWrap: gender-affirming healthcare for Australia’s trans and gender-diverse young people is under review, U.S. Presiden...

Memories of the havoc created and the massive response engendered by the recently deceased “orange juice queen” Anita Bryant can inspire a new generation to meet vicious attacks with creative resistance (produced by Brian DeShazor with This Way Out reports preserved in the American Archive of Public Broadcasting). And in NewsWrap: Ghana’s in-coming President John Mahama announces that the anti-que...

Filmmaker-writer-activist Marlon Riggs challenged popular — even progressive — culture when his video documentary depicting Black gay men with their “Tongues Untied” was banned by television stations across the U.S. (interviewed by Joey Flyer and Mike Alcolay). Lakhiyia means “home,” and Lakhiyia’s work in revolutionary creativity offers an opportunity for listeners to bring out their own “sermons...

Before the dawn of the computer age brought Alan Turing’s work its rightful recognition, before the honors that were to come, we recognized his legacy and his tragic life in November of 1988. There are memorials and movies now, but then his World War II code-breaking triumph and his contributions to the development of of artificial intelligence was all but unknown (produced by Hugh Young and prese...

The world’s first Drag Laureate, appointed by San Francisco Mayor London Breed, talks about drag culture and onslaught of persecution in the U.S. and around the world. Included are excerpts from Drollinger’s stand-up routine at his trans-friendly nightspot Oasis, and inspirational words from “Sexitude,” the self-affirming dance class he leads. Interviewed by Eric Jansen of “Out in the Bay” (outint...

Some of the people making LGBTQ news in 2024 including Taiwan’s LGBTQ-supportive incoming president Lai Ching-te, trans-supportive Missouri Rabbi Daniel Bogard, anti-LGBTQ Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, Philadelphia’s Guinness World Record-breaking Drag Queen Story Time, Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito’s pro-insurrectionist wife Martha Ann, Thailand’s pro-marriage equality lawmakers, U....

Lies about transgender and nonbinary youth are the basis for the fountain of new laws making it increasingly difficult to access lifesaving pediatric gender-affirming healthcare. While the lies and the laws get most of the attention, TransFamily Support Services founder Kathie Moehlig helps the targeted kids and their families navigate the nightmare (interviewed by David Hunt). And in NewsWrap: Gh...

Experienced analysts like former Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund legal director David Brown (interviewed by David Hunt) are praising progressive U.S. Supreme Court Justices Ketanji Brown-Jackson, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan for their questioning of Tennessee Solicitor General Matthew Rice about his state’s ban on pediatric gender-affirming healthcare, but the trans man of the hour...

Jimmy and Megan have no doubt that the gender identity of one of their three kids is unfolding differently. What they’re not sure about is whether it’s safe to raise their kids in the home they love. (Produced by David Hunt in Raleigh, North Carolina) And in NewsWrap: the United States Supreme Court hears a constitutional challenge to Tennessee’s ban on pediatric gender-affirming healthcare, seven...

Called the world’s largest LGBTQ museum, Qtopia Sydney opened its Queer Centre of History and Culture in February. A tour of the new facility reveals efforts to keep history alive while respecting the feelings of the ones who lived it, its inclusion of women and how it handles the AIDS years. Featuring Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Lord Mayor of Sydney Clover Moore, Qtopia CEO Greg Fisher, Dire...

The killer who stalked Los Angeles gay bars in the early 80s slipped away twice (for reasons explained by Deputy D.A. Dino Fulgoni), but investigating officer Mike Thies wouldn’t give up. Years later, lesbian policy manager Madeline Brancel rediscovered the life of her gay great-uncle, who was one of the victims (Part 2 of 2, produced by David Hunt). And in NewsWrap: protections for women and the...

A series of murders centering on the Los Angeles gay men’s bar scene leads investigating officer Mike Thies to join forces with the community for an unprecedented search for the killer. (Part 1 of 2, produced by David Hunt) And in NewsWrap: Russian orphans will not be finding new homes in countries where gender transitioning is available, Uzbekistan’s ruling National Revival Party’s government is...

The U.S. elections were a wake-up call for the “woke,” yet even though the overall results spell danger, there are a number of queer bright spots to celebrate. With commentary by Andy Humm and Ann Northrop of GayUSA, our coverage includes homophobic Georgia gubernatorial candidate Mark Robinson, trans U.S. Congressmember-elect Sarah McBride (Delaware), lesbian Wisconsin Senator Tammy Baldwin, lesb...

While the world waits on pins and needles to find out who will win the grand prize in the U.S. elections, there are notable queer campaigns that link to the same themes and could be significant in the big picture, such as the marriage equality Proposition 3 in California, and the Sen. Tammy Baldwin reelection campaign in the all-important state of Wisconsin. The specter of the conservative manifes...

This “audio scrapbook” of the first national LGBT march and rally in the U.S. capital on October 14, 1979, produced by “This Way Out” Coordinating Producer Greg Gordon and Associate Producer Lucia Chappelle, illuminates the problems and the passion of the first demonstration of its kind. As rich with the music and culture of the period as it is with the politics, the hour traces the event from the...

There’s a reason why October is LGBTQ History Month. The community historically laid claim to it with a 1979 event in the U.S. capitol. Just ten years after Stonewall and long before the age of acronyms, the massive October 1979 march and rally for LGBTQ rights surpassed all expectations — for good and for ill. Excerpts from an hour-long radio documentary that you can stream at thiswayout.org. And...