THIS WAY OUT: A Queer History of 2025 - Part 2
This Way Out/Greg Gordon
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THIS WAY OUT:
the international LGBTQ radio magazine
Program #1970 distributed 29 December 2025
(Hosted this week by Brian DeShazor and produced by Lucia Chappelle and Greg Gordon)
We continue our review of some of the news and feature stories on This Way Out during the past year,
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 violinist, analyzing a major setback at the U.S. Supreme Court, and reviewing
the upcoming season at what used to be the The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
NOTE:
“NewsWrap” and the “Rainbow Rewind” segments return on our week of 12 January 2026 program.
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Feature: This Way Out’s Queer History of 2025 - Part 2: (10 March) In NewsWrap: DONALD TRUMP insults the nation of LESOTHO in his rambling and lie-filled State of the Union Address, and the Southern African country’s leading LGBTQ advocacy organization disputes Trump’s claim that any such group received 8 million dollars in foreign aid from the U.S.[with Trump audio]; in his longest-in-history SOTU speech, Trump also rails against non-existent “transgender mice” and “woke” efforts at diversity, equity and inclusion [more Trump audio] (reported by DAVID HUNT & MELANIE KELLER); (17 March) In NewsWrap: transgender member of the MONTANA state House ZOOEY ZEPHYR eloquently defends drag and helps defeat a bill to outlaw such performances [with excerpts from her remarks during debate of the bill]; and the first and only openly transgender member of the U.S. Congress, DELAWARE Democrat SARAH McBRIDE, snaps back at an insulting recognition of her by Republican committee Chair KEITH SELF of TEXAS, who is then raked over the coals by Democrat and ranking committee member BILL KEATING of MASSACHUSETTS, all leading to an abrupt adjournment of the committee hearing [with audio of the brouhaha] (reported by TANYA KANE-PARRY & MICHAEL LEBEAU); (21 April) Survivors of the generation that started the LGBTQ+ movement in Australia are like gold, and mining the life story of PETER DE WAAL is a rich pursuit. Born in the Netherlands, De Waal in the early 1970s was a founding member of the Sydney organization Campaign Against Moral Persecution, or CAMP. He was there for Australia’s Stonewall at the first Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras and was still on the frontlines for the marriage equality struggle. “This Way Out’s” BARRY McKAY joined the throng for the March 24th launch of “It Wasn’t Dutch Courage”, De Waal’s amazing memoir, held at Balmain Town Hall — home of the first CAMP events.(with intro music by the SYDNEY GAY & LESBIAN CHOIR); (14 April) The Caribbean Republic of TRINIDAD & TOBAGO is stuck in a time warp. Its 16th century British colonial-era ban on same-gender intimacy was struck down in 2018, only to be reinstated by an appeals court just a few weeks ago. However, it’s not the end of the fight for the rights of Trinidad and Tobago’s 100,000 LGBTQ+ citizens. “This Way Out’s” DAVID HUNT met with JASON JONES, the activist who has led the way as he pushes for the next — and final — round of legal challenges.(with intro music by the NO GREATER TIME COLLECTIVE); (28 April) In “NewsWrap”: Hundreds of thousands flood the streets of London, Edinburgh, Cardiff, and several other U.K. cities in angry protest of the Supreme Court’s “trans women are not always legally women” ruling [with brief on-scene audio from the LONDON demonstration] (reported by TANYA KANE-PARRY); with a :43 “back after this” and dropped-in weekly promo [with a music bed from the musical “Camelot”] and re-intro starting at about 15:28 into this program; then: (12 May) In NewsWrap: The U.S. Supreme Court allows Trump’s ban on military service by transgender enlistees to resume even while the constitutionality of the ban continues to be litigated in lower courts (with comments by Army SECOND LIEUTENANT NIC TALBOT and Space Force COLONEL BREE FRAM]; and MAINE’s Democratic GOVERNOR JANET MILLS “saw” DONALD TRUMP in court over his threat to freeze funding for school lunches for the state’s students if Maine didn’t stop defending trans female athletes [with audio from a mid-February confrontation between the president and the governor and the governor’s May 9th announcement about who won the court battle] (reported by JOHN DYER V and TANYA KANE-PARRY); (26 May) (intro’d by show host LUCIA CHAPPELLE:) Pride Month is upon us, and fear of the Trump administration has led to many venues canceling LGBTQ+ concerts around the U.S. Drag performances and anything even vaguely associated with diversity, equity and inclusion are the prime targets for censorship. That’s what makes a Los Angeles event featuring “RuPaul's Drag Race” favorite THORGY THOR special … and “This Way Out’s” BRIAN DeSHAZOR knows it’s special for an even more intriguing reason (with intro music from “West Side Story’s” “Somewhere” performed by THORGY THOR); (23 June) Transgender people got another legal gut punch when the U.S. SUPREME COURT upheld TENNESSEE’s ban on pediatric gender affirming health care. The conservative majority handed down its 6 to 3 ruling on June 18th. Their decision lowered the bar for establishing the constitutionality of Tennessee’s ban, and that imperils the rights of young trans patients in the 20 other states with similar laws — all despite the opposition of every major U.S. medical association. The Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law conducts independent research on sexual orientation and gender identity law and public policy. Its founding director BRAD SEARS sat down with “This Way Out’s” DAVID HUNT to unpack the Supreme Court ruling (with intro music by ÉRIC BORCHARD); and (2 June) In NewsWrap: Despite President Donald Trump’s “war on drag shows” take-over of the Board of Directors of Washington, D.C.’s venerable Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, shows announced for the 2025-2026 season include “Mrs. Doubtfire: The Musical”, “Chicago”, “Moulin Rouge” and “Spamalot!” —all with notable female characters played by men in drag (with a brief excerpt from “MRS. DOUBTFIRE: THE MUSICAL”] (reported by AVA DAVIS) [with feature intro music from “RENT’s” “Seasons of Love”; and outro music from the musical “Chicago”).
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Since April 1988, "This Way Out" is the multi-award-winning internationally distributed weekly LGBTQ radio newsmagazine and free podcast.
The program currently airs on some 200 local community broadcast radio stations and grassroots online outlets around the world, along with carriage in Asia/The Pacific, Europe, Africa/The Middle East and other regions of the globe on the World Radio Network (www.wrn.org); on SoundCloud, iTunes, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts; and on postal-mailed audio CDs by subscription.
For lots of other information about "This Way Out" visit ThisWayOut.org, or postal mail P.O. Box 1065, Los Angeles, CA 90078, USA. You can also email us at in...@thiswayout.org.