10/8/2012 This Way Out

Program #1279

Hosted by Greg Gordon and produced with Lucia Chappelle

"NewsWrap": Tasmania's Legislative Assembly defeats a bill that would have made the island state the first in Australia to open civil marriage to lesbian and gay couples; Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano confirms a change in American immigration policy to define long-term bi-national same gender couples living in the U.S. as families and therefore "low priorities" for deportation proceedings; a U.S. federal appeals court considers "judicial scrutiny" as 83-year-old lesbian widow Edith Windsor challenges DOMA's constitutionality; and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Roman Catholic Pope Benedict XVI, the Vatican's U.N. observer Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, and St. Petersburg, Russia lawmaker Vitaly Milonov each make sad but predictable pronouncements about "the gay" (written by GREG GORDON, with thanks to REX WOCKNER, produced by STEVE PRIDE, and reported this week by ABBY DEES & RICK WATTS.

When troubling political times meet enduring musical talent, surprising things can happen -- although no one should really be surprised that NONA HENDRYX is back with a new album, even though it's been 20 years since her last. The lesbian singer-songwriter and founding member of Patti LaBelle and the Bluebelles was a recent guest on Resonance-FM's "Out in South London" with ROSIE WILBY to talk about the changing times and musical styles she's been a part of -- including her latest.