11/4/2012 This Way Out

Hosted by Greg Gordon and produced with Lucia Chappelle

"NewsWrap": Jamaican activists file suit at the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights demanding repeal of their island nation's sodomy laws; phone calls and text messages from persons unknown make death threats against two legal advocates for LGBT rights and their family members in Cameroon; New York's highest court rejects what may be the last legal challenge to the state's marriage equality law; the gay Log Cabin Republicans give Mitt Romney their "qualified" endorsement, even as the GOP presidential candidate reiterates his support for a federal constitutional amendment to define marriage as exclusively heterosexual, and the "Boston Globe" reports on his efforts as Massachusetts governor to thwart the legal recognition of lesbian and gay parents; President Barack Obama formally urges votes in favor of marriage equality on state ballot measures this November in Maine, Maryland and Washington; National Football League Baltimore Ravens linebacker Brendon Ayanbadejo's outspoken support for Maryland marriage equality draws a state lawmaker's letter demanding that the team owners silence him, prompting Minnesota Vikings punter CHRIS KLUWE to mock the lawmaker in an open letter and appear in a radio ad against the marriage equality-banning state constitutional amendment on the November ballot in his state [hear the ad]; and recently "out" Puerto Rican professional featherweight boxer Orlando Cruz wins his first fight as an openly gay man

Voters in the U.S. state of MINNESOTA are all but evenly split on AMENDMENT 1, a measure on the November 6th ballot to constitutionally ban civil marriage for same-gender couples. Faith communities are playing a significant role in the campaign, so correspondent DIXIE TREICHEL [from "Fresh Fruit" on KFAI-FM in Minneapolis-St. Paul] sought the counsel of REV. REBECCA VOELKEL, who, as Program Director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force's Institute for Welcoming Resources, is more than qualified to discuss the subject  [www.WelcomingResources.org; www.mnunited.org]

KATIE COOK and MAGGIE YOUNG quit their jobs to spend a year as SAPPHIC NOMADS traveling the globe in search of LGBT people... and material for a documentary film. They've promised to send “This Way Out” audio postcards from the road – and here's their first, as they meet two advocates for sexual minorities in INDEPENDENT SAMOA [http://sapphicnomads.com/]

October 22nd was a grand night at WASHINGTON, DC's John F. Kennedy Center, when some very funny folks gathered to honor ELLEN DEGENERES as the 15th recipient of the annual MARK TWAIN PRIZE FOR AMERICAN HUMOR. "Metro Weekly" editor-in-chief RANDY SHULMAN spoke with some friends of the pioneering entertainer on the red carpet