12/16/2012 This Way Out

Program #1,289

Hosted by Greg Gordon and produced with Lucia Chappelle

"NewsWrap": Mexico's Supreme Court overturns a law in the state of Oaxaca that defined marriage as exclusively heterosexual, while the U.S. Supreme Court agrees to review both California's marriage equality-banning Proposition 8 and one of several eligible cases challenging the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA); a county judge rejects a request by church groups and a rightwing "family" group to intervene in a lawsuit challenging Illinois' ban on civil marriage for lesbian and gay couples, while a longtime lesbian couple becomes the first to get a marriage license in the state of Washington at the stroke of midnight on December 6th, the first hour that they became available to same-gender couples, and Portland plans to be the first city in Maine to issue licenses to and perform weddings of gay and lesbian couples when that state's marriage equality law takes effect at midnight on December 29th; a lesbian West Point graduate marries her longtime partner in the U.S. Military Academy's iconic Cadet Chapel, becoming the first same-gender couple to wed there since the repeal of "Don't Ask Don't Tell" and the advent of marriage equality in the state of New York, while a gay male couple becomes the first to have their wedding celebrated in the pages of "Jet", the venerable biweekly magazine aimed primarily at African-American readers; a family court judge in Israel approves the first divorce of a Canadian-married gay couple whose legal union had been recognized by order of Israel's High Court of Justice; and the iconic Hikaru Sulu beams down to the mythical comic book town of Riverdale ["Oh my!"] (written by GREG GORDON, produced by STEVE PRIDE, and reported this week by WENZEL JONES and CAROLE MEYERS) 

The U.S. SUPREME COURT dominated the news on December 6th with the announcement that it would hear two cases dealing with marriage rights: California's marriage equality-banning Proposition 8, and one of several cases challenging the constitutionality of DOMA, the Defense of Marriage Act -- that's the 1996 law that denies legally-married lesbian and gay couples more than a thousand federal rights and benefits of civil marriage. PACIFICA RADIO'S CALIFORNIA EVENING NEWS recapped the day that night (anchored by MARK MERICLE and ROSE KETABCHI, with reports by CHRISTOPHER MARTINEZ and DAN FRITZ featuring comments by California Attorney General KAMALA HARRIS, titular Prop 8 plaintiff KRIS PERRY, Marriage Equality USA Legal Director JOHN LEWIS, former San Francisco Supervisor CHRISTINA OLAGUE, and L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center Chief of Staff DARREL CUMMINGS; plus segment intro music from "You Can't Hurry Love" by the DIXIE CHICKS) [9:37]; we pause for a brief word from "Gandalf the Gay" IAN McKELLEN, from his recent appearance on Comedy Central’s "The Colbert Report", followed by Sir Ian’s "TWO" I.D. [:39]; U.S. commentators were still buzzing about the Supreme Court marriage announcement that evening. On MSNBC’s "The Rachel Maddow Show", guest host Ezra Klein decided that he needed to see an attorney: KENJI YOSHINO, the Chief Justice Earl Warren Professor of Constitutional Law at the N.Y.U. School of Law [www.kpfa.org; www.msnbc.com]