4/1/2012 This Way Out

Program #1,252

Hosted this week by Greg Gordon and produced with Lucia Chappelle

"NewsWrap": After her 8-year legal struggle, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights awards custody of her 3 children to Chilean lesbian judge Karen Atala, but the European Court of Human Rights upholds French court rulings that denied a lesbian the right to become the legal co-parent of her long-time partner's daughter, and also decides that the European Convention on Human Rights does not require member states to offer civil marriage to same-gender couples, while Italy's Supreme Court rules that same-gender couples have the "right to a family life", but that a gay couple who legally wed in The Netherlands cannot be recognized as married in Italy; New Hampshire lawmakers soundly defeat an effort to repeal the U.S. state's 2-year-old marriage equality law, while a bill to constitutionally ban civil marriage for lesbian & gay couples is killed in the Pennsylvania legislature; U.S. President Barack Obama and North Carolina Governor Beverly Perdue each announce their opposition to Amendment 1, a May 8th state ballot measure to constitutionally ban same-gender unions, and Minnesotan Walter Mondale, former Vice President and 1984 Democratic presidential candidate, speaks out against a similar constitutional amendment to be voted on in his state this November, while former President Jimmy Carter endorses civil marriage equality, echoing a previous announcement by former President Bill Clinton; Utah Governor Gary Herbert unexpectedly vetoes a bill that would have banned any discussion of sexual orientation or contraception in the state's public schools; and Omar Sharif, Jr., the grandson of the famed Egyptian actor, worries about his native country's political future since the so-called "Arab Spring" and comes out as a half-Jewish gay man in the April issue of "The Advocate" (written by GREG GORDON with thanks to REX WOCKNER, produced by STEVE PRIDE, and reported this week by CHRISTOPHER GAAL and NATALIE PEOPLES)

Anoka-Hennepin is the largest school district in the U.S. state of MINNESOTA, and is infamous for its inability to deal with homophobic bullying -- but that may have all changed this week. On March 19th the district settled a federal lawsuit with an agreement that includes a program for the prevention of sexual orientation-based harassment that could become a national model. The new plan was inspired by a joint investigation by the U.S. Departments of Justice and Education, and will replace the district's unusual "neutrality" policy. Lawsuit plaintiffs complained that "neutral" school staff members felt unable to intervene in anti-LGBT bullying situations. JEFFERSON FIETEK, a gay man who is both a teacher and a parent in the Anoka-Hennepin School District, celebrated the settlement with "This Way Out" correspondent DIXIE TREICHEL (from "Fresh Fruit" on KFAI-FM in Minneapolis-St. Paul) [www.jeffersonfietek.com]

The Nazi destruction of trailblazing German activist Magnus Hirschfeld's priceless collection of gay literature is recounted as the "Burning of History" in this "RAINBOW MINUTE" (produced by JUDD PROCTOR & BRIAN BURNS at WRIR-FM in Richmond, Virginia and read by TOM MILLER)

Standing in the shadows behind UGANDA's notorious and deadly "Anti-Homosexuality Bill" is a mysterious cadre of evangelical Christian preachers from the U.S. Ugandan activists are trying to pull the curtain back on those rightwing foreign networks with a lawsuit against one of their leaders, "Pink Swastika" author SCOTT LIVELY. His missionary visits to Uganda helped fuel the homophobia that led to what's been called the "kill the gays" bill now in the country's parliament, as well as anti-LGBT violence like the murder of activist David Kato last year. On March 14th the New York City-based CENTER FOR CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS took it back to where Lively lives, in Springfield, Massachusetts, and is suing him there on behalf of SEXUAL MINORITIES UGANDA. The case cites the Alien Tort Statute, a law that allows foreign nationals to pursue legal action in U.S. courts for international human rights abuses. Center for Constitutional Rights staff attorney PAM SPEES believes it’s the first such case under that statue to focus on the persecution of LGBT people. She discussed the lawsuit with DORIAN MERINA on "Free Speech Radio News" [www.fsrn.org]