[OutVoice] Obama's DOMA drama + more global LGBT news + "The Art of Being Straight"

[tworadio at aol.com]

Airs on more than 175 local stations around the world... or
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"THIS WAY OUT: the international lesbian & gay radio magazine
Program #1,108 - distributed 6/22/09
(hosted this week by Greg Gordon and produced with Lucia Chappelle)
Obama's DOMA drama yields mini-benefits and lingering discontent;
Violent attacks follow Sao Paulo's mammoth Pride march, Pride empowers
politics in Rome, Warsaw, Zagreb, and the U.S., dismay over Lithuania's
"no promo homo" law, Filipino cross-dressers face lashings in Riyadh,
the Queen honors Alan Cumming with an O.B.E, plus more LGBT news;
and exploring diverse bisexualities in "The Art of Being Straight"

- In "NewsWrap":  U.S. President Barack Obama takes his first pro-lesbigay action since his inauguration by granting limited benefits to the same-gender partners of gay and lesbian federal workers... a bomb thrown into a popular gay nightclub area in Sao Paulo, Brazil injures 21 people following what may be the world's largest Pride celebration... police keep the peace between anti-gay thugs and Pride marchers in Warsaw and Zagreb, as an estimated 400,000 parade in West Hollywood, and a record Pride turn-out in Des Moines celebrates Iowa marriage equality... Lithuania's parliament passes a law banning any positive discussion of homosexuality in schools or in public information to which children are exposed... 67 gay Filipino workers in Saudi Arabia are charged with the Quran-violating "imitating women" following their arrests at a par
ty in Riyadh... openly gay actor Alan Cumming, cited for his activism as much as for his work as an entertainer, is rewarded with an O.B.E. in the Queen's Birthday Honors List... and more LGBT news from around the world  (written by GREG GORDON, and reported this week by MICHAEL LEBEAU and JOHN TORRES).

- U.S. PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA issued a memorandum on June 17th granting limited benefits to the partners of gay and lesbian federal employees (hear excerpts from his signing comments).  It couldn't have been a coincidence that Obama's action followed uproar by LGBT equality advocates late last week over the offensive language used in a Justice Department brief supporting the already odious Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA).  KAREN MILLER of Free Speech Radio News gathered some reaction to the presidential edict later that night (from federal worker and D.C. activist RICK ROSENDAHL, CARISA CUNNINGHAM of Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders, and KEVIN CATHCART of Lambda Legal).  Major U.S. news networks also reported extensively on the presidential action.  CNN's ANDERSON COOPER asked RICHARD SOCARIDES, a gay advisor to President Bill Clinton, if it was too little, too late, and MSNBC's RACHEL MADDOW discussed the future with openly lesbian WISCONSIN Congresswoman TAMMY BALDWIN.

- "THE ART OF BEING STRAIGHT" explores the too often strict boundaries of being gay or straight from the perspective of today's younger generation.  "This Way Out's" STEVE PRIDE sat down with writer/director/producer/star JESSE ROSEN 
to chat about his micro-budget comedy and Rosen’s own shifting place on the Kinsien scale  (with a clip from the film, and outro music -- though not in the movie -- from "Which Way Do You Go?"  by PAXTON).
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On the air since April 1988, "This Way Out" is the multi-award-winning internationally distributed weekly gay and lesbian radio newsmagazine.
The program currently airs on more than 175 local community radio stations around the world, via satellite in the U.S. on the Public Radio Satellite System and Pacifica's KU band, "Down Under" through distribution by the Community Broadcasting Association of Australia's ComRadSat, globally at www.radio4all.net, www.indymedia.org, and Pacifica's Audioport, and on audio CD from the producers.  Listeners can also hear "This Way Out"  on short wave via Costa Rica-based global station RFPI (Radio For Peace International/www.rfpi.org), across Europe, Africa/the Middle East, and Asia/Pacific regions on the World Radio Network (www.wrn.org), and on audio CD=2
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