[OutVoice] Russian Alekseev + Minnesotan Simon + global LGBT news

[This Way Out]

 "THIS WAY OUT: the international lesbian & gay radio magazine"
Program #1,206 - distributed 5/9/11
Airs on more than 200 local stations around the world... or
Listen now via our free podcasts at
http://www.thiswayout.org
(hosted by Lucia Chappelle and produced with Greg Gordon)
Rabble-rousing Russian Nikolai Alekseev recounts EuroCourt crusades;
The gospel according to Minnesota State Representative Steve Simon;
Brazil's top court finds civil unions a must, voters will have the
final say on Liechtenstein's partnerships law, the U.S. Attorney
General takes on two DOMA-dependent immigration cases, South Africa
launches a task force to combat "corrective rape," and more LGBT news

- In "NewsWrap": Brazil's Federal Supreme Court orders marriage-equivalent civil unions for same-gender couples, while Liechtenstein voters will determine the fate of the recently-enacted-by-Parliament registered partnership law after opponents successfully put the issue on the ballot... a Venezuelan gay man who legally married his American partner last year is temporarily spared deportation after the U.S. Attorney General appears to suggest, in a similar case involving a legally-united bi-national couple, that the Defense of Marriage Act, which bans federal recognition of same-gender unions, should be disregarded... a 13-year-old girl who is open about her lesbian orientation is the latest reported victim of so-called "corrective rape" in South Africa, while the government finally begins to address that escalating problem... a former soldier is arrested in Sydney for creating a Facebook page that threatened and harassed dozens of suspected gay members of the Australian Defence Force, while the country's Human Rights Commission recommends the enactment of federal legislation to outlaw discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity... and more LGBT news from around the world (written by GREG GORDON, produced by STEVE PRIDE, and reported this week by JOHN TORRES and ROBERT LEBLANC).

- You can probably expect the Republican-controlled MINNESOTA state legislature to approve a constitutional amendment ballot measure banning same-gender marriage, just as the Republican-dominated House Civil Law Committee passed the bill along party lines this week. What the winning side did not reckon on was the viral internet power of a speech by Democratic REPRESENTATIVE STEVE SIMON, who used the religious right's reasoning against it to argue for marriage equality.

- We're still waiting to hear whether MOSCOW activists will attempt to hold a Pride March on May 28th. Pride organizers first announced last week that the city had dropped its opposition after the European Court of Human Rights ruled that its bans on previous marches had violated E.U. freedom of assembly provisions. However Moscow officials said they were still "studying" the situation. Whatever happens next, the world will be looking to NIKOLAI ALEKSEEV for the latest developments. Alekseev explains the Russian LGBT movement's Pride strategy, and recounts his September kidnapping by what were presumably government agents, in the second of a wide-ranging four-part interview with "This Way Out's" STEVE PRIDE when the activist visited the U.S. recently (with thanks for production assistance to RICK WATTS).
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"This Way Out" is a U.S. tax-exempt 501(c)(3) charitable nonprofit under the corporate name of OVERNIGHT PRODUCTIONS (INC.), and is also supported in part by a grant from THE KICKING ASSETS FUND OF THE TIDES FOUNDATION.
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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 200 local community radio stations around the world, globally distributed at www.radio4all.net, www.indymedia.org, to Pacifica Radio station affiliates in North America, and "Down Under" through distribution by the Community Broadcasting Association of Australia.  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 by individual subscription.For lots of other information about "This Way Out" please visit www.thiswayout.org, email TWOradio at aol.com, or write to P.O. Box 38327, Los Angeles, CA 90038-0327.
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