[OutVoice] A trans-teen sings + Michigan bullies + global LGBT news

[This Way Out]

"THIS WAY OUT: the international lesbian & gay radio magazine"
  Program #1,233 - distributed 11/14/11
  Airs on more than 200 local stations around the world... or
  Listen now via our free podcasts at www.thiswayout.org or on iTunes.
  (hosted this week by Greg Gordon and produced with Lucia Chappelle)
  High school halls house slammin' trans-teen Ryan Cassata's journey;
  Michigan's Senate passes a "License to Bully" bill;
  Poland christens gay and trans lawmakers, a cornucopia of queer
  candidates win in U.S. elections, DOMA repeal gets its first green
  light, global petitioners challenge Ecuador's anti-lesbian "torture clinics", pair-bonded penguins are split up to propagate, and more news


- In "NewsWrap": Poland swears in its first gay and first transgender MPs, while a Democrat's win in an Iowa Senate race virtually guarantees the safety of marriage equality in the Hawkeye state... Traverse City, Michigan voters overwhelmingly uphold a local ordinance banning sexual orientation-based bias... dozens of "out" candidates win reelection and score several "firsts" in local off-year election victories across the U.S... the U.S. Senate takes it first step to repeal DOMA, the "Defense of Marriage Act"...a coalition of women's and human rights groups in Ecuador demand the closure of some 200 so-called "ex-gay" facilities that some escapees have called "torture clinics"... the man who confessed to brutally murdering Ugandan gay rights activist David Kato is sentenced to 30 years in prison... the "heart-breaking" forced separation by the Toronto Zoo of Buddy and Pedro, two "pair bonded" male African penguins, causes an international uproar... and more LGBT news from around the world (written by GREG GORDON, produced by STEVE PRIDE, and reported this week by RICK WATTS and MICHAEL LEBEAU).
  
- The year of U.S. Congressional paralysis since the Republicans gained the upper hand in the 2010 elections has been a year of appalling activity at the state level.  The GOP agenda has been a litany of anti-choice, anti-immigrant, anti-labor, anti-rights legislation -- and now the MICHIGAN Senate seems to be following suit with a queer twist on what it claims to be an anti-bullying bill. "This Way Out's" LUCIA CHAPPELLE has the story (with analysis by "Current TV's" DAVID SHUSTER and impassioned comments by Senate Democratic Minority Leader GRETCHEN WHITMER).
  
- Through his music and activism, transgender teen RYAN CASSATA has helped countless peers with information and support.  But more importantly – as "This Way Out" correspondent JD DOYLE tells us – Ryan gives them someone they can see, someone they can hear, and someone they can relate to (with excerpts from Cassata's "Distraction", "Trans Slam" and "Going West") [www.RyanCassata.com; www.QueerMusicHeritage.com].
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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 news magazine. 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" through our podcasts at thiswayout.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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