[OutVoice] UN protections+Maryland marriages+"Bully"+more!

[This Way Out]

 "THIS WAY OUT: the international lesbian & gay radio magazine"
Program #1,250 - distributed 03/12/12
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)
The UN Secretary-General blesses an anti-violence conference;
Maryland's Governor charts the future of marriage equality;
Ellen speaks from her "Bully" pulpit;
Diverse voices "Want To Know What It's Like" to be in a hate-free world;
Iraqi militia target LGBT youth for death, Roman Catholic anti-equality
crusades continue, and more LGBT news from around the world
  
  
- In "NewsWrap": Multiple sources report that as many as a hundred young people perceived to be LGBT have been brutally murdered by religious militia in Iraq during the last month, while the UK's "Pink News" reports that an inflammatory article in a popular newspaper in Syria claims that gays have been "prospering" from the uprising against the entrenched regime of President Bashar al-Assad, and Belarus strongman Alexander Lukashenko responds to comments by Germany's openly gay Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle that Lukashenko's government is the "last dictatorship in Europe" by saying that it's "better to be a dictator than gay"... Roman Catholic Pope Benedict XVI continues his crusade against marriage equality with visiting American bishops, while two senior Roman Catholic bishops in the UK tell parishioners that they have a "duty" to "ensure" that same-gender couples are never allowed to marry, while comments by Scotland's Roman Catholic Cardinal Keith O'Brien calling the idea of marriage equality "grotesque" are applauded by Zimbabwe's state-run "Herald" newspaper... and more LGBT news from around the world (written by GREG GORDON, produced by STEVE PRIDE, and reported this week by JACOB ANDERSON-MINSHALL and SARAH SWEENEY).
  
- A groundbreaking panel discussion this week at the UNITED NATIONS HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL in GENEVA addressed how to end violence and discrimination against LGBT people. Delegates from several Islamic states walked out in protest, but a video message from UN SECRETARY-GENERAL BAN KI-MOON opening the event included supportive words for LGBT people around the world.
  
- MARYLAND's Democratic GOVERNOR MARTIN O'MALLEY was a guest on MSNBC's "The Rachel Maddow Show" this week. He was proud that his state has opened civil marriage to lesbian and gay couples – even though a referendum on that right will likely be on the state ballot in November.
  
- KATY BUTLER, a bullied 17-year-old Ann Arbor, Michigan student, has spearheaded a change.org petition urging the Motion Picture Association of America to revise its rating of "BULLY", a documentary that addresses homophobic bullying, from "R", which bans anyone under the age of 17 from seeing it, to "PG-13", so that it can be shown in middle schools and high schools, where advocates say that it most needs to be seen. TV talk-show host ELLEN DEGENERES is among more than 225,000 people who've signed Katy's online petition, and she applauded the young activist on her program this week.
  
- Diverse young LGBT voices say "I WANT TO KNOW WHAT IT'S LIKE" (to live in a bigotry-free world of equality) in this audio track from the increasingly popular YouTube video produced by poet/filmmaker RYAN JAMES YEZAK.
****************************************************************
"This Way Out" is a U.S. tax-exempt 501(c)(3) charitable nonprofit under the corporate name of OVERNIGHT PRODUCTIONS (INC.), and is supported by a grant from the Yavanna Foundation and donations from our listeners.  Thank you!
=> Please log on to thiswayout.org to add your support [a tax-deductible charitable donation in the U.S.].  We really can't go on without you!
***********************************************
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 (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.
********** Thank you for $upporting "This Way Out"! **********