2025 Queer Year in Review Part Two

2025 Queer Year in Review Part Two

Author: Overnight Productions, Inc. December 30, 2025 Duration: 28:59
We continue our review of some of the news and feature stories on This Way Out during the past 12 months, including trans lawmakers defending drag and their own dignity, celebrating a venerated Aussie activist, challenging anti-queer laws in the Caribbean, marching for gender rights in the U.K., greeting a drag virtuoso violist, analyzing a major setback at the U.S. Supreme Court, and reviewing the upcoming season at what used to be the The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Those stories and more this week, when you discover “This Way Out.” [NOTE: “NewsWrap” and the “Rainbow Rewind” segments return on our week of 12 January 2026 Hosted this week by Brian DeShazor and produced by Lucia Chappelle and Greg Gordon. The 2025 Queer News and Features in Review feature was produced by Greg Gordon, with archival news and features reporters David Hunt, Melanie Keller, Tanya Kane-Parry, Michael LeBeau, Barry McKay, John Dyer V, Brian DeShazor, and Ava Davis. Theme music: Kim Wilson. Additional music: the Sydney Gay & Lesbian Choir, No Greater Time Collective, Thorgy Thor, Eric Borchard, and from “Camelot”, “Mrs. Doubtfire: The Musical”, and “Chicago”. In our 38th year satisfying your weekly minimum requirement of LGBTQ news and culture! Now more than ever, your financial support of our U.S. 501(c)(3) charitable nonprofit will help keep us in ears around the world! (and we’ll acknowledge your 3-figures-or-more gift on the air if you wish.)

For more than three decades, This Way Out: The International LGBTQ Radio Magazine has been a vital, award-winning voice broadcast from community stations across the globe. Produced by Overnight Productions, Inc., this weekly program functions as a true radio magazine, weaving together urgent dispatches from the front lines of queer life with deep explorations of our culture and creativity. Every episode opens with a concise international news roundup, providing context on the political and social developments affecting LGBTQ communities everywhere. The conversation then expands into thoughtful features and interviews that delve into the arts, performing, and the intersections of identity and society. On a monthly basis, the Audiofile segment turns up the volume, offering a curated listen to the vibrant and evolving lesbigay and trans music scene. Tuning into this podcast means connecting with a long-standing, trusted source that documents both the struggles and the celebrations, always with an ear for the stories that might not make the mainstream headlines. It’s a consistently engaging mix of journalism and cultural reflection, all delivered with the warmth and clarity of a public radio staple.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 50

This Way Out: The International LGBTQ Radio Magazine
Podcast Episodes
Proud Voices: GetLit Poets Part #2 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 28:57
This week on This Way Out: in the second installment of our special Pride Month collaboration with Los Angeles' Get Lit – Words Ignite, young poets respond to the voices of James Baldwin and Urvashi Vaid with original sp…
Proud Voices: GetLit Poets #1 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 28:59
In a special Pride Month feature produced by Brian DeShazor, young poets from Los Angeles-based Get Lit – Words Ignite respond to the words of LGBTQ trailblazers across generations. After listening to archival recordings…
Proud Voices: Steps to Liberation [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 28:57
This Way Out celebrates Pride Month with a special look at the power of visibility, community, and resistance. Then, This Way Out visits Los Angeles' historic Founders Metropolitan Community Church for the unveiling of t…
Proud Voices: Prelude to Pride [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 28:59
Our Pride Season series starts with samples from our upcoming month of specials, with Los Angeles Poet Laureate Brian Sonia-Wallace and series producers Emma Shulman and Abigail DeRoberts. A Rainbow Rewind features June…
Barney Frank: a Frank Farewell [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 28:57
Was Barney Frank a political hero, a lightning rod—or both? Following the death of the trailblazing gay former Congressmember on May 19, Lucia Chappelle explores the triumphs, tensions, and contradictions behind one of t…
The Global Rise of Anti-LGBTQ Laws (Part Three) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 28:57
Ebony Joseph concludes her three-part series on the global rise of anti-LGBTQ laws with a report from activists in Nigeria and Kenya confronting criminalization, censorship, and severe funding cuts. Organizers describe h…
The Global Rise of Anti-LGBTQ Laws (Part Two) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 28:58
In part two of her series on the global rise of anti-LGBTQ laws, This Way Out’s Ebony Joseph explores how criminalization and political hostility are creating a growing public health crisis for queer communities worldwid…
The Global Rise of Anti-LGBTQ Laws (Part One) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 28:58
In part one of a two-part series, This Way Out’s Ebony Joseph examines a growing global wave of anti-LGBTQ legislation—from Africa to Eastern Europe and Central Asia—where governments are increasingly criminalizing queer…
Zachary James Out on Stage [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 28:58
This Way Out’s Brian DeShazor talks with Out Opera and Broadway actor Zachary James about his roles in Philip Glass’ Akhnaten, Broadway, and being out on stage. In addition to his current role as Amenhotep III in the Oli…
Echoes of Queer Poetry [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 28:58
National Poetry Month revisits the 1979 March on Washington with poetry from the rally stage recited by Allen Ginsberg, Paula Gunn Allen, and Audre Lorde. Audre Lorde also reads a poem to close the program from 1980 reco…