Every month at AKBAR, a small neighborhood LGBTQ+ bar on the east side of Los Angeles, queer artists of all kinds find a place to play in a unique cabaret. Executive Director Travis Wood, Creative Director Ian McKinnon, and performers Lore Randolph (aka Fleur The Tease) and Ari (aka Odious Ari) celebrate 13 years of Planet Queer — with a nod to the late playwright Robert Patrick (produced by Brian DeShazor).

Fighting for LGBTQ+ rights in the Caribbean has been difficult, but the winds of progress are blowing strong in Saint Lucia. ECADE, the Eastern Caribbean Alliance for Diversity and Equality, just won its fourth court victory since 2022 over long prison sentences for same-sex intimacy. Executive Director Kenita Placide talks about the legal tempest sweeping across the islands (interviewed by David Hunt).

In more than three decades as a proud transgender activist, Jamison Green has moved from making history to writing it as one of the authors and editors of a new book, “A History of Transgender Medicine in the United States, From Margins to Mainstream” — an important contribution to the discussion during these times of growing intolerance (interviewed by David Hunt).

PEN America (see last week’s This Way Out) teams up with queer Los Angeles writers for readings from some of the most targeted works threatened by the rise in book bans (correspondent /participant Jason Jenn interviews organizer Hank Henderson and author Abdi Nazemian).

Just how far is it from book bans to bonfires? PEN America’s Los Angeles Director Allison Lee tracks the alarming censorship trend across the U.S. and how to stand up against it (interviewed by Jason Jenn).

While Harvard University faces off with the Trump administration over its diversity, equity and inclusion programs, director Diego Garcia Blum of its John F. Kennedy School of Government Carr-Ryan Center for Human Rights Global LGBTQI+ Human Rights Program counts its first year accomplishments (interviewed by David Hunt).

On the eve of the U.N. Human Rights Council’s vote on whether to renew the Independent Expert on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity, Fabiana Leibl of the International Service for Human Rights, trans activist Best Chitsangupong, Carr-Ryan Center for Human Rights senior fellow Jessica Stern; and scholar-activist Ignacio Saiz discuss the significance of the position and its chances of passage (interviewed by David Hunt).

During this terrible time of queer and trans erasure, finding a moment to laugh can be another form of protest - especially when the source of the laughter is from an all trans male comedy troupe called Big Dad Energy. The ringmaster behind the group is actor/astrologer/comedian Marval A Rex, whose conversation about its origins after their recent West Hollywood Pride performance at the Los Angeles LGBT Center’s Renberg Theater takes a surprising “star turn” (interviewed by J

The U.S. Supreme Court upheld Tennessee’s ban on pediatric gender affirming health care with a decision that lowered the bar for establishing its constitutionality and that imperils the rights of young trans patients in the 20 other states with similar laws — all despite the opposition of every major U.S. medical association. Brad Sears, Distinguished Senior Scholar of the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law, unpacks the ruling (interviewed by David Hunt).

In the aftermath of the Elon Musk chainsaw gutting the United States Agency for International Development, LGBTQ+ people around the world were robbed of more than a hundred programs geared to promote their health, safety and human rights. UCLA Law School’s Williams Institute senior fellow and director of international programs Ari Shaw worries that the days of U.S. leadership on global queer rights are over (interviewed by David Hunt).

The U.S. Navy launched a fleet replenishment oiler in honor of assassinated San Francisco Supervisor and Navy vet Harvey Milk in 2021, but a new administration finds the gay icon not “reflective of the Commander-in-Chief's priorities” (produced by Lucia Chappelle).

The rich history of LGBTQ+ eateries and the role they’ve played in encouraging community is served up by Erik Piepenburg in his new book, “Dining Out: First Dates, Defiant Nights and Last Call Disco Fries at America’s Gay Restaurants” (interviewed by David Hunt).

As Trump-phobia stokes concert homophobia across the U.S. during Pride season, RuPaul's Drag Race favorite Thorgy Thor weaves classical music into her unique performance style (interviewed by Brian DeShazor).

The Texas state House held a hearing on a bill that LGBTQ+ activists say would undermine education by eliminating diversity, equity and inclusion policies from public schools. State Representative Ron Reynolds, Equality Texas Communications Director Johnathan Gooch, Mandy Garcia of Texas AFT and a representative of Students Engaged in Advancing Texas (SEAT) have a plan of action (reported by Lucia Chappelle).

This Way Out’s own collection of programs dating back to 1988 is already becoming a valuable tool for LGBTQ+ researchers and educators, even as the extensive process of data sorting and cataloging is getting underway. Project lead and Overnight Productions (Inc,) CEO Brian DeShazor discusses the next steps and the importance of preserving original materials with University of North Texas queer media professor Dr. Tanya D. Zuk.

Classic appearances by two giants in the world of poetry regardless of gender or orientation, reading from their work and responding to their audience, brought together by the magic of recording tape (!) and the courtesy of the Pacifica Radio Archives (produced by Brian DeShazor).

Oppressive governments like the Trump administration may try to erase queer identities and histories, but California Naturalist and educator Jason “Journeyman” Wise reveals how science is recognizing that the rigid, patriarchal, binary view of the natural world is no match for the true fluid, diverse and interdependent reality (interviewed by Jason Jenn).

Decades of LGBTQ+ organizing in Australia are captured in the memoir of Peter De Waal, and the spirit of his book launching at the site of the early movement’s first meetings is captured by Sydney correspondent Barry McKay.

Biracial, binational, queer human right activist Jason Jones began his lawsuit against Trinidad and Tobago’s British colonial ban on same-gender sex in 2017. It was struck down in 2018, but an appeals court recently overturned that ruling and reinstated the law. Jones has one more chance to appeal that decision (interviewed by David Hunt).

Executive Director Angela Thorpe Mason of the Pauli Murray Center for History and Social Justice in Durham, North Carolina...