Anti-LGBTQI hate crimes are on the rise in Australia. In New South Wales nearly 200 violent incidents have been reported since 2023, many involving men lured by gay dating apps (Michael Brown reports from Sydney). Plus: we announce the passing of This Way Out Co-founder and Coordinating Producer Greg Gordon.

Award-winning Egyptologist Dr. Colleen Darnell of National Geographic’s Lost Treasures of Egypt explores the queer lives, love, and identities of the Nile’s ancient civilizations (interviewed by Brian DeShazor).

Against a backdrop of violent anti-semitic and anti-indigenous attacks and the relaxation of police restraints in response to them, Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras organizers are faced with twin controversies: the withdrawal of the Jewish group Dayenu from the event and demands for the expulsion of the New South Wales Police contingent. Veteran activist Ken Davis explains the situation (Barry McKay reports).

Was Donald Trump’s personal antipathy towards Don Lemon the real reason behind the gay African American journalist’s arrest? Lemon made a surprise appearance at the Human Rights Campaign’s New York City gala, then spoke out for the First Amendment after his initial court appearance.

A 1963 conversation with one of the queer pillars of the Harlem Renaissance features Langston Hughes reading his short story, “Thank You, Ma’am” (interviewed by Eve Corey, produced by Brian DeShazor). Alice Walker’s birthday and notable LGBTQ February events are celebrated in the “Rainbow Rewind.”

An indigiqueer Creating Change keynoter calls for radical inclusion; the E.U.’s rights council urges all member states to ban conversion therapy, Russia declares ILGA “undesirable”, Budapest’s mayor is officially charged with criminally allowing last year’s LGBTQ Pride march, Missouri’s top court upholds the state’s ban on pediatric gender-affirming healthcare, and an expelled trans Space Force colonel announces her U.S. congressional run.

It didn’t take long after his historic 2011 appearance before the Iowa state legislature to testify about his two-mom family for 19-year-old Zach Wahls to take his place as a senator in that body. Now he’s running to represent Iowa in the U.S. Senate (produced by Greg Gordon, archival interview by Steve Pride).

Christopher Isherwood’s own stories of pre-War Berlin; remembering Renee Nicole Good; U.S. top court hears trans student sports ban cases, a new survey confirms pediatric transgender healthcare can be life-saving, Malaysian authorities shut down an empty “gay friendly” hotel, the latest Human Rights Campaign U.S. queer quality of life poll finds deterioration under Trump, and billionaire philanthropist MacKenzie Scott donates 45 million dollars to the queer youth crisis inter

Sophie B. Hawkins performs “Not Beating Around the Bush” (recording of her original song made exclusively for “This Way Out”) and reads an excerpt from “Mrs. Dalloway” by Virginia Woolf. SOPHIE B. HAWKINS is a U.S.-born singer-songwriter whose commercial success has been matched by her passionate advocacy for animal rights, and the equality of women and the queer community.