The first major confrontation between queer and conservative powerhouses in the U.S. launched the country’s first official LGBTQ political action committee, the Municipal Elections Committee of Los Angeles. This Way Out’s David Hunt looks for strategy lessons from the early days of “checkbook activism” (Part 1 of 2).
And in NewsWrap: U.S. President Donald Trump bans trans girls and women from competing in female sports at federally funded schools and universities, the National Collegiate Athletic Association announces that it will comply with the executive ordered trans sports ban, all references to transgender people are disappearing from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website, the Trump regime has ordered all federal employees to remove the pronouns from their email signatures, seven families with transgender or nonbinary children are the plaintiffs in a lawsuit challenging the executive order ban on gender affirming healthcare for patients younger than 19, quite a few openly LGBTQ performers and several outspoken allies took home trophies at the 67th annual Grammy Awards, and more international LGBTQ+ news reported this week by Ava Davis and John Dyer V (produced by Brian DeShazor).
All this on the February 10, 2025 edition of This Way Out!
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Complete Program Summary
for the week of February 10, 2025
The Rise and Fall of MECLA (Pt. 1)
NewsWrap (full transcript below):U.S. President Donald Trump’s latest anti-queer executive order bans transgender girls and women from competing in female school sports in all federally-funded secondary schools, colleges and universities [with brief comments from his signing ceremony] … the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) bows to Trump’s order despite acknowledging less than a dozen college athletes out of more than 510,000 have been trans … the U.S. Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention (CDC) removes all trans-related content from its website, including vital trans-specific HIV/AIDS information … the Trump administration orders all federal employees to remove pronouns from their email signatures, threatening up to termination for non-compliance … Lambda Legal, the ACLU and P-FLAG sue the Trump administration over what the lawsuit charges is its unconstitutional ban on gender-affirming healthcare for trans patients under the age of 19 … proudly out lesbian “Best New Artist” Chappell Roan and award-winning allies Alicia Keys and Lady Gaga offer strong words of support for transgender Americans at February 2nd’s 67h annual Grammy Awards [with brief comments by each of them] (written by GREG GORDON and LUCIA CHAPPELLE, produced by BRIAN DeSHAZOR, reported this week by JOHN DYER V and AVA DAVIS).
Feature: Demonizing LGBTQ people for political gain is nothing new. The first major confrontation between queer and conservative powerhouses in the U.S. was four decades ago — the aggressive culture war launched by pop singer Anita Bryant and televangelist Jerry Falwell’s Moral Majority. There are lessons in strategy to learn from those difficult days. In addition to the street activism of the 70s, “checkbook activism” became “a thing,” and the country’s first official LGBTQ political action committee was born. This Way Out’s David Hunt tells the story of the Municipal Elections Committee of Los Angeles’ rise to prominence (with brief intro music by ALICE COOPER, and additional music by ITAY KASHTI).
NewsWrap
A summary of some of the news in or affecting
global LGBTQ communities
for the week ending February 8th, 2025
Written by Greg Gordon and Lucia Chappelle,
reported this week by JOHN DYER V and AVA DAVIS,
produced by Brian DeShazor
[SOUND: Donald Trump]
With this Executive Order the war on women’s sports is over [applause] so this will effectively end the attack on female athletes at public K-12 schools, and virtually all U.S. colleges and universities.
U.S. President Donald Trump is banning trans girls and women from competing in female sports at federally funded schools and universities. It’s the latest blistering executive order targeting transgender people.
Trump rambled on in a 30-minute February 5th pre-signing speech littered with several lies and inflammatory claims. He falsely claimed that trans athletes had won “more than 3,500 victories,” and “invaded more than 11 thousand competitions.” He perpetuated the lie that "men are beating up, injuring, and cheating our women and our girls."
The order is officially titled “No Men in Women’s Sports,” and it was the president’s so-called celebration of National Girls and Women in Sports Day. The ceremonial photo op featured dozens of girls and young women surrounding the adjudicated rapist as he signed the order.
Executive Orders are not law, but they are specific directives issued by the president to all federal agencies. Every one of Trump’s anti-queer executive orders will almost certainly be challenged in court.
The impact of the “No Men in Women’s Sports” Executive Order is already being felt, however. Within hours of Trump’s signing it, the National Collegiate Athletic Association announced that it would comply. NCAA President Charlie Baker said in a press statement, “We strongly believe that clear, consistent, and uniform eligibility standards would best serve today's student-athletes instead of a patchwork of conflicting state laws and court decisions. To that end, President Trump’s order provides a clear, national standard.” Baker recently testified before a U.S. Senate panel that fewer than 10 transgender athletes among some 510,000 competitors currently participate in NCAA sports.
The move prompted one member of the NCAA’s Committee on Competitive Safeguards and Medical Aspects of Sports to resign. Dr. Jack Turban told Baker in an open letter that the decision to bow to Trump “does not align with [medical] or scientific consensus. I cannot in good conscience participate in this kind of politicization of science and medicine at the expense of some of our most vulnerable student-athletes.”
All references to transgender people are disappearing from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website – further fallout from Trump’s executive orders that all federal agencies stop “promoting gender ideology.” Trans-specific information about HIV testing is gone. In fact, most educational HIV/AIDS information has vanished from the site. A banner explaining that the CDC website is “being modified to comply with President Trump’s Executive Orders” is now displayed.
The critical order is called “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government.” It restricts the definition of gender to the binary male or female. Researchers at the nation’s Atlanta, Georgia-based
CDC have also been instructed to cleanse a list of specific phrases from their work product before any publication: “gender, transgender, pregnant person, pregnant people, LGBT, transsexual, non-binary, assigned male at birth, assigned female at birth, [and] biologically male, biologically female.”
In the words of GLAAD’s Sarah Kate Ellis, Trump “is clearly committed to censorship of any information containing or related to LGBTQ Americans and issues that we face.” The queer advocacy group’s president said that his “pathetic attempt to diminish and remove us will again prove unsuccessful.”
It’s even come down to the email signatures of federal employees! Following the slew of presidential executive orders targeting transgender people, the Trump regime has ordered all federal employees to remove the pronouns from their email signatures. It’s also part of the plan to restrict or eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion programs and policies from every federal government agency. Employees are being warned that violating Trump’s executive orders could result in “possible disciplinary action, including termination.”
The pronouns ban was just the beginning. Agencies are now being ordered to review and remove all references to gender identity in programs, contracts and grants. Trans workers can no longer use restrooms in federal facilities that match their gender identities.
Democratic U.S. Representative from Delaware Sarah McBride is loudly condemning Trump’s anti-trans attacks. She’s Congress’s first and only out transgender member. In her words, “From day one, the administration has taken actions that would force the outing of transgender people, stripping them of their privacy and safety. … Each time the Trump administration attacks a small, vulnerable community, the ripple effects of hate echo across our society.”
The first queer legal strike-back against the Trump administration’s anti-LGBTQ onslaught is going to court. It’s a lawsuit challenging the executive order ban on gender affirming healthcare for patients younger than 19, brought by the LGBTQ advocacy group Lambda Legal, the national American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Maryland. Seven families with transgender or nonbinary children are the plaintiffs, joined by P-FLAG National, an organization for families and friends of LGBTQ people.
They went to the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland on February 4th to ask for a preliminary and permanent injunction to stop the ban from going into effect. The lawsuit argues that Trump’s anti-trans executive orders are “unlawful and unconstitutional” because they seek to withhold federal funds previously authorized by Congress. They also charge that the orders violate federal anti-discrimination laws.
It's the first, but no doubt not the last courtroom battlefront in the war between the incoming U.S. administration and the LGBTQ+ community. The fight has been joined.
Finally, many are calling the 67th annual Grammy Awards the queerest ever. Quite a few openly LGBTQ performers and several outspoken allies took home trophies in Los Angeles on February 2nd – and they were not quiet at the music industry’s biggest celebration.
Lesbian rapper and actor Queen Latifah presented veteran hit-maker Alicia Keys with the Dr. Dre Global Impact Award. Keys celebrated often-unsung female producers, and poked the orange elephant in the room over diversity, equity and inclusion:
[SOUND: Keys]
This is not the time to shut down the diversity of voices. We’ve seen on this stage, talented hard-working people from different backgrounds with different points of view and it changes the game. DEI is not a threat. It's a gift.
Lesbian singer Chappell Roan performed her chart-topping Pink Pony Club during the telecast and then won the Best New Artist Grammy. She stressed trans rights during a Red Carpet interview ahead of the ceremonies:
[SOUND: Roan]
Brutal right now, but trans people have always existed, and they will forever exist, and they will never no matter what happens take trans joy away and that has to be protected more than anything because I would not be here without trans girls. So just know that pop music is thinking about you and cares about you, and I’m trying my best to like really stand up for you.
Longtime ally Lady Gaga won the Grammy for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance for Die with a Smile, which she sang with Bruno Mars. Gaga used her platform to take a strong stand for the embattled transgender and queer communities:
[SOUND: Gaga]
It is privilege to be a songwriter and a producer and musician, such an honor to sing for all of you. And I just want to say tonight that trans people are not invisible, trans people deserve love. The queer community deserves to be lifted up. Music is love. Thank you.
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