Jason “Journeyman’s” Queer Ecology | This Way Out Radio Episode #1935
- Jason Jenn
- Apr 29
- 7 min read
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).
And in NewsWrap: hundreds of thousands of protesters filled the streets of London and other cities to denounce the U.K. Supreme Court‘s trans-exclusive definition of “woman,” the deceased Roman Catholic Pope Francis changed the tenor of the Church’s relationship with the LGBTQ+ community, the Trump administration is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to allow its ban on transgender military service to continue while its constitutionality is being challenged, federal judge enjoins Trump administration order demanding that passport and visa applicants be limited to only male or female gender markers, the Mississippi Supreme Court tells a transgender teenage boy he must wait until he turns 21 to legally change his name to reflect his gender identity, and more international LGBTQ+ news reported this week by Tanya Kane-Parry and Nathalie Munoz (produced by Brian DeShazor).
All this on the April 28, 2025 edition of This Way Out!
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Complete Program Summary
for the week of April 28, 2025
Jason “Journeyman’s” Queer Ecology
NewsWrap (full transcript below): Hundreds of thousands flood the streets of London, Edinburgh, Cardiff, and several other U.K. cities in angry protest of the Supreme Court’s “trans women are not always legally women” ruling [with brief on-scene audio from the London demonstration] … Roman Catholic Church Pope Francis dies at the age of 88 the day after celebrating Easter in Rome, capping a “complicated” legacy with LGBTQ+ people and their rights … the Trump administration asks the U.S. Supreme Court to allow it to resume its ban on transgender enlistees serving in the military after the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals upholds lower court injunctions temporarily blocking enforcement of the ban while its constitutionality continues to be litigated, even as the Department of Defense contradictorily announces the resumption of gender-affirming healthcare for trans troops … a federal judge temporarily blocks the U.S. State Department’s enforcement of a Trump edict ending “X” and alternative gender marker options on passports and visas and allowing only a “male” or “female” designation … the Mississippi Supreme Court denies a now-18-year-old trans man’s request to legally change his name to conform to his gender identity, with the support of both parents, because he “lacks maturity” (written by GREG GORDON and LUCIA CHAPPELLE, produced by BRIAN DeSHAZOR, reported this week by TANYA KANE-PARRY and NATHALIE MUNOZ).
Feature: Is Mother Nature really cisgendered and heterosexual … or are they something else entirely? Oppressive governments like the Trump administration may try to erase queer identities and histories, but science is recognizing that the rigid, patriarchal, binary view of the natural world is no match for the true fluid, diverse and interdependent reality. Jason Wise is a certified California Naturalist and educator who’s known as “jasonjourneyman” on social media for his videos on queer ecology. This Way Out’s JASON JENN took a walk on the wild side to learn more about how an LGBTQ+ activist can change people’s perspectives on nature and impact environmental policy (with intro music by THE RASCALS and internal music by JUSTIN VIVIAN BOND).
[@jasonjourneyman ↟ jasonjourneyman.com]
NewsWrap
A summary of some of the news in or affecting
LGBTQ communities around the world
for the week ending April 26th, 2025
Written by Greg Gordon and Lucia Chappelle,
reported this week by TANYA KANE-PARRY and NATHALIE MUNOZ,
produced by Brian DeShazor
They were chanting, “When trans rights are under attack, what do we do? Fight back!” Hundreds of thousands of protesters filled the streets of London to denounce the U.K. Supreme Court‘s decision that excludes transgender women from the legal definition of “woman.” The April 19th “emergency demonstration” in London’s Parliament Square was organized by two dozen queer and human rights groups on less than three days’ notice.
[SOUND: crowd chants “Trans rights are human rights!”]
Organizers and police officials alike marveled at the size of the crowd that spilled over into St. James Park. Pink, white and blue trans rights flags waved as passionate pro-trans speakers expressed their anger over the high court decision.
Demonstrations were also held in Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds, Sheffield and Nottingham. Photos of the massive crowds flooded social media. More than a thousand people also marched through the central square of the Welsh capital of Cardiff. Future actions are planned for cities including Cambridge and Oxford.
Protestors also hit the streets in Edinburgh and Glasgow Scotland, where it all began. A 2018 Scottish law required that at least 50 per cent of board members on public bodies be women. Lower courts had ruled that transgender women with Gender Recognition Certificates declaring them to be female could be considered women for purposes of that law. About 8,500 Gender Recognition Certificates have been issued, according to the Associated Press.
The five-judge Supreme Court panel’s April 16th decision overturned the previous rulings. It concluded that the legal definition of sex refers only to biological or sex assigned at birth. The high court essentially rejected the concept of gender identity.
Anti-trans forces interpret the ruling to mean that trans women and nonbinary people can be blocked from using sex-segregated facilities, such as bathrooms and changing rooms. It also implies that female hospital wards and sports would be closed to trans women. However, the Supreme Court insisted that provisions of the Equality Act barring discrimination against transgender people still apply.
“If a person is gay and seeks God and has goodwill, who am I to judge?” With those words Roman Catholic Pope Francis changed the tenor of the Church’s relationship with the LGBTQ+ community. However, he did nothing to change the Church’s anti-queer doctrines. The complicated relationship with Francis that began in 2013 came to an end with his death on April 21st, the day after he celebrated one last Easter in Rome. He was 88.
Compared to his predecessor Pope Benedict, Francis seemed to regularly push the “acceptance” envelope. His famous “… who am I to judge?” quote made headlines just a few months into his papacy. He took a stand against “unjust discrimination” against LGBTQ+ people in 2016, but he also said, “There are absolutely no grounds for considering homosexual unions to be in any way similar or even remotely analogous to God’s plan for marriage and family.”
Francis opposed the criminalization of L-G-B people in a 2023 Associated Press interview, saying, “Being homosexual isn’t a crime. Persons with homosexual tendencies are children of God. God loves them. God accompanies them… condemning a person like this is a sin.”
The Pope maintained a supportive relationship with Rome’s transgender community, but in March 2024 he called gender-affirming healthcare “a grave violation of humanity.”
Queer Catholics around the world acknowledged the two sides of Francis’ legacy. The Global Network of Rainbow Catholics declared, “Catholics and people of all faiths, and no faith, have felt the power of his love and compassion for humankind as well as for the planet that we inhabit.” The organization Dignity USA said that he “raised awareness of LGBTQ+ issues in our church in truly unprecedented ways … and made a point of being seen meeting with LGBTQ+ people frequently. This sent a message of recognition and inclusion we never experienced from the Vatican before.”
To Australian Catholics for Equality, Pope Francis “shepherded the Church on an irreversible path toward becoming a more authentically welcoming and inclusive community for LGBTIQA+ people.”
The Tewksbury, Massachusetts-based group Catholic Quest called Francis’ pontificate “a blessing to the world and the LGBT community especially.”
C.E.O. Sarah Kate Ellis of GLAAD mourned the Pope’s passing, noting that she had met with him twice. To her, he was “a transformational leader who included LGBTQ people in historic ways.”
Veteran British-based human rights activist Peter Tatchell has devoted decades to protesting the Church’s anti-LGBTQ policies. Extending his condolences to queer Catholics around the world, he offered, “While we often disagreed on issues of LGBT+ rights, I acknowledge his more compassionate tone towards sexual minorities.”
The Trump administration is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to allow its ban on transgender military service to continue while its constitutionality is being challenged. A three-judge panel of the California-based Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and several lower courts have issued temporary injunctions to prevent the administration from enforcing the policy during litigation. Lambda Legal and other queer and human rights advocacy groups challenging the ban say they’ll soon file papers opposing the administration’s Supreme Court request.
Chaos reportedly reigns at the Department of Defense under the apparently hapless and incompetent Secretary Pete Hegseth. As White House lawyers pushed Trump’s trans troop ban on April 24th, the Pentagon announced that it will resume gender-affirming healthcare for those service members – this according to a memo obtained by Politico. Coverage for those treatments was denied by the first Trump administration, resumed by the Biden administration, and then revoked again by Trump on the first day of his second term. The memo notes that a lower court has already struck down the Trump administration’s anti-trans military edict as unconstitutional.
Another Trump administration order is facing a temporary roadblock – this one demanding that passport and visa applicants be limited to only male or female gender markers. A group of transgender and nonbinary plaintiffs challenging the restriction are represented by the American Civil Liberties Union. The ACLU says Boston-based U.S. District Court Judge Julia Kobick has concluded that the order is “likely unconstitutional and in violation of the law.” Her preliminary injunction requires the State Department to allow six transgender and nonbinary plaintiffs to obtain passports with designations consistent with their gender identity while their lawsuit proceeds. Their attorneys plan to ask the judge to make it a class action lawsuit so that all trans and nonbinary people in the United States will be protected.
Several Western countries have issued warnings to trans and nonbinary U.S. travelers. They strongly urge people with potentially problematic passports and visas with an “X” or any gender marker other than “male” or “female” to check first with their nearest U.S. embassy well before a planned departure.
Finally, a transgender teenage boy in Mississippi must wait until he turns 21 to legally change his name to reflect his gender identity. Despite the consent of both parents, the Supreme Court of the southern U.S. state said its decision is based on the boy’s “lack of maturity.”
Minors in Mississippi can usually legally change their name if both parents agree. Indeed, the state’s laws allow 15-year-olds to even marry with parental consent. The boy’s mother tried to initiate the process in July 2023 when her son was 16. The county clerk denied their request, saying he was acting in the “best interest” of the boy who goes by the initials S.M-B. He’s now 18 and will have to wait until 2028 to legally change his gender.
Adding insult to injury, the 8-to-1 ruling by the Mississippi high court misgendered S.M-B throughout court filings. Who’s the one with a “lack of maturity?”
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