Poetic Duet: Adrienne Rich and Audre Lorde | This Way Out Radio Episode #1936
- Jason Jenn
- May 6
- 9 min read
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).
And in NewsWrap: transgender former High Court judge Dr. Victoria McCloud will take the U.K. Supreme Court definition of the word “woman” to the European Court of Human Rights, the sports world in the U.K. feels the Supreme Court’s trans-exclusive definition of “woman” and “sex,” a phalanx of congressional Democrats introduce a new version of the Equality Act to add sexual orientation and gender identity to U.S. civil rights law, a case that could determine whether private businesses must offer coverage for PrEP in their employee insurance policies gets a hearing before the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S. Health and Human Services Department releases a 400-page report on pediatric gender dysphoria that recommends conversion therapy under a different name, Poland says goodbye to its last remaining “LGBT Free Zone” when local authorities in the small town of Łańcut vote for repeal, a group of Maryland parents take their demand to opt their children out of LGBT-themed lessons to the U.S. Supreme Court, Jill “I Kissed a Girl” Sobule goes out with a vice presidential satirical song, and more international LGBTQ+ news reported this week by Michael LeBeau and Melanie Keller (produced by Brian DeShazor).
All this on the May 5, 2025 edition of This Way Out!
Join our family of listener-donors today at thiswayout.org/donate/
Complete Program Summary
for the week of April 28, 2025
Poetic Duet: Adrienne Rich and Audre Lorde
NewsWrap (full transcript below): The U.K.’s first openly transgender judge, Dr. Victoria McCloud, is challenging the country’s Supreme Court ruling that trans women are biological men at the European Court of Human Rights … both the Scottish and English Football Associations ban trans women from women’s soccer teams, the Irish and Welsh Associations are considering it, and the BBC says that a trans ban is expected to come from the England and Wales Cricket Board … out California Congressman Mark Takano and Wisconsin Senator Tammy Baldwin [audio from each] join a bevy of high-profile U.S. Democrats to re-introduce the Equality Act, long-gestating legislation to add federal protections for LGBTQ people to the Civil Rights Act of 1964 … the U.S. Supreme Court hears the demands of a private business that does not want to be forced to provide coverage for pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PfEP, in their employee insurance policies because it “encourage[s] homosexuality” … the American Academy of Pediatrics is “deeply alarmed” by a 400-page report released on May 1st by Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.’s U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recommending so-called “conversion therapy” to make trans young people cis and discouraging gender-affirming healthcare [with highly-offensive comments by White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller] … the tiny southeastern town of Łańcut, Poland dumps Poland’s last declaration that it was an “LGBT Free Zone” … the U.S. Supreme Court hears the challenge by a group of Montgomery County, Maryland parents to their inability to opt out their kids in local schools from queer-inclusive books and lessons … I Kissed A Girl singer/songwriter Jill Sobule dies in a house fire on May 1st [with excerpts from that iconic song and one of her last offerings, performed with Sugar Tits, called JD Vance Is a C*unt] (written by LUCIA CHAPPELLE with thanks to DAVID HUNT, produced by BRIAN DeSHAZOR and GREG GORDON, reported this week by MELANIE KELLER and MICHAEL LEBEAU).
Feature: The Poetry Foundation website called lesbian feminist poet and essayist Adrienne Rich one of the foremost public intellectuals in the United States. Black lesbian mother-warrior-poet Audre Lorde spoke to the personal and political aspects of racism, sexism, classism and homophobia. How cool is it to hear them together? (produced by BRIAN DeSHAZOR, courtesy of the Pacifica Radio Archives, with assistance from LUCIA CHAPPELLE, and with music by SalmonLikeAFish).
NewsWrap
A summary of some of the news in or affecting
LGBTQ communities around the world
for the week ending May 3rd, 2025
Written by Lucia Chappelle with thanks to David Hunt,
reported this week by MELANIE KELLER and MICHAEL LeBEAU,
produced by Brian DeShazor and Greg Gordon
She was denied the right to be heard when the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom ruled on the definition of the word “woman” in the 2010 Equality Act. So, a transgender former High Court judge is taking her voice to the European Court of Human Rights. Dr. Victoria McCloud will go to Strasbourg seeking a declaration that the Court’s ruling violates her fundamental rights under the European Convention on Human Rights.
The Supreme Court decided that a person’s gender assigned at birth is an “immutable biological state,” and that the “concept of sex is binary, a person is either a woman or a man.”
McCloud was the first openly transgender judge in U.K. history. She and one other trans person offered to testify about how the decision would impact their lives. The judges opted not to hear from outside witnesses.
The U.K. government’s interim guidance for public spaces and commercial businesses refers to trans women as “biological men,” and says they “should not be permitted to use the women’s facilities.”
McCloud told the BBC, "I have female anatomy. It isn't safe for women to use the men's loos. It is as simple as that."
The U.K. Supreme Court’s decision on the definitions of “woman” and “sex” is being felt across the sports world. Both the Scottish and English Football Associations will now ban transgender women from women’s soccer teams. The Irish and Welsh Football Associations are still considering the government’s guidance on implementing the trans-exclusive ruling. A trans ban is also expected from the England and Wales Cricket Board, according to the BBC. England Netball will institute three gender participation categories starting in September – one for cisgender and trans men, one for players born female regardless of gender identity, and an inclusive “mixed” category.
There are only about 20 registered transgender amateur players in the country. Football vs Transphobia’s Natalie Washington told the BBC she fears many of them will leave the sport, "… for reasons of safety, for reasons of comfort."
[SOUND: Takano]
Today we introduce the Equality Act, not just as a bill, but as a declaration that freedom dignity and opportunity must belong to all Americans. That is the promise of the Equality Act, full humanity under the law.
California Representative Mark Takano is singing what should be a familiar tune in the U.S. Congress. The Equality Act that would amend the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was originally introduced in the House in 1974. As chair of the congressional Equality Caucus, Takano brought the measure forward at a pivotal moment — on the 100th day of the Trump administration.
[SOUND: Takano]
Right now, the fear in our community is deep and it is palpable. The waves of attacks on LGBTQ+ Americans, LGBTQI+ Americans have swept from state legislatures into the chambers of Congress and the White House. We demand that our existence be not just recognized but protected. We demand not just the right to survive, but to thrive.
Takano was flanked by a powerhouse of Democratic legislators, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, New Jersey Senator Cory Booker, transgender Delaware Congresswoman Sarah McBride and Wisconsin’s long-time lesbian Senator, Tammy Baldwin.
[SOUND: Baldwin]
Depending on where you live in this country, you are afforded a different set of fundamental rights if you are gay, lesbian or transgender. And let that sink in. It's a patchwork of rights and protections, depending on who you are and who you love. This is simply a matter of right and wrong. I for one believe that every American deserves to be treated and protected equally under the law.
Various versions of the Equality Act have passed the House over the years. It’s never made it through the Senate. With both chambers in Republican hands and relentless foes in and around the Oval Office, the chances of it moving forward this time are no doubt slim to none.
A case that could determine whether private businesses must offer coverage for pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP, in their employee insurance policies got a hearing before the U.S. Supreme Court this week. What began as a religious objection to HIV prevention has mushroomed into a full-scale attack on all preventive care under the Affordable Care Act.
Braidwood Management of Texas refused to subsidize PrEP for its workers, saying that it “encourage[d] homosexual behavior, intravenous drug use and sexual activity outside marriage between one man and one woman.”
In the words of Lambda Legal HIV Project Director Jose Abrigo, “The Braidwood case is about whether science or politics will guide our nation’s public health policy. Allowing ideological or religious objections to override scientific consensus would set a dangerous precedent. … If the plaintiffs succeed, the consequences will be felt across every community in this country, by anyone who relies on preventive care to stay healthy.”
Abrigo did not mention that a win for the Affordable Care Act would set the stage for problematic Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. to assume a major role in determining what preventive services should be mandated.
Under Secretary Kennedy’s leadership, Health and Human Services released a 400-page long report on May 1st entitled Treatment for Pediatric Gender Dysphoria: Review of Evidence and Best Practices. The unknown authors argue for what they call “exploratory therapy” as the best treatment for gender dysphoria in children. To GLAAD’s Sarah Kate Ellis it’s just conversion therapy by another name.
White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller’s cringe-worthy hyperbolism was front and center for his presentation of the report.
[SOUND: Miller]
Castration surgeries, castration drugs, sterilization treatments of children are barbaric. They violate all sound medical ethics. They are completely unwarranted. They harm children for life, irreversibly. It is child torture. It is child abuse. It is medical malpractice.
The American Academy of Pediatrics is "deeply alarmed" by the new HHS report according to its president, Dr. Susan Kressly. She wrote that it “misrepresents the current medical consensus and fails to reflect the realities of pediatric care."
With a May Day vote by local authorities in the small southeastern town of Łańcut, Poland said goodbye to its last remaining “LGBT Free Zone.” Up to a hundred municipalities officially prohibited what they called “LGBT ideology” during the eight-year reign of the right-wing Law and Justice government. A Supreme Administrative Court ruling in 2022 declared the zones unconstitutional.
Those “no promo homo” declarations had no real legal force, but they chilled support for LGBTQ+ rights and equality programs in Poland. They also chilled financial support from the European Union, which froze billions of euros that would have gone to the “LGBT Free Zones” for infrastructure, environmental initiatives and other projects.
A group of Montgomery County, Maryland parents would like to put a “no promo homo” shield around their children when LGBTQ-related books come up in school -- and they might have found six sympathetic ears in the U.S. Supreme Court’s conservative justices. The high court heard arguments in a long and sometimes heated exchange on April 22nd.
Parents could originally opt out of those lessons, but the system became too cumbersome for the district to manage. The opt outs were discontinued, so some religious parents sued. Only Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson empathized with the district. Justices Alito and Kavanaugh failed to understand why the opt out policy was unfeasible.
Alito and Sotomayor debated the message behind Uncle Bobby’s Wedding. Justice Jackson pointed out that “These questions don’t always have one answer” because communities have different standards.
At a rally outside the Court, gay Montgomery County Councilman Evan Glass told the crowd, “They want to erase us from existence. We celebrate our diversity. We recognize we can all coexist.” Opposite him, plaintiff parent Wael Elkoshairi said that school officials and parents break ranks “when inclusion stops and where indoctrination started.”
Finally …
[SOUND: clip from I Kissed a Girl]
Kissed a girl, won’t change the world
But I’m so glad
I kissed a girl!
In a way singer-songwriter Jill Sobule did change the world with that kiss. In 1995, I Kissed a Girl became the first LGBTQ-themed song to break into the Top 20 of Billboard’s Modern Rock – and it did so despite being banned from the airwaves in several southern U.S. states. GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis recalls, “Long before it was safe or common, Jill was writing and singing about sexuality and identity with raw honesty and wit.”
Jill Sobule was killed in a house fire on May 1st. She said of one of her last pieces, “It’s not my best song, but it does get to the point.”
[SOUND: clip from JD Vance Is a C*nt]
The smallest puppy is a runt,
Some people needing heart surgery get a shunt,
Sometimes in baseball they bunt,
The host of Candid Camera was Alan Funt.
I’ll tell you something else that’s true
If you’ll allow me to be real blunt:
JD Vance … JD Vance is a …
‘He’s a real character!’
Comments