Harvard’s Global LGBTQI+ Human Rights Program | This Way Out Radio Episode #1946
- This Way Out
- 3 hours ago
- 7 min read
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).
And in NewsWrap: same-gender couples in Hong Kong who have legal recognition from abroad could get health-related spousal rights under a new government proposal, Pope Leo XIV is expected to maintain his predecessor’s policy of allowing priests to bless same-gender couples, more than 100 transgender inmates in Tehran’s infamous Evin Prison are missing and presumed dead following Israeli airstrikes, North Carolina Governor Josh Stein vetoes bills targeting the rights of transgender people and DEI programs, Wisconsin’s Supreme Court narrowly votes to affirm the state’s ban on conversion therapy, the erasure of bisexuals follows the disappearance of trans people from the Stonewall National Monument and other queer-related U.S. National Park Service websites, and more international LGBTQ+ news reported this week by Marcos Najera and Nathalie Munoz (produced by Brian DeShazor).
All this on the July 14, 2025 edition of This Way Out!
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Complete Program Summary
for the week of July 14, 2025
Harvard’s Global LGBTQI+ Human Rights Program
NewsWrap (full transcript below): Hong Kong lawmakers consider a bill to offer limited legal recognition to same-gender couples who entered into a civil union or civil marriage abroad, as long as one of the spouses is a citizen of Hong Kong … Pope Leo will reportedly maintain the policy of his predecessor, Pope Francis, allowing Roman Catholic priests to bless same-gender couples as long as it’s not called marriage and there are no church ceremonies celebrating the union … some 100 transgender Iranian inmates are reportedly missing and presumed dead at the infamous Ervin Prison in Tehran following Israeli airstrikes a day before a ceasefire in the 12-day war takes effect … North Carolina’s Democratic Governor John Stein vetoes three anti-DEI bills and one anti-trans bill, bucking the Republican-dominated state legislature and policies of the Trump administration … a Wisconsin Supreme Court ruling maintains the state’s ban on conversion therapy … the Trump administration follows it erasure of transgender people from the website of the National Park Service’s National Stonewall Monument earlier this year by now deleting the contributions of bisexuals to the queer liberation movement (written by GREG GORDON and LUCIA CHAPPELLE, produced by BRIAN DeSHAZOR, reported this week by MARCOS NAJERA and NATHALIE MUNOZ).
Feature: Will Harvard University have the will to fend off threats from the Trump administration to cut off federal research dollars and bar international students from enrolling? It’s not just one school — it’s a wide-ranging assault on higher education, designed to break the commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion. Meanwhile, Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government is breaking new ground in its efforts to advance LGBTQ liberation in the U.S. and around the globe. The acclaimed public policy school’s long-established Carr-Ryan Center for Human Rights houses the Global LGBTQI+ Human Rights Program. That year-old program’s director is Diego Garcia Blum. As Blum tells This Way Out’s DAVID HUNT, the program has already done much to expand queer social research and to promote international activism through the power of storytelling.(with intro music by TOM LEHRER, and internal music by LOGAN PILCHER ).
[Carr-Ryan Center for Human Rights =>
NewsWrap
A summary of some of the news in or affecting
LGBTQ communities around the world
for the week ending July 12th, 2025
Written by Greg Gordon and Lucia Chappelle,
reported this week by MARCOS NAJERA and NATHALIE MUNOZ,
produced by Brian DeShazor
Same-gender couples in Hong Kong who have legal recognition from abroad could get health-related spousal rights under a new government proposal. The document specifically states that it is not equivalent to civil marriage rights.
It is an effort by lawmakers to satisfy a landmark 2023 ruling by Hong Kong’s Court of Final Appeal that ordered legal recognition for queer couples who have civil unions or marriages from foreign countries. One of the spouses must be a Hong Kong resident. The rights in the proposal are limited to mutual medical decision-making and the right to claim the deceased spouse’s body and to decide if the remains can be used for medical education or research.
The measure is far from a done deal, according to the South China Morning Post, however. So far, at least 41 of the 89-member Legislative Council have indicated their objection to the proposal. They include members from the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong, the Business and Professionals Alliance, the Federation of Trade Unions and the Liberal Party.
Legislator Regina Ip Lau Suk-Yee says that she and five other members of her New People’s Party will support the proposal. She’s the convenor of the key decision-making Executive Council. Queer advocates suggest that the measure should be postponed in the Council so that public hearings and other consultations can allow time to develop sufficient legislative support for the proposal. Of course, Hong Kong officials can only push the envelope so far, considering mainland China’s steadfast disapproval when it comes to queer issues.
Even if it’s a stretch, the proposal may not fully satisfy the Court of Appeal ruling. Pro-democracy and human rights activist Jimmy Sham fought a five-year legal battle to get that victory. As he told the Associated Press, "I hope the government will listen to opinions from society and the community and try to develop a solution that doesn't exceed society's acceptance level, while meeting the expectations of same-sex couples and avoiding legal challenges."
Pope Leo XIV is expected to maintain his predecessor’s policy of allowing priests to bless same-gender couples. Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández of the Vatican's Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith was asked by a local reporter on July 3rd if Leo would reverse Pope Francis’ position. Fernández replied, “I don’t think so – the declaration will remain,” according to the National Catholic Reporter. That’s not considered to be an official Church statement.
Pope Leo has told the Vatican diplomatic corps that he also reaffirms the Roman Catholic Church’s refusal to hold ceremonies to recognize the marriages of same-gender couples. In his words, family is still “founded upon the stable union between a man and a woman.” That’s also consistent with policies expressed by Pope Francis.
As Cardinal Robert Prevost, Leo had a somewhat limited but mixed record on LGBTQ rights.
More than 100 transgender inmates in Tehran’s infamous Evin Prison are missing and presumed dead following Israeli airstrikes on June 23rd. Authorities in the Iranian capital confirm that they were housed in the hardest hit area of the prison. Officially 79 people are known dead, and dozens more injured. The causalities included guards, administrative staff, healthcare and social workers, a lawyer, visiting relatives, and nearby residents including a five-year-old child.
Being transgender itself can be a criminal offense in Iran. Trans people can only be legally recognized after undergoing gender affirmation surgery. In many cases they’re considered mentally ill. There are no legal protections from hate crimes or discrimination.
Evin Prison is the main facility for the Islamic Republic’s political prisoners, problematic reporters and educators, and foreigners accused of spying. It has a documented history of deplorable living conditions and human rights abuses such as beatings, torture, sleep deprivation, sexual assault and lengthy solitary confinement. The bombing that killed the transgender inmates was described as a symbolic “act of liberation” by Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar, according to the New York Times.
North Carolina Governor Josh Stein vetoed bills this week targeting the rights of transgender people and programs promoting diversity, equity and inclusion. The bills targeted DEI policies at public universities and community colleges, secondary schools, and state and local government agencies. They also gave parents greater rights to challenge the availability of school library books. Democrat Stein called the Republican-backed measures “mean-spirited.”
The transgender bill began as a bipartisan measure to curb sexual exploitation by enforcing age verification and consent rules for pornography websites. Lawmakers later added a ban on state-funded gender-affirming procedures for prisoners, followed by a provision affirming the recognition of only two genders. Stein said in his veto message that he strongly supported the original anti-sexual exploitation provisions in the bill, but that the final measure was a different story.
Bucking the Trump administration and Republican state lawmakers, Stein wrote, “At a time when teachers, law enforcement, and state employees need pay raises and people need shorter lines at the DMV, the legislature failed to pass a budget and, instead, wants to distract us by stoking culture wars that further divide us. … I stand ready to work with the legislature when it gets serious about protecting people and addressing North Carolinians’ pressing concerns.”
Wisconsin’s Supreme Court has narrowly voted to affirm the state’s ban on conversion therapy. The 4-to-3 ruling decided that a Republican-dominated legislative committee had violated the state constitution by refusing to enforce an agency’s rule that implemented the ban.
Democratic Governor Tony Evers issued an executive order in 2021 that prohibited government funds from being used for conversion therapy, that much-debunked practice that aims to change sexual orientation or gender identity through psychological counseling and/or prayer.
He filed suit against the state legislature in 2023 for obstructing “basic government functions” when the committee had previously tried to derail the ban. The high court sided with Evers in its July 8th ruling, deciding that a legislative committee cannot block the implementation of an agency rule without the passage of specific legislation.
Elections do have consequences: the Wisconsin Supreme Court’s liberal majority survived a high-profile campaign in April that defeated multi-billionaire Elon Musk’s outrageously expensive effort to install a Trump-supported jurist.
Finally, first the Trump administration came for transgender people … now they’re erasing bisexuals.
All references to trans people were ordered removed from the Stonewall National Monument website in February. Now the same fate seems to have befallen bi folk.
Earlier incarnations of the National Park Service hosted website highlighted what it called LGBTQ+ activism. That acronym was replaced by L-G-B, and now there were presumably only lesbian and gay people at the historic Stonewall Riots of June 1969. Eight references to bisexuals on the site as of April of this year have been reduced to only two, according to reports.
Trans journalist Erin Reed compared the original Stonewall National Monument website with the current one. She found that it was, “Before the 1960s, almost everything about living openly as a lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or queer (LGBTQ+) person was illegal.” Now it’s, “Before the 1960s, almost everything about living authentically as a gay or lesbian person was illegal.”
The Stonewall National Monument was created in 2016 by President Barack Obama as the first such site dedicated to the advancement of LGBTQ rights.
Tanya Asapansa-Johnson Walker reminded a crowd at the Monument’s physical site in New York City that queer people have “been here since the beginning of time,” according to Pink News. The trans activist told those protesting the disappearance of the full spectrum of the queer community, “We’re here to stay, and we will not be erased by a Christo-fascist, neo-Nazi administration.”