Jennie Arnau: A Rising Tide | This Way Out Radio Episode #1960

Jennie Arnau discovered her passion for music in her childhood home of Greenville, South Carolina, a place that called her back at a time of loss and grief. She’s now living and working in New York City, ending a self-imposed break from songwriting and performing with her new album, A Rising Tide (interviewed by David Hunt).

Plus: The “Rainbow Rewind” pays tribute to the Matthew Shepard Foundation and celebrates historic queer October moments for the U.K., South Africa and black lesbians in the U.S.

And in NewsWrap: autocratic President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan ratchets up Turkey’s persecution of LGBTQ people with a series of proposed “judicial reforms,” Church of Norway Presiding Bishop Olav Fykse Tveit formally apologizes to LGBTQ people for years of bias and demonstrable harm, fired Wyoming book ban-battling local librarian Terri Lesley is vindicated in a 700,000-dollar settlement against the state, Australia’s High Court unanimously upholds Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke’s 2024 visa rejection for far-right U.S. podcast personality Candace Owens, former U.S. President Barack Obama talks about taking a gentler approach with opponents of gender-affirming healthcare for young people, 84-year-old British actress Miriam “Professor Pomona Sprout” Margolyse is an unapologetically woke left-wing dyke, and more international LGBTQ+ news reported this week by Sarah Montague and Joe Boehnlein (produced by Brian DeShazor).

All this on the October 20, 2025 edition of This Way Out!

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Complete Program Summary

for the week of October 20, 2025

Jennie Arnau: A Rising Tide

NewsWrap (full transcript below): The government of Turkey’s autocratic President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan introduces “judicial reforms” that tighten the screws on the country’s already oppressed LGBTQ citizens, including a “no promo homo” statute and further restrictions on trans rights … the Church of Norway officially apologizes for its decades of discrimination and rejection of LGBTQ parishioners … Wyoming librarian Terri Lesley settles her lawsuit against the U.S. state for $700,0000 after she was illegally fired by the Campbell County Library Board for refusing to remove books involving queer content or anything about sexuality from the venue’s youth shelves … Australia’s High Court unanimously upholds the decision of Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke to deny entry into the country of U.S. far-right anti-minority anti-queer conspiracy theories commentator Candace Owens … former U.S. President Barack Obama suggests a gentler way to guide anti-trans youth from opposition to support with host Marc Maron on his final WTF Podcast … 84-year-old British actress Miriam Margolyse, perhaps best known for her role as “Professor Pomona Sprout” in the Harry Potter move franchise, tells host Patrick Kielty on Irish TV’s The Late Late Show how much fun it is to be a “woke left-wing dyke” [with brief audio from Margolyse as Sprout in a Potter film and an excerpt from her conversation with Kielty ] (written by GREG GORDON and LUCIA CHAPPELLE, produced by BRIAN DeSHAZOR, and reported this week by SARAH MONTAGUE and JOE BOEHNLEIN).

Feature: More October anniversaries and events, from gay-bashed murder victim Matthew Shepard to South Africa’s first Pride march, are recalled in the third installment of a special This Way Out series, The Rainbow Rewind, written and hosted by SHERI LUNN and BRIAN DeSHAZOR and produced by BRIAN DeSHAZOR.

Feature: It’s unfortunate but not unusual for queer independent musicians to suddenly disappear without a trace. Frequently their sounds are never to be heard again. That’s why it’s a big deal to meet one who’s launching an exciting comeback after more than a decade of life’s ebbs and flows. This Way Out’s DAVID HUNT found singer/songwriter Jennie Arnau riding A Rising Tide somewhere between New York, New York and Greenville, South Carolina (with excerpts from Oceans Rise, Every Raindrop, Simple Man, Better Luck Next Time, Hold On, Heaven in Her Eyes, and Back to Carolina).

[jenniearnaumusic.com]

NewsWrap

A summary of some of the news in or affecting

LGBTQ communities around the world

for the week ending October 18th, 2025 

Written by Greg Gordon and Lucia Chappelle

reported this week by SARAH MONTAGUE and JOE BOEHNLEIN,

and produced by BRIAN DeSHAZOR

    Turkey is ratcheting up its persecution of LGBTQ people with a series of so-called “judicial reforms.” The government of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan seems to be mimicking fellow autocracies Vladimir Putin’s Russia and Viktor Orbán’s Hungary, according to Türkiye Today.  One proposal announced on October 15th declares, “Any person who engages in, publicly encourages, praises, or promotes attitudes or behaviors contrary to their biological sex at birth and public morality shall be punished with imprisonment of one to three years.”

Although same-gender sex is technically not against the law in Turkey, queer couples hosting engagement or wedding celebrations would face up to four years in prison under the new legislation.  The maximum penalty for so-called “public sexual acts or exhibitionism” would be increased from one to three years.

The legal age for gender affirmation surgery would be raised from 18 to 25 years. A trans person seeking surgery must be unmarried.  They must undergo four separate evaluations at least three months apart, and a Health Ministry-approved training and research hospital must declare the procedure “psychologically necessary.” After the medical report is substantiated, they’ll need a court order to amend their entry in the civil registry. Skirting the legal requirements to perform gender affirmation surgery is punishable by up to seven years behind bars.

The government says its rationale is “to ensure the upbringing of physically and mentally healthy individuals and to protect the family institution and social structure.”

President Erdoğan has targeted the LGBTQ community since he first took power in two-thousand-three.  Pride celebrations that once drew record crowds in major Turkish cities are now illegal, and activists who “attempt Pride” face arrest and assaults by security police.  To Erdoğan, queer people are “perverse” and “a threat to [traditional values and] the family unit.”

[SOUND: Tveit]

[short apology in Norwegian]

    The Church of Norway is formally apologizing to LGBTQ people for years of bias and demonstrable harm.  Presiding Bishop Olav Fykse Tveit delivered his expression of repentance on October 16th at Oslo’s popular queer venue, the London Pub.  That was the scene of a Pride night shooting rampage in June 2022 that killed two people and wounded at least 21 others. 

As Tveit confessed on behalf of the Bishops' Conference, "The church in Norway has imposed shame, great harm and pain... this should not have happened, and that is why I apologize today.”

In the 1950s, that same Conference called LGBTQ people a "social danger of global dimensions."  By 2007, the Church of Norway was welcoming openly gay clergy and blessing the marriages of same-gender couples.

Tveit credited conversations with community organizations for his decision to go public. He said, “It is heartening when those who previously felt condemned by the church have welcomed us with open arms. It is a grace.”

   Wyoming’s book ban-battling local librarian has been vindicated in a 700,000-dollar settlement against the state.  Terri Lesley was fired by the Campbell County Public Library Board in 2023 after 27 years of service. A contentious two-year debate had raged in the U.S. state’s northeastern region over the removal of books on sexuality and queer identities. The Board withdrew from the American Library Association and the Wyoming Library Association, both of which oppose censorship. Some of the books Lesley was refusing to remove included How Do You Make a Baby by Anna Fiske, Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe and Dating and Sex: A Guide for the 21st Century Teen Boy by Andrew P. Smiler.

The librarian stood firm against the escalating pressures but was ultimately forced out by a 4-to-1 vote of the Board. Now with her victory Lesley told the Associated Press, “It’s been a rough road, but I will never regret standing up for the First Amendment.”  

Lesley’s attorney Iris Halpen said in a press statement, “We hope at least that [her victory] sends a message to other library districts, other states, other counties, that the First Amendment is alive and strong and that our values against discrimination also remain alive and strong.”

    Australia is no place for Candace Owens.  The High Court just unanimously upheld Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke’s 2024 visa rejection for the far-right U.S. podcast personality. Burke found that Owens failed the Migrant Act’s required “character test,” pointing to her “extremist and inflammatory comments towards Muslim, Black, Jewish and LGBTQIA+ communities which generate controversy and hatred."  The Court agreed, writing, “… there is a risk that [Owens] would stir up or encourage dissension or strife in the Australian community, or a segment of that community, of a kind or to a degree that is harmful to that community or segment.”  

Owens’ suit claimed that Australia does protect political speech from criminal prosecution, even though it has no formal laws protecting freedom of speech.  She’s infamous for such “political speech” as Holocaust denial and conspiracy theories about climate change, gender-affirming healthcare, and COVID. The Court countered, saying, "the implied freedom [of speech] is not a ‘personal right,’ is not unlimited and is not absolute."

The three-judge panel unanimously concluded that the Australian people were not being deprived of Owens’ views because they are still easily accessible online.  The influencer must also pay the government’s legal costs.

As Minister Burke wrote in his original visa denial, “Australia’s national interest is best served when Candace Owens is somewhere else.”

    As the Trump administration marches the United States into autocracy, former President Barack Obama is increasing his public profile. He’s actively campaigning for the passage of Proposition 50 in California. It’s a Congressional redistricting ballot initiative meant to counter a Trump-ordered move in Texas, where the map was rearranged to favor five more Republican seats in the U.S House. Prop 50 would create five more Democratic-leaning districts in the Golden State.

Obama has been a consistent LGBTQ ally ever since he first voiced support for marriage equality.  The 44th U.S. president was the final guest this week on the venerable WTF Podcast, where he and retiring host Marc Maron talked about taking a gentler approach with opponents of gender-affirming healthcare for young people:

[SOUND:]

Obama: If I talked about trans issues, I wasn’t talking down to people and saying, “Oh, you’re a bigot.” I’d say, “You know what? It’s tough enough being a teenager. Let’s treat all kids decently. Why would we want to see kids bullied …

Maron: “… or shamed …

Obama: “… or shamed. Why would we want to do that?  Why wouldn’t we want to just … You know, what if it was our kid?” 

    Finally …

[SOUND (from Harry Potter):]

Prof. Pomona Sprout: Morning everyone! [tap tap tap] Good morning everyone!

Students: Good morning, Professor Sprout!

Sprout: Welcome to Greenhouse Three/Second Years! Now gather ‘round everyone … today we're going to repot mandrakes.

If “Professor Pomona Sprout” is known for her emphatic morning greetings in the Harry Potter movie franchise, 84-year-old British actress and national treasure Miriam Margolyse is known for “waking up” her fans in other ways. As she explained to Irish TV’s The Late Late Show host Patrick Kielty:

[SOUND:]

Kielty: You have described yourself as “unapologetically woke.” 

Margolyse: I am. I'm a left-wing dyke [laughter] and I love it. I love being a lesbian. I'm not gonna apologize for that! 

Kielty: Where does the fun come from?

Margolyse: The fun in being a lesbian? [laughter]

Kielty: … or generally in life!

[laughter and applause]

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