A Wilde Tribute to Salome | This Way Out Radio Episode #1961
- This Way Out
- 23 minutes ago
- 8 min read
We commemorate the birthday of the renowned gay Irish writer Oscar Wilde with an excerpt from the play he was writing in October, 1891 — a scene from a production directed for Pacifica Radio by a “pre-Spock” Leonard Nimoy (hear the complete performance at thiswayout.org, presented by Brian DeShazor).
Plus: The “Rainbow Rewind” recalls the end of the picket line, “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’s” demise, and no room at the National Council of Churches.
And in NewsWrap: security police in Surabaya, Indonesia arrest and humiliate 34 men for attending what they allege is a “gay sex party,” cohabiting same-gender couples will be counted in South Korea’s upcoming national Population and Housing Census, transgender and intersex people in the Virgin Islands now have two ways to change the gender markers on their birth certificates and official government documents under an executive order by Governor Albert Bryan, Jr., anti-bias protections in healthcare for transgender people are being stripped away by a U.S. federal judge, another U.S. federal judge keeps the Health and Human Services Department from withholding education funds to states that do not remove all references to “gender ideology” from public school sex education classes, one more injunction against the Trump administration brings “library books and curricular materials” that discuss race, sexual orientation, and gender back to Department of Defense-run schools, four are arrested when bulldozers come to destroy a Dallas, Texas rainbow crosswalk, and more international LGBTQ+ news reported this week by David Hunt and Ava Davis (produced by Brian DeShazor).
All this on the October 27, 2025 edition of This Way Out!
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Complete Program Summary
for the week of October 27, 2025
A Wilde Tribute to Salome
NewsWrap (full transcript below): Thirty-four men arrested during a raid on a “gay sex party” in Indonesia are paraded through the streets and displayed to a plethora of photographers … South Korea’s government announces that cohabiting same-gender couples will be counted for the first time in the East Asian nation’s Census … the Governor of the U.S. Virgin Islands skirts a reluctant legislature and executive orders the relaxation of the process for trans and intersex people to change the gender marker on their birth certificates and other official government documents … a U.S. federal judge revokes Biden-era protections from bias in healthcare for transgender people … another district court judge tells the Trump administration that it can’t withhold federal funds from schools that don’t comply with the president’s anti-trans policies … a third federal judge orders the restoration of books and other materials about race, sexuality and gender — deemed “too woke” by Trump officials — to the library shelves in Defense Department-run schools for military families across the U.S. and in 11 other countries … four defenders in Houston, Texas are arrested trying to prevent the administration of Governor Gregg Abbott from bulldozing a significant rainbow crosswalk in the queer Montrose neighborhood, while members of a queer-welcoming United Methodist Church in Dallas paint the expansive steps leading up to the entrance to their sanctuary in defiant rainbow colors (written by GREG GORDON and LUCIA CHAPPELLE, produced by BRIAN DeSHAZOR, and reported this week by DAVID HUNT and AVA DAVIS).
Feature: More October anniversaries and events are recalled in the fourth 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: On October 16, 1891, the renowned gay Irish writer Oscar Wilde probably celebrated his 37th birthday in Paris, maybe at the Cafe de la Paix with Andre Gide and other friends from the literary salons of Stéphane Mallarmé. A poem by Mallarmé helped pique Wilde’s interest in Salome, and he was writing a play about her in French. Also in attendance may have been the young poet Lord Alfred Douglas -- Wilde’s beloved Bosie, whose father hounded Wilde until Wilde ended up in prison for homosexuality. After Wilde’s death, Bosie translated Salome into English. This Way Out toasts Oscar Wilde’s birthday with an excerpt from a production of the play directed by Leonard Nimoy before his fabled “Star Trek” career (with accordion segment intro music by ANDREW HUANG, produced by BRIAN DeSHAZOR, with comments by director Nimoy, and GAIL KOBE, BARRY ATWATER, and JEANNE BATES starring in the Salome excerpt).
NewsWrap
A summary of some of the news in or affecting
LGBTQ communities around the world
for the week ending October 25th, 2025
Written by Greg Gordon and Lucia Chappelle
reported this week by DAVID HUNT and AVA DAVIS,
and produced by BRIAN DeSHAZOR
The scene was a private party in a Surabaya, Indonesia hotel. Then the doors of the two adjoining rooms suddenly burst open and security police arrested 34 men for attending what they allege is a “gay sex party.”
That’s how it went during the early morning hours of October 19th in Indonesia’s second largest city. After two days in custody, the arrestees were paraded through the streets, surrounded by the press as officials trumpeted the mass arrests. Several pictures taken after their public “perp walk” show the 34 men wearing matching orange shirts, trying to hide their faces as they sit cross-legged, barefoot, bound together with zip ties while engulfed by photographers. Police officials claimed that they were acting on tips about suspected unusual activity on one of the hotel floors. The “evidence” collected from the scene included contraceptives, cell phones, and other electronic devices.
There have been at least three such raids this year in Indonesia. It’s expected that those arrested this week will also be charged with violating the majority-Muslim country’s anti-pornography laws. Those laws include a ban on “deviant sexual intercourse.” Several party-goers will also be charged with organizing and/or financing the get-together.
Several human rights groups have condemned these raids on private gatherings in Indonesia. They’re calling for the men’s immediate release.
Cohabiting same-gender couples will be counted in South Korea’s upcoming national Population and Housing Census. The Ministry of Data and Statistics will allow those households to pick “spouse” and “cohabiting partner” in the head count that surveys twenty percent of South Korean households every five years.
Rainbow Action Korea calls the change “a historic decision” that represents a rare form of official recognition. However, the coalition of 49 LGBTQ organizations faulted the government for not “adequately publicizing” the change -- the announcement came on October 21st, the day before the census began.
There’s no marriage equality in South Korea and no civil unions. Since 2023 cohabiting queer couples have been eligible for National Health Insurance Service spousal coverage.
A slim majority of the East Asian country’s socially conservative population is still uncomfortable with public displays of affection between same-gender couples. Those public opinion surveys also suggest that they oppose marriage equality. The anti-equality sentiment can be attributed to lobbying by The United Christian Churches of Korea and high-profile hate campaigns by loosely affiliated groups like Anti-Homosexuality Christian Solidarity, according to the news outlet “LGBTQ Nation.”
Transgender and intersex people in the Virgin Islands now have an easier pathway to changing the gender markers on their birth certificates and official government documents. Under an executive order by Governor Albert Bryan, Jr., there are two alternatives: present a court order confirming their “surgical, hormonal, or other treatment for the purpose of gender transition,” or present a statement signed under penalty of perjury by a licensed healthcare provider confirming their treatment or evaluation.
The Virgin Islands is the only U.S. territory that bans bias based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Still, a bill to establish a process for changing gender markers stalled in the legislature late last year. So Democratic Governor Bryan decided to bypass the lawmakers. His October 13th order specifically directs the Department of Health’s Office of Vital Statistics and the Bureau of Motor Vehicles to honor gender marker change requests according to the order’s requirements.
In the words of Bryan’s press statement, “Our administration remains committed to fairness, dignity, and respect for every Virgin Islander. … This Executive Order brings the Virgin Islands in line with modern standards of inclusion and ensures that all residents have access to accurate and affirming government identification.”
Anti-bias protections in healthcare for transgender people are being stripped away by a U.S. federal judge. More than two dozen Republican state Attorneys General had challenged the Biden administration’s guidance. Judge Louis Guirola, Jr. of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi agreed that the Department of Health and Human Services “exceeded its authority by implementing regulations redefining sex discrimination and prohibiting gender identity discrimination.”
The lawsuit was led by Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti – the same Skrmetti whose name is attached to this year’s major U.S. Supreme Court victory upholding Tennessee’s ban on pediatric gender-affirming healthcare. He proclaimed in a celebratory statement, “Our fifteen-state coalition worked together to protect the right of health care providers across America to make decisions based on evidence, reason, and conscience. This decision restores not just common sense but also constitutional limits on federal overreach.”
Another U.S. federal judge is blocking an anti-trans Trump administration threat. Oregon-based District Judge Ann Aiken is issuing an injunction to keep the Health and Human Services Department from withholding education funds to states that do not remove all references to “gender ideology” from public school sex education classes. Thirty-five million dollars in federal grant funding is at stake, according to Reuters.
Washington, Oregon and Minnesota are leading 16 states and the District of Columbia in a suit to challenge the administration. Judge Aiken informed the plaintiffs and federal officials of her plans to issue an injunction during a telephone conference. One of the plaintiffs’ lawyers called the demand an effort to “edit transgender kids out of their curricula.”
Trump officially erased the existence of transgender people soon after he took office for a second time with an executive order declaring that there are only two genders in the United States – male and female.
But wait – there’s one more injunction against the Trump administration. Virginia-based U.S. District Judge Patricia Tolliver Giles’ order against the Department of Defense brings “library books and curricular materials” that discuss race, sexual orientation, and gender back to Department-run schools.
More than 67,000 students attend classes run by the Department of Defense Education Activity in the U.S. and 11 other countries. Close to 600 books were determined “too woke” for students of military families. They included A is for Activist by Innosanto Nagara, Being Jazz: My Life as a (Transgender) Teen by Jazz Jennings and From #BlackLivesMatter to Black Liberation by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor.
Judge Giles has thus far sided with six military families who sued the Defense Department over the removals in April, but her narrow order only applies now to the five schools attended by the plaintiffs.
The families are being represented by the American Civil Liberties Union. ACLU’s press statement called the military-run schools’ censorship “astonishing in its scope and scale.” The civil rights group expressed its satisfaction that the court had vindicated the students’ First Amendment protections.
Finally, Florida’s “rainbow war” is catching on. Rightwing Republican Texas Governor Gregg Abbott has ordered the state’s Department of Transportation to remove all “decorative crosswalks, murals or markings conveying artwork or other messages.”
In the early morning hours of October 18th, crews showed up to bulldoze a rainbow crosswalk at Westheimer and Taft in the queer Montrose area of Houston. Four activists were arrested trying to stop them. The beloved street marker has been a symbol of queer pride and a memorial to a young gay man killed in that intersection since 2017. City Council candidate Ethan Hale and the three others were charged with failure to disperse after a short stand-off.
A church in Dallas has a colorful response to the governor’s attempt to limit life to black and white in the Lone Star State. There’s also a rainbow crosswalk near the queer-welcoming Oak Lawn United Methodist Church – at least for now. Just in case, they’ve painted the broad steps of the entrance to their sanctuary in bright rainbow colors, out of the state’s reach.
A statement from Senior Pastor Rachel Griffin-Allison explained, “When forces of power try to erase symbols of queer joy and inclusion, the Church has a choice — to retreat into comfort or to step forward in courage. We’re choosing courage.”