Zach Wahls for U.S. Senate | This Way Out Radio Episode #1974
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It didn’t take long after his historic 2011 appearance before the Iowa state legislature to testify about his two-mom family for 19-year-old Zach Wahls to take his place as a senator in that body. Now he’s running to represent Iowa in the U.S. Senate (produced by Greg Gordon, archival interview by Steve Pride).
A bouquet of January birthdays and ONE early movement legal victory are remembered in the Rainbow Rewind (produced by Brian DeShazor and Sheri Lunn).
And in NewsWrap: federal guidance on workplace harassment based on sexual orientation and gender identity is eliminated by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, U.S. House Democrats claim victory over a raft of anti-transgender riders to major funding bills for the Departments of Health and Human Services, Education and Labor, right-wing Texas federal judge Matthew Kacsmaryk upholds West Texas A&M University’s ban on campus drag shows, financial woes force the closure of the organization that produces Tucson, Arizona’s annual Pride event, the two heartthrobs of the wildly popular TV series “Heated Rivalry” will carry the flame in the Winter Olympics Torch Relay, and more international LGBTQ news reported this week by Tanya Kane-Parry and Joe Boehnlein (produced by Brian DeShazor).
All this on the January, 26 2026 edition of This Way Out!
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Complete Program Summary
for the week of January 26, 2026
Zach Wahls for U.S. Senate
In “NewsWrap” [full transcript below]: The now-Trump-controlled U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission dumps sexual orientation and gender identity from protected categories in workplace harassment guidance … Congressional Democrats succeed in removing unrelated Republican-pushed anti-trans riders to vital spending bills for the U.S. Health and Human Services, Education and Labor Departments … farthest-right Texas federal judge Matthew Kacsmaryk equates drag and blackface in supporting West Texas A&M University’s ban on a charitable campus drag show sponsored by the school’s LGBTQ student group … after almost 50 years, citing “shifting politics and increased hostility,” the Board of Tucson Pride shocks local LGBTQ communities with the announcement that the upcoming festival for the longest-running such celebration in the state of Arizona is being cancelled and the organization is disbanding … the stars of Heated Rivalry, the wildly popular HBO Max TV series about the gay romance of closeted Canadian and bisexual Russian ice hockey players, Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie, will participate in the torch relay ahead of the 2026 Winter Olympics that begin early next month in Italy (written by GREG GORDON and LUCIA CHAPPELLE, produced by BRIAN DeSHAZOR, reported this week by TANYA KANE-PARRY and JOE BOEHNLEIN).
Feature: This week’s Rainbow Rewind celebrates several iconic January birthdays and the first U.S. Supreme Court victory for LGBTQ people (written by SHERI LUNN and co-hosted with and produced by BRIAN DeSHAZOR).
Feature: Zach Wahls has been representing a new generation of Democrat ever since at just 19 years old he pleaded with the Iowa legislature to reject a state constitutional amendment to outlaw marriage equality. Now he’s running to flip the seat currently held by conservative firebrand Senator Joni Ernst. In January of 2011, Iowa’s lawmakers were poised to overturn the state Supreme Court’s 2009 decision in favor of marriage equality. At that historic moment, a young Zach Wahls’ personal testimony made headlines (with outro music by ROMANOVSKY & PHILLIPS). Wahls expanded the theme of family love in an interview with correspondent Steve Pride in August of 2011, not long after his Iowa House appearance (with outro music by HOLLY NEAR with Peter Paul & Mary’s MARY TRAVERS). Today Zach Wahls, currently a leading state lawmaker, has blossomed into a Democratic candidate who has a chance to replace conservative Republican stalwart Senator Joni Ernst in the U.S. Senate. Wahls will face four Democratic candidates in the state primary for U.S. Senator on June 2nd (with excerpts from the audio track of a promotional video at ZachWahls.com).
NewsWrap
for the week ending 24 January 2026
Program #1974 distributed 26 January 2026
Reported by TANYA KANE-PARRY and JOE BOEHNLEIN
written by Greg Gordon and Lucia Chappelle
produced by Brian DeShazor
Federal guidance on workplace harassment based on sexual orientation and gender identity is being eliminated by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The EEOC voted 2 to 1 on January 22nd.
Two Trump appointees defeated the lone Democrat remaining on the Commission to remove the guidance issued in 2024 during the last year of the Biden administration. Grounded on the 2020 U.S. Supreme Court Bostock decision, it determined that the ban on employment discrimination based on sex covered by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 includes sexual orientation and gender identity.
The EEOC is now chaired by Andrea Lucas, a 2020 Trump appointee who had insisted that the Bostock ruling only applied to hiring and firing when she was an opposing commissioner under Biden. She said at the time, “Biological sex is real, and it matters. Sex is binary (male and female) and is immutable.” Lucas had taken specific exception to respecting a trans person’s chosen pronouns according to National Public Radio, saying, “It is not harassment to acknowledge these truths — or to use language like pronouns that flow from these realities, even repeatedly.”
Soon after he was inaugurated for his second term in January 2025, Trump fired two Democratic members and the agency’s general counsel to elevate Lucas to Chair of the Commission. She of course embraced her president’s Executive Order declaring that the U.S. government would only recognize “immutable biological classification as either male or female.”
The Commission normally calls for a 30-day period to accept public input on a policy issue, but “normal” is a thing of the past. Kalpana Kotagal is the Commission’s only Democrat and the lone dissenting vote on the change. She told NPR, “There’s no reason to rescind the harassment guidance in its entirety … Instead of adopting a thoughtful and surgical approach to excise the sections the majority disagrees with or suggest an alternative, the commission is throwing out the baby with the bathwater. Worse, it is doing so without public input.”
Human Rights Campaign Senior Director of Legal Policy Cathryn Oakley is not giving up. She told a press conference, “We will not stop fighting for an America where people can go to work, get a paycheck, and make it home for their kids’ soccer practice without having to fear that their ability to provide for themselves and their family hinges on weathering discrimination and bigotry in the workplace.”
U.S. House Democrats are claiming victory this week over a raft of anti-transgender riders to major funding bills currently under consideration for the Departments of Health and Human Services, Education and Labor. The Republican-sponsored riders were attached to the 224-billion-dollar Fiscal Year 2026 funding bill for those and related agencies late last year. It must be passed by January 30th to keep the government fully operational.
The unrelated addenda would have banned all federal funding for gender-affirming health care. Trans students would have been banned from collegiate sports, and public schools through 12th grade would have been prohibited from allowing trans kids the use of campus bathrooms and changing rooms appropriate to their gender identity.
Independent trans journalist Erin Reed credits Delaware’s trans Congressperson Sarah McBride for the wins. Her spokesperson told Reed, “Representative McBride remains grateful to Ranking Members [Rosa] DeLauro, [Senator Patty] Murray, and Democratic leadership for prioritizing the removal of these harmful riders.”
Right-wing Texas federal judge Matthew Kacsmaryk is back in the news this week for upholding West Texas A&M University’s ban on campus drag shows. Kacsmaryk agreed with college President Walter Wendler that drag “denigrates women in the same way that blackface denigrates African Americans.” Kacsmaryk added, “The only difference is that one performance is ‘abhorred by cultural elites’ while the other is in vogue – at least for now.”
The case began in March 2023, when Wendler officially prevented the university’s LGBTQ+ student group Spectrum WT from holding a drag show to benefit the queer youth suicide prevention nonprofit The Trevor Project. Spectrum WT challenged the ban as a violation of free speech rights. The organization’s current president testified that no “specific message” was being conveyed by the performance. Kacsmaryk leaned heavily on that statement to rule that drag performances have no messages and are therefore not protected speech. His decision is now final and wipes out Spectrum WT’s pending appeal.
“Drag is a centuries-old art form performed by cultures around the world and enjoyed by global mainstream audiences of all ages,” a GLAAD spokesperson told The Advocate. They continued, “Claims comparing it to dehumanizing performances designed to uphold racial supremacy are as inaccurate as they are offensive.”
Kacsmaryk made a name for himself attempting to overturn the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of the abortion pill mifepristone. He’s also the judge who ruled against the Biden administration’s LGBTQ+ health care and student anti-discrimination protections.
Tucson, Arizona’s annual Pride event is coming to an end after almost 50 years. Pointing to “shifting politics and increased [anti-LGBTQ] hostility,” its Board of Directors announced on January 22nd that the celebration planned for February is being cancelled and the organization is closing its doors.
A statement on the group’s website says that the decision was made after “thoughtful discussion and careful consideration” among its newly appointed Board. They say, “This decision was not made lightly. … We recognize the deep importance Tucson Pride has held in our community since 1977, serving as a space of visibility, advocacy, celebration, and resilience for nearly five decades.”
The Tucson Pride Festival traditionally took place in September or October but was postponed until November 2025. Organizers at the time cited logistical and funding concerns, then rescheduled to February of this year. Their statement this week said that all funding for the upcoming festival received to date will be returned within 90 days, including vendor fees and event sponsorships.
Queer charitable groups in general have faced funding challenges in recent years, but Tucson Pride has had its own issues. A former organization president was caught embezzling in 2017. Some local activists attributed the shut-down to mismanagement that included ignoring the community’s calls to rely on local talent rather than expensive high-profile national acts.
Tucson Pride was the first in the state of Arizona when it debuted in 1977. Phoenix Pride celebrated its first event 13 years later in 1990.
Finally, the two heartthrobs of the wildly popular HBO Max TV series Heated Rivalry will carry the flame in the Winter Olympics Torch Relay, which concludes in the Italian city of Milan on February 6th.
Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie star in the show, adapted from Rachel Reid’s Game Changers novels. It follows the intertwining lives of two rising ice hockey luminaries who begin an illicit secret romance. Williams plays closeted Canadian newbie Shane Hollander, and Storrie is bisexual Russian player Ilya Rozanov. Fans delight in the show’s steamy sex scenes, while critics generally laud the series for delving into previously unexplored corners of the sports world.
Their Olympics torch bearing participation was announced on January 22nd in a press release that describes the series as “very successful in the countries where it has been broadcast so far.”
Reid’s follow-up novels further explore the queer hockey world -- and you can look forward to a cinematic treatment down the road. The series Heated Rivalry has already been greenlit for a second season.
Ice hockey life is imitating ice hockey art. Engaged lesbian couple Anna Kjellbin and Ronja Savolainen play on different teams in the Professional Women’s Hockey League and will face off against each other at the Winter Olympics.