Don Lemon: “Process Is the Punishment” | This Way Out Radio Episode #1977
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Was Donald Trump’s personal antipathy towards Don Lemon the real reason behind the gay African American journalist’s arrest? Lemon made a surprise appearance at the Human Rights Campaign’s New York City gala, then spoke out for the First Amendment after his initial court appearance.
The pioneering work on sexual liberation of Anais Nin and notable February dates in LGBTQ+ history in the Rainbow Rewind (produced by Sheri Lunn and Brian DeShazor).
And in NewWrap: cohabitating same-gender couples in the Philippines can now be recognized as joint owners of property that they acquire during their relationship, trans people in the U.K. can use bathrooms and changing rooms that match their gender identity – except in the workplace, public school officials in the U.K. are being directed to notify parents if their child’s behavior suggests that they are questioning their gender identity, New Hampshire’s Republican Governor Kelly Ayotte for the second time vetoes a bill to require trans students to use sex-segregated school bathrooms and changing facilities that match their gender assigned at birth, embattled U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi’s fiery five-hour joust with minority Democrats culminated in an explosive confrontation with Vermont’s lesbian Congress member Becca Balint, and more international LGBTQ news reported this week by Sarah Montague and Joe Boehnlein (produced by Brian DeShazor).
All this on the February 16, 2026 edition of This Way Out!
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Complete Program Summary
for the week of February 16, 2026
Don Lemon: “Process Is the Punishment”
In “NewsWrap” [full transcript below]: The Philippines Supreme Court rules that cohabitating queer couples, who can’t civilly marry, can still be joint property owners … the U.K. Supreme Court decides that trans people can use sex-segregated bathrooms, changing rooms and other facilities that match their gender identity — except in the workplace … the U.K. Department for Education issues legally-binding “guidance” that requires public school officials to out trans students to their parents … New Hampshire Republican Governor Kelly Ayotte vetoes a measure to require trans people to only use bathrooms that match their gender assigned at birth … it’s out lesbian Vermont Congress member Becca Balint vs. obnoxious U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi during a House Judiciary Committee hearing about the Epstein files [with Bondi-Balant audio] (written by GREG GORDON and LUCIA CHAPPELLE, produced by BRIAN DeSHAZOR, and reported this week by JOE BOEHNLEIN and SARAH MONTAGUE).
Feature: This week’s Rainbow Rewind celebrates the birthday of iconic queer feminist writer Anais Nïn (includes a snippet of a Nin reading), and other notable queer events in February (written by SHERI LUNN and produced by her co-host BRIAN DeSHAZOR).
Feature: The U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment free press rights clashed with its First Amendment freedom of religion when a gay African American journalist was arrested this week — but was U.S. President Donald Trump’s personal antipathy towards DON LEMON the real reason behind the charges? Lemon was in a Beverly Hills hotel on his way to cover the Grammy Awards when he was detained on January 29th by more than two dozen Homeland Security and FBI agents. He made a surprise appearance at the Human Rights Campaign’s New York City gala on February 7th to offer “his side of the story.” He spoke briefly to the press after his initial court appearance on February 13th (with brief intro music from The Don Lemon Show opening music and an outro music tag by SWEET HONEY IN THE ROCK).
NewsWrap
for the week ending 14 February 2026
Program #1977 distributed 16 February 2026
Reported by JOE BOEHNLEIN and SARAH MONTAGUE
written by Greg Gordon and Lucia Chappelle
and produced by Brian DeShazor
Cohabitating same-gender couples in the Philippines can now be recognized as joint owners of property that they acquire during their relationship. The February 5th ruling by the Supreme Court has seemingly moved the Southeast Asian islands nation one step closer to marriage equality.
Two women had purchased a house and lot together during their relationship. The property in the Manila suburb Quezon City was only registered under one partner’s name. When they split up, the unregistered partner wanted to partition the property or sell it. She produced a document signed by her ex confirming that she had paid about half of the purchase price for the property and its renovation costs. The registered partner first agreed, then rejected that document and broke the deal. So, the unregistered partner filed a complaint.
The Philippines Family Code defines civil marriage as “a special contract of permanent union between a man and a woman.” Because they are denied civil marriage in the predominantly Roman Catholic country, the court concluded that property questions involving same-gender couples are governed by Article 148 of the Code, which covers unmarried cohabitation. That provision makes “the properties acquired by both of the parties through their actual joint contribution of money, property, or industry … owned by them in common in proportion to their respective contributions.”
The Supreme Court reversed lower courts that had rejected the unregistered partner’s claim. It found that the signed acknowledgment was sufficient proof of her actual contributions to the property under Article 148 and that she is therefore entitled to demand its partition.
The high court issued a press release soon after the ruling was announced calling on the government to “address same-sex couples’ rights, as courts alone cannot resolve all related policy concerns.”
Trans people in the United Kingdom can use bathrooms and changing rooms that match their gender identity – except in the workplace. That’s the result of a February 13th Supreme Court ruling that grows out of last year’s somewhat convoluted decision that trans women are not legally women under the Equality Act but are nevertheless protected from discrimination. Now the Trans Solidarity Alliance says the situation for trans people, employers and service providers is “completely incoherent.”
In this week’s ruling, the justices decided that employers must provide separate bathrooms based on the worker’s gender assigned at birth. That specifically denies trans employee’s access to bathrooms that match their gender identity. However, trans customers of the same establishments may be allowed to use gender appropriate bathrooms. One justice told the Independent that service providers ranging from restaurants and bars to hospitals and government facilities should be “guided by common sense and benevolence” that is not “blinkered by unyielding ideologies.”
The justices added in their ruling that employers are allowed to provide gender-neutral bathrooms for use by all staff, including trans employees. Without such accommodations, the organization Trans Solidarity points out that trans workers would not be able to do their jobs. They underscore the perplexity, saying, “What bathroom a trans person can use in a pub may now depend on whether they are there as an employee or for a drink.”
Public school officials in the U.K. are being directed to notify parents if their child’s behavior suggests that they are questioning their gender identity. Legally binding guidance issued on February 12th by the Department for Education also instructs school staff to discourage students from socially transitioning, and to exercise extreme caution using a trans student’s chosen name or pronouns. Under the guidance, trans students must not be allowed to use campus bathrooms or changing rooms that match their gender identity.
“This is about pragmatic support for teachers, reassurance for parents, and above all, the safety and wellbeing of children and young people,” according to Education Secretary Bridget Philipson.
The guidance stands firmly on last year’s much-criticized Cass Review. That’s a study that condemns the availability of puberty blockers and hormone therapies for trans young people. It led the government to ban their use in most cases.
Cal Horton believes that the new guidance will do more harm than good for trans young people. Horton is a research fellow at the Oxford Brookes Business School specializing in trans issues. Their analysis echoes that of several other critics. In Horton’s words, ‘Trans children need to be supported and respected in order to be safe at school, in order to access their right to education, in order to enjoy their childhood. Instead, we are seeing a complete ban on access to appropriate toilets, P.E., accommodation on school trips, a complete erosion of their rights.” Horton concludes, “It will lead to children avoiding the bathroom, avoiding exercise, missing out on school trips, dropping out of school, [and] losing any hope of education, equality, friendship, [or] happiness.”
It’s the third strike for New Hampshire’s trans student bathroom ban. Republican Governor Kelly Ayotte has for the second time vetoed a bill to require trans students to use sex-segregated school bathrooms and changing facilities that match their gender assigned at birth. Republican Governor Chris Sununu vetoed a similar bill the year before.
In her 2025 veto message, Ayotte complained that the measure was “overly broad and impractical to enforce, potentially creating an exclusionary environment for some of our citizens.”
The Republican controlled legislature failed to secure the two-thirds majority vote needed to override Ayotte’s veto last December. Observers believe an override will fail again.
Aimee Terravechia of the statewide LGBTQ group 603 Equality applauded Governor Ayotte’s veto, proclaiming, “Bathroom bans simply have no place in New Hampshire.” In Terravechia’s words, “In a time of unrelenting legislative attacks and misinformation campaigns around transgender people and their rights … [t]ransgender and gender nonconforming people deserve safe access to public spaces as they go about living, working, and contributing to our communities.”
Finally, embattled U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi’s fiery five-hour joust with minority Democrats culminated in an explosive confrontation with Vermont’s lesbian Congress member Becca Balint. The February 11th hearing before the House Judiciary Committee focused on the Justice Department’s failure to release all of the files related to the late convicted child sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. Both Congressional chambers overwhelmingly approved opening the files, and the law was signed by Bondi’s boss President Donald Trump.
Bondi reprised her belligerent performance before a Senate committee late last year, evading relevant questions while riffling through a binder of misleading information to use against Democratic committee members.
Near the end of the hearing, Bondi attempted to deflect Balint’s examination by referring to a 2024 House resolution condemning the phrase “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.” Balint joined more than 40 other Democrats voting against it and called the measure, “yet another way to sow division and demonize Palestinians,” according to the Jewish News Syndicate.
When Balint asked if the Justice Department had seriously investigated powerful officials whose names appear in the Epstein files, Bondi’s evasion enraged Balint:
BONDI: I want the record to reflect that, you know, with this antisemitic culture right now, she voted against a resolution con… condemning Israel…
BALINT: Oh! Oh! Oh! Do you want to go there, Attorney General? Do you want to go there? Are you serious? Talking about antisemitism to a woman who lost her grandfather in the Holocaust, really? Really??
As some of her Democratic committee colleagues came to her defense, Balint stormed out of the chamber. She returned to sit with the Epstein survivors.
Bondi just snickered.