Sydney Mardi Gras Strife & Stonewall Rainbow Retrieval | This Way Out Radio Episode #1978
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Against a backdrop of violent anti-semitic and anti-indigenous attacks and the relaxation of police restraints in response to them, Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras organizers are faced with twin controversies: the withdrawal of the Jewish group Dayenu from the event and demands for the expulsion of the New South Wales Police contingent. Veteran activist Ken Davis explains the situation (Barry McKay reports).
New Yorkers defy the Trump administration and replace the rainbow flag the government “disappeared” from the Stonewall National Monument (Paul DeRienzo of WBAI reports).
A Black History Month Rainbow Rewind honors Langston Hughes (produced by Sheri Lunn and Brian DeShazor).
And in NewWrap: the European Parliament approves a resolution specifically calling for “the full recognition of trans women as women,” HIV-positive enlistees are once again banned from serving in the U.S. military, intersex children are now protected from undergoing unnecessary medical procedures without their informed consent in the Australian state of Victoria, Kansans can now sue if they’re upset after sharing a bathroom with a trans person, U.S. Olympic women’s ice hockey team captain Hilary Knight leads her team to gold and plans to lead speed skater Brittany Bowe to the altar, and more international LGBTQ news reported this week by Nico Raquel and Ret (produced by Brian DeShazor).
All this on the February 23, 2026 edition of This Way Out!
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Complete Program Summary
for the week of February 23, 2026
Sydney Mardi Gras Strife &
Stonewall Rainbow Retrieval
In “NewsWrap” [full transcript below]: The European Parliament approves a resolution declaring that transgender women are legally women ahead of next month’s 70th meeting of the U.N. Commission on the Status of Women, where that is expected to be a major issue … the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reinstates the ban on military service by HIV-positive enlistees, even if their viral load is undetectable and they can’t spread the virus … lawmakers in the Australian state of Victoria approve a bill to protect intersex babies from undergoing unnecessary surgeries or other gender-related medical treatments before they are old enough to give informed consent … the Republican super-majority in the U.S. state of Kansas overrides Democratic Governor Laura Kelly’s veto of a horrific “bathroom bounty bill” that includes fines and possible "damages"-seeking lawsuits against a trans person for using a restroom or other sex-segregated facility in government buildings, including public schools and universities, that don’t match the gender on their birth certificate … Milan and Cortina Winter Games U.S. women’s hockey team captain Hilary Knight and speed skater Brittany Bowe cap their record-breaking Olympic careers by announcing their engagement (written by GREG GORDON and LUCIA CHAPPELLE, produced by BRIAN DeSHAZOR, and reported this week by NICO RAQUEL and RET).
Feature: This week’s Rainbow Rewind celebrates the birthday of iconic Black queer writer Langston Hughes (includes his brief remarks), and other notable queer events in February (written by SHERI LUNN, and produced by co-host BRIAN DeSHAZOR.
Feature: Tensions surrounding this year’s Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras may be as high as they were in 1978, when a queer protest turned into the police riot known as Australia’s Stonewall. Against a backdrop of violent anti-semitic and anti-indigenous attacks and the relaxation of police restraints in response to them, Parade organizers are faced with twin controversies. The queer Jewish group Dayenu has withdrawn from the event due to safety concerns. There are also demands for the expulsion of the New South Wales Police contingent after alleged abuses at a recent protest of the Israeli President at Sydney’s Town Hall Square. This Way Out’s BARRY MCKAY heard from Ken Davis, one of the parties in the police debate, a veteran of the 1978 confrontation (with brief intro music from Xen by ACRA).
Feature: The Rainbow Pride Flag that flew over the Stonewall National Monument was missing the morning of February 9th, but New York activists were not having it. In three days hundreds showed up on a cold and windy day to raise their flag again in defiance of the Trump administration. PAUL DeRIENZO of WBAI-FM was on the scene (featuring comments by New York City Comptroller and Congressional candidate Brad Lander, district U.S. Congress member Dan Goldman, Manhattan Borough President Brad Hoylman-Sigal, and U.S. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York, edited by GREG GORDON, and with intro/outro music by DRAG QUEEN NINA WEST).
NewsWrap
for the week ending 21 February 2026
Program #1978 distributed 23 February 2026
Reported by NICO RAQUEL and RET
written by Greg Gordon and Lucia Chappelle
and produced by Brian DeShazor
The European Parliament has approved a resolution specifically calling for “the full recognition of trans women as women.” Just ahead of the 70th session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women convening in New York City next month, the European Union’s legislative body warns, “attacks by anti-gender and anti-rights movements … undermine democracy and target women’s and LGBTIQ+ rights.”
The Euro-Parliament’s February 11th resolution calls the inclusion of trans women “essential for the effectiveness of any gender-equality and anti-violence policies.” It stresses “recognition of and equal access for trans women to protection and support services.” The vote was 340-to-141, with 68 abstentions. The Parliament’s resolutions are non-binding, but they frequently inform the E.U.’s negotiating position at global forums.
The Euro-Parliament’s resolution puts the E.U. “on a direct collision course with the United States” at the U.N. Conference, according to U.S. trans journalist Erin Reed. The Trump administration has officially denied the legal existence of transgender people.
HIV-positive enlistees are once again banned from serving in the U.S. military. The ban was declared unconstitutional in 2024 by a federal district court that called it “irrational, arbitrary, and capricious.” However, a three-judge panel of the Richmond, Virginia-based Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found what it called a “rational basis” for the Pentagon’s policy. In deference to the military, the judges agreed that excluding people living with HIV from enlisting was necessary to maintain medical standards. Under their February 18th ruling, enlistees are banned even if they have undetectable viral loads, which means that they could serve with no health limitations and cannot transmit the virus.
Three individual plaintiffs who could not enlist or re-enlist based on their HIV status filed the original case in November 2022, aided by the queer advocacy group Lambda Legal. The organizational plaintiff is Minority Veterans of America.
Lambda Legal has yet to announce its next move. It could ask for a review by all the judges of the Fourth Circuit, or appeal directly to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Rulings by the Fourth Circuit apply only to the states of Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, and West Virginia. There is concern that this decision might influence the outcome of similar cases dealing with military and non-military anti-HIV bias elsewhere in the U.S.
Intersex children are now protected from undergoing unnecessary medical procedures without their informed consent in the Australian state of Victoria. The multi-partisan February 19th vote in the Upper House of the Legislative Council was 24-to-15. It passed in the lower chamber earlier in the month.
The legislation bans surgeries on babies born with innate variations of sexual characteristics until they’re old enough to decide for themselves. There are at least 40 variations of intersex characteristics that impact about 1.7 percent of the population, according to the national advocacy group Equality Australia.
A panel comprised of medical experts and people with lived experience will oversee medical treatment plans for intersex children. Continued consent from parents and caregivers for medically necessary treatments will be required.
An array of problems can be caused by unwarranted surgeries on intersex children, such as sexual disfunction or infertility, urinary tract issues, incorrect gender assignment, and negative self-image in later life.
Intersex advocate Tony Briffa of InterAction for Health and Human Rights said, “I felt a decades-long weight lift from my shoulders, knowing that what was done to me will never happen to another child in Victoria.”
The Australian Capital Territory is the only other part of the country that has similar protections for intersex children.
Anyone in the U.S. state of Kansas who’s afraid they may have shared a bathroom in a government building with a trans person can now sue for “damages,” unless the state fines the trans person first. Democratic Governor Laura Kelly’s veto of the so-called “bathroom bounty bill” was overridden by the Republican-dominated legislature. Among other provisions the new law imposes a fine on individuals of $1,000 for not using the bathroom or other sex-segregated facility that conforms to the gender on their birth certificate. Those “aggrieved” by the presence of a trans person in what they consider the “wrong” bathroom can sue for that much or more. It applies to state buildings including public schools and universities.
Trans people will also be barred from updating their birth certificates or driver's licenses to reflect their gender identity, and previous updates will be revoked – long a dream of Republican state Attorney General Kris Kobach.
Governor Kelly condemned lawmakers for overriding her veto. Her statement read, in part, “It is nothing short of ridiculous that the Legislature is forcing the entire state, every city and town, every school district, [and] every public university to spend taxpayer money on a manufactured problem. … Kansans elected them to focus on education, job creation, housing, and grocery costs.”
Finally, what was U.S. Olympic women’s ice hockey team captain Hilary Knight’s best day -- February 18th, when she proposed to speed skater Brittany Bowe, or February 19th, the day of her team’s epic gold medal win against arch-rival Canada? Hint: Knight says she was more nervous about the proposal.
Knight and Bowe are two of at least 40 competitors who identify as LGBTQ at the Winter Olympics in Milan and Cortina, Italy. The Women’s Ice Hockey game between Canada and the United States featured at least nine lesbians.
Knight scored the first U.S. goal to send the contest against Canada into overtime. Teammate Megan Keller then scored the winning goal to secure a U.S. Gold Medal by a score of 2-1. This was Knight’s fifth and final competitive hockey appearance. Her the all-time total of 15 goals makes her the leading scorer in U.S. women’s Olympics history.
Bowe is a speed skating legend in her own rite, with 91 World Cup medals, 22 national titles, six world championship golds, four world records and two Olympic bronzes, according to NBC News. She unfortunately failed to medal in Milan.
Knight and Bowe first met four years ago at the Winter Olympics in Beijing. The day before her thrilling appearance in the Gold medal game, Knight got down on one knee and proposed to Bowe. Of course, she said yes, and the couple posted photos and announced their happy news on Instagram. They already own a home together in Salt Lake City, Utah, where the U.S. speed skating team trains.
Their engagement this week was almost a literal storybook ending to their respective Olympic careers. As Knight said on Instagram, “Olympics brought us together … This one made us forever.”
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