Proud Voices: Prelude to Pride | This Way Out Radio Episode #1992

Our Pride Season series starts with samples from our upcoming month of specials, with Los Angeles Poet Laureate Brian Sonia-Wallace and series producers Emma Shulman and Abigail DeRoberts.

A Rainbow Rewind features June occasions from the birth of Zachary Quinto to the victory of marriage equality.

In this week's NewsWrap there’s identification liberation for Kenya’s trans people, there’s been yet another bust at an alleged “gay party” in Malaysia, abusive behavior roils UK schools, the Stonewall National Monument is in jeopardy, and PornHub Sapphic is launching.

Featured Speakers: Los Angeles Poet Laureate Brian Sonia-Wallace, Emma Shulman, Abigail DeRoberts, Cherie Moraga, Christopher Isherwood, Harvey Milk, Ivy Botini, Urvashi Vaid, Quentin Chrisp, James Baldwin

Credits: Associate Producer/Host Lucia Chappelle, Producer Brian DeShazor, News writer Jeb Backe, feature producer Lucia Chappelle, NewsWrap reporters, Ret and Sarah Montague, music by Kim Wilson

All this on the June 1, 2026 Edition of This Way Out!

Join our family of listener-donors today at thiswayout.org/donate/.

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This Way Out

NewsWrap 

Program #1992           Distributed 06/01/26

And in NewsWrap: Kenyan people can no longer be denied the right to change gender markers on birth certificates and other government IDs. 51 men were arrested in Malaysia among continued government harassment of queer people. Prejudicial abuses are on the rise in UK Schools. The Stonewall National Monument has been added to the list of the United States’ Most Endangered Historic Places. Pornhub releases a new sapphic wing designed specifically for queer women and non-binary people — and more international LGBTQ news reported this week by RET and Sarah Montague (News Writer Jeb Backe, News Producers Lucia Chappelle and Brian DeShazor).

The Kenyan High Court has ruled that it is a constitutional violation to deny the right to change gender markers on official documents. The major win for the rights of transgender and intersex Kenyan people comes at the end of a legal battle that began in 2020. Transgender activist Audrey Mbugua Ithibu and two others who did not receive amended birth certificates sued Attorney General Dorcas Oduor , the Registrar of Births and Deaths, the National Registration Bureau, and Immigration Services Director.

On May 20th, the High Court ruled that Kenyan law does not expressly prohibit altering gender markers. Applications to change gender markers on birth certificates and other government IDs must now be processed on a case-by-case basis. State agencies must stop automatically denying those requests.

The Kenyan advocacy group Initiative for Equality and Non-Discrimination cheered the ruling, saying, “access to legal identity documentation is not just a human rights issue; it is a foundational pillar of socio-economic inclusion.” 

Trangender Kenyans will ideally have fewer barriers to employment, travel, financial systems, and participation in the political process now, with accurate IDs and passports.

The latest raid on a so-called “gay party” in Kuala Lumpur nabbed 51 men. An individual found unconscious in the lobby of a luxury hotel prompted the police action. He was rushed to the hospital but pronounced dead on arrival. Details about the cause of death have not been released.

4 raids are said to have been carried out in the late evening on Sunday, May 24th. The men detained were taken from different rooms throughout the hotel. Police seized MDMA, ecstasy, and ketamine. 36 people tested positive for drugs in initial urine tests. The 51 men who were apprehended remained in custody for three to six days. 

Some of those arrested allegedly were found using rooms at the hotel “to party, abuse drugs and engage in immoral activities.” Homosexuality is criminalized in Malaysia. No charges related to queer activity have been announced so far. 

Criminal lawyer Goh Cia Yee criticized the police for calling the men's gathering a “gay party.” He warned that “unprofessional labelling or comments from the authorities risk [...] influencing judicial perception on the matter.”

As co-founder of the Malaysian LGBTQ rights group Justice for Sisters Thilaga Sulathireh pointed out, “the fact that LGBTQ people and their identities are perceived as a form of vice and immorality, in a context of criminalisation of LGBT people [...], makes LGBTQ people vulnerable to human rights violations.”

Student suspensions related to homophobic, transphobic, ableist and racist abuse are on the rise in United Kingdom Schools. New data from the Department of Education shows a 68% increase in mentions of prejudicial abuse in the reasons for suspension over the past 4 years.

In 2020, abuse based on sexual orientation and gender identity were added as reasons for suspensions and permanent exclusions in the Department of Education’s data. 

BBC, Yahoo UK, and other news outlets reported a jump in these abuses from 2021 to 2025. However,  the data appears to be a bit more complicated. 

Further study shows that these outlets all had an incorrect starting number of suspensions. The accounts of homophobic and transphobic suspensions have stayed within the same ballpark over the past 5 years. With the biggest jump actually happening last year. The current numbers stay around the one-thousand mark.

So rather than homophobic and transphobic abuses specifically being on the rise, the research indicates that prejudicial abuses in school are generally on the rise.

However, homophobic and transphobic abuse is an ongoing crisis in UK schools. It looks like it'll be that way for some time to come. 

The Official Stonewall National Monument in New York City is in jeopardy again. The National Trust for Historic Preservation is adding it to the list of the United States’ Most Endangered Historic Places.

The Trust has identified 11 endangered sites each year since 1988. This year’s list commemorates the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, featuring places that exemplify the equality of all people.

Earlier this year, the rainbow flag was removed from the Stonewall National Monument by the Trump Administration. Public outrage brought protesters into the streets, and the federal government was sued.  The settlement required the government to rehang the flag.

The monument dedicated to the site of the Stonewall Uprising in 1969 is the first and only U.S. national monument dedicated to LGBTQ+ history. The Pauli Murray Center honoring the late Black gender-variant theologian and activist was a national landmark until the same Trump policy demands recently stripped it of its status. This year will mark the 10th anniversary of its designation.

The Washington DC based nonprofit National Trust for Historic Preservation says their lists have galvanized public support to protect more than 350 sites. Their statement warns that, “the National [Stonewall] Monument faces federal actions and policy changes that endanger the site’s historically accurate interpretation, community representation, and educational impact, including the participation of the full range of LGBT+ people in the Stonewall Uprising.”

Pornhub is coming out with some unexpected Pride season foreplay. The adult video-sharing website is launching Pornhub Sapphic, a wing designed specifically for queer women and non-binary people. It’s being advertised as a platform of content curated for the female-gaze, inclusive of lesbian, trans, and non-binary identities.

“Lesbian” was the most viewed category for women on the website in 2025. VP of Brand and Community Alex Kekesi's press release proclaimed, “Pornhub Sapphic was created in direct response to feedback from lesbian, queer, and straight women who told us they wanted an experience that felt made for them.”

Nonetheless, not everyone finds the idea titillating. Initial dissenters are concerned that Pornhub Sapphic will just continue the industry’s exploitation and fetishization of lesbians. 

Other critics say it's capitalism under the guise of diversity and inclusion. Paulita Pappel is the founder of Lustery.com. She told Metro that Pornhub “respond[s] to market signals: women and non-binary people watch porn, they are a demographic worth designing for, and making that visible matters.” Pappel added, “with anything related to pornography, its industry and its social impact, nothing is ever simply good or bad, and Pornhub’s new sapphic site is no exception.”

The site is now available in a public beta format.

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