Washington’s Gay General | This Way Out Radio Episode #2001
- Aug 4
- 7 min read
Brian DeShazor talks with author Josh Trujillo about The Legends and Loves of Baron von Steuben- Washington’s Gay General. The rainbow rewinds to James Baldwin and Randy Shilts and in the news, a deadly vehicle attack targets Berlin’s Christopher Street Day celebration, Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal blocks recognition of same-sex marriages performed elsewhere in the European Union, Pennsylvania repeals HIV-specific criminal penalties, and a British court allows a controversial puberty-blocker study to proceed. Finally, the U.S. State Department apologizes for displaying an AI-generated map that scrambled Africa’s geography, while the consequences of Trump administration cuts to global HIV programs continue to mount.
Featured speakers: Alfonso Pantisano, Winnie Byanyima, Dr. Atul Gawande, James Baldwin, Randy Shilts, Josh Trujillo
Credits: Associate Producer/Host Lucia Chappelle, Producer Brian DeShazor, News writer Jeb Backe, rainbow rewind written by Sheri Lunn and Brian DeShazor, feature producer Brian DeShazor, NewsWrap reporters Joe Boehnlein, Michael LeBeau music: Kronos ft. Nathalie Merchant and Kim Wilson.
All this on the August 3, 2026 Edition of This Way Out!
Join our family of listener-donors today at thiswayout.org/donate/.
NewsWrap
Program #2001 Distributed 08/03/26
One person was killed and 29 were injured in an attack on Berlin, Germany’s Pride Parade on July 26th. The assailant drove a van into the Christopher Street Day crowd that was out commemorating the Stonewall Uprising.
A band’s performance on stage came to a halt and the event was quickly evacuated. Twenty-one-year-old Abdul Ballout was identified as the alleged suspect. He was tracked down, shot and killed by the police the following day. A German citizen, Ballout tried to join the Islamic State in 2025, according to authorities. He was released from prison in May after being jailed for preparing an attack.
Prior to the horrifying Saturday attack, attendees enjoyed day-long festivities, advocating for equal rights, marching, dancing, and cheering the parade.
Not even 24 hours later, thousands gathered for a community vigil at Pariser Platz in Berlin, just a few hundred meters from where the deadly ambush took place.
Alfonso Pantisano is the Queer Berlin Liaison Officer for the city’s Senate. He spoke to Democracy Now! about the public narrative after the attack:
[AUDIO- ALFONSO PANTISANO]
“Everyone is now focusing again on the racist and also Islamophobic comments. [...] At the same time, we have to look at how political parties and how governments are now destroying everything that we as a queer community for decades and decades have fought for in order to be treated equally. The far right here in Germany is, of course, waiting for an attack like this one to use it in order to highlight that the foreigners are the problem. But by doing so, they completely forget and avoid to look at how much queerphobia there is in this country, in all various levels of structures, in schools, at the workplace, in churches, on the streets, in sports, and in so many other places.”
Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal Court has ruled against recognizing same-sex marriages from other European Union member states. The court unanimously decided that EU same-sex marriages could not be copied into Poland’s civil registry. This July 28th ruling is anticipated to increase tensions between Poland’s highest court and the EU’s judicial branch.
Back in November of 2025 The Court of Justice of the European Union ruled that EU member states cannot refuse to recognize same-sex marriages lawfully conducted elsewhere in the bloc.
The EU Justice Court ruling did not demand that a country must legally recognize same-sex spouses. It only required couples to have freedom of movement to reside in other member states. A couple’s marital status only has to be copied into the civil register if that’s the only way to secure the benefits and securities of marital status in that country.
The Supreme Administrative Court had no problem with that in its decision with the case of a Polish national and a German-Polish dual citizen who had moved to Poland after being married in Germany. That March decision led to the approval of an administrative regulation recognizing same-sex marriages from other EU States. But just before the measure was to enter into force at the end of August, the right-wing Law and Justice party challenged the matter at the Constitutional Tribunal and successfully overturned the regulation. Their public statement points to the gendered wording in the Constitution of the Republic of Poland, asserting that they cannot add outside marriages if the union is not between a woman and a man.
The U.S. state of Pennsylvania is ending their policy of requiring harsher criminal penalties for those who are HIV-positive. Governor Josh Shapiro signed Senate Bill 45 on July 20th, removing HIV from the state’s criminal code.
Criminal laws relating to HIV date back to President Ronald Reagan’s 1987 Presidential Commission on the HIV Epidemic. It claimed that HIV-specific criminal penalties would deter intentional exposure. Based on that assertion, the 1990 Ryan White CARE Act provided funding to states on the condition that they outlaw intentional HIV exposure and transmission.
Decades later, research shows that there is no evidence that HIV laws reduce HIV transmission. Studies now make clear that the punitive measures do not make people more likely to disclose their status, or get tested. Analysis by the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law shows that Black Americans are disproportionately affected by HIV criminalization. With Pennsylvania doing away with the dated policy, such laws still exist in more than half of the United States.
The United Kingdom’s High Court has decided to continue with the nation’s puberty blocker study. The study is titled The Pathways Trial, and it was commissioned to assess the effects of puberty blockers on young people. Before it even began, anti-trans campaigners challenged the clinical trial arguing that the study is unethical.
In 2024 the UK banned gender affirming puberty blockers for trans youth. That prohibition came on the coattails of the much-miligned Cass Review. This report has since been widely criticised for methodological issues, internal inconsistencies, and for having an apparently predetermined outcome.
Pediatrician and Member of the House of Lords, Hilary Cass, led the review that recommended a trial to fill the evidence gap about puberty blockers. According to the Pathways research team, theirs is a “carefully designed study to give much-needed evidence about the potential benefits and risks of puberty suppression to improve NHS care.”
Since the prohibition on puberty blocking drugs, only children already on the medication have been allowed to continue. New prescriptions are only offered through the Pathways trials. That gender-affirming care will go to just 226 children between ages 11 through 16, chosen by the research team.
Finally, the U.S. State Department displayed a map at the International AIDS Conference in Rio De Janeiro that mislabeled every African country depicted. Not only were the countries in the wrong places, their shapes were unrecognizable. Reuters reported that the image of the map contained an artificial intelligence watermark, indicating it was made with OpenAI tools. U.S.-based artificial intelligence research company OpenAI is investigating the report.
The Trump Administration has issued an apology for what it calls an “unfortunate error.” What’s far more unfortunate are the devastating effects that cuts to USAID and PEPFAR have had on the nations of Africa and around the world. To put that into perspective, the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief or PEPFAR was the largest global HIV/AIDS program before last year’s cuts.
Winnie Byanyima is the Executive Director of UNAIDS, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS driving a global response to the epidemic. She spoke to the 23rd International Conference on AIDS and STIs in Africa last December about the future of Africa’s health and global equality:
[AUDIO- BYANYIMA]
“Ours is the continent with the highest HIV burden in the world.
We are only 19% of the world's population here in Africa, but we make up 65% of the total number of people living with HIV globally. More than half of the people waiting for treatment live here on this continent. More than half of all the new infections every year happen here in Africa. Yet we have the tools, the knowledge that's needed to end AIDS. AIDS is no longer a medical challenge. Ending AIDS is a political choice.”
According to a recently published study from The Foundation for AIDS Research or amfAR, the US PEPFAR cuts have resulted in the closing of over 1,700 HIV care sites. In the same report, amfAR found that 73% of organizations receiving PEPFAR funding have now stopped outreach services. These catastrophic cuts are shown to be worst for populations most impacted by HIV: gay men and other men who have sex with men, sex workers, people who use drugs, transgender and other gender-diverse people, and people in prison.
Former USAID Head of Global Health, Dr. Atul Gawande spoke to PBS about amfAR’s recent report:
[AUDIO- GAWANDE]
“Some key pillars of fighting HIV is being able to get services to people who might be shunned from the medical system, people [...] like sex workers, people who inject IV drugs, gay or transgender people. The second thing that you have to do is not only get people on treatment. You have to contact trace and test people who they are in contact with. And testing and prevention went way down. The numbers aren't as sexy as the closing of a clinic, but those are the things that start to happen when you have a surge of HIV return. The third thing is, there were some reports, for example, from 22 neonatal clinics and network of hospitals in Africa where newborns come to. And they found that mothers had a 50 percent jump in HIV rates and over 300 percent jump in those places finding women were not on treatment. And that means more children are now at risk of being born with HIV.”
The U.S. State Department has called amfAR’s methodology "flawed." In a statement to NPR, they said The Trump administration has "strengthened PEPFAR through clear strategic direction." What’s “clear” is that the “strategic direction” has significantly reduced care for those in Africa and around the globe.
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